Lighting, audio and cameras that behave like one system.

Ajax MS supports smart home systems across Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley on a membership, which means one number for lighting, audio, cameras, climate and the apps that run them. Most of what we are called about is a system somebody else installed and nobody has looked after since — that is normal work for us, not an exception.

Usually an account, not a device. Smart home platforms depend on cloud logins, certificates and subscriptions that expire quietly: a streaming account signed out, a licence lapsed, a password changed by someone who did not know what it controlled. It is normally an afternoon to put right, and far less alarming than it looks.

Usually, yes — at least down to one or two. A house collects automation in layers, each with its own app, and nobody ever goes back to reconcile them. We work out what is installed, what still has a working account, and what can be brought under a single interface, then retire what is left.

No. Scene changes, keypad relabelling, adding a device, moving a speaker and reprogramming a button are covered by membership, not billed as call-outs. That is deliberate: when people are charged for small changes they stop asking, and the system drifts further from what they actually wanted.

Yes, and they should be. Staff and guests get access to what they need — lights, heating, music, maybe a door — without the ability to reconfigure the system or see the cameras. Access is granted when someone starts and revoked on the day they stop, which is the part most properties forget.

We tell you before it becomes a problem, not after. Discontinued hubs, cameras that lose their cloud service and platforms that drop older hardware are tracked as part of managing the system, so replacements get planned into a quiet month rather than discovered on a Friday in February.