There are several reasons why I am a DIY-er: it makes otherwise out-of-scope amenities affordable; I can work on my own schedule; I can build things to be custom; I am a firm believer that it gives me more options. There are also a few reasons that being a DIY-er is a pain: you lose out on warranties; you miss out on deals that services offer; you have to do a lot of the work; you forgo bundle pricing for professional services.
The pains can be worked around most of the time, but when it comes to home security DIY you’re pretty much stuck doing all of the surveillance yourself if you don’t have a professional service system with monitoring. I’d much rather have a person that can instantly check my feed and determine if the police are needed, than get an alert that I need to take the time to verify myself. By the time I figure out the cops are needed, the thief has probably already taken off with my custom entertainment system.
If you are in this boat now, or have been holding off on a DIY system because of these concerns than you are in luck because the DIY industry has heard your call. DIY home security systems from Iris and Myfox will soon offer homeowners with add-on professional monitoring services. Rest easy, DIY-ers. So far, these services are promising to charge only a monthly fee, with no contracts to bind you into any long-term services.
Here’s what you can expect to be monitored from these professional services:
- Break-ins
- Fire or smoke
- Carbon monoxide
- Panic alerts
What you get will depend on which package level you choose. The packages range from starting points of either $10 a month or $20 a month, and additional services can be added for a fee. The money you saved using a DIY system hopefully affords you the money to get professional services. Even if you can’t (or just don’t want to) sign up for full time monitoring, it is nice to know that you could sign up for short-term, no obligation monitoring to fill in if you go on vacation.
The Iris system monitoring is made possible by a partnership of Lowe’s and United Central Control; Myfox hasn’t yet divulged who will be supplying their services. I’m stoked to see that there are some options available for us DIY-ers now. We still don’t have as many options as those that rely on professionals from start to finish, and after, but we are getting some recognition. Home security doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive to install and set up, and now it also doesn’t have to be a pain to monitor.
