Datum Home Systems
Residential technology consulting and integration
Home technology that works as one system. Datum designs, builds, and supports the networks, media, automation, and security a well-run home depends on, runs the project so the pieces come together instead of fighting each other, and coordinates with your builder or electrician when a project calls for it.
What I do
The work spans five areas. Most projects touch more than one, since the point is getting them to work together.
Home networks and Wi-Fi
The foundation everything else runs on. Coverage that reaches the whole house, wired where it matters, segmented so your devices, guests, and work traffic stay separate and secure.
Media and home theater
Audio and video that follow you through the house, dedicated media rooms, and control that makes sense to everyone who lives there, not just the person who set it up.
Smart home automation and control
The layer that ties lighting, climate, media, and security into one system with logic that actually fits how you live, built on a platform you control rather than a subscription you rent.
Security and cameras
Self-hosted cameras and access that you own, with no monthly fee and no third party holding your footage. Placement and setup designed around your property, not a box of parts.
Whole-home and new-build design
For renovations and new construction, the technology planned before the walls close, coordinated with your architect, builder, and electrician so it is built in rather than bolted on.
How it works
How a project runs depends on how much construction is involved. Either way, it runs as a managed project with one person accountable for the result.
For most projects, I do the work.
I assess the house, design the system, and handle the hands-on setup myself, the network, the configuration, the devices, the programming, through to something that works and that you know how to use. You get one person who both designed it and built it, so nothing gets lost in a handoff and there is one person accountable from start to finish.
For construction-heavy projects, I design and coordinate.
When a project needs new wiring run, walls opened, or structural work, that goes to a licensed electrician or your general contractor. I draw up and specify the system, coordinate with the trades doing the physical work, and integrate everything once it is in place. Because I understand how construction and the trades work, I can talk to your builder in their terms, which keeps the technology from becoming an afterthought.
Who this is for
Datum is a fit for projects that are genuinely involved: a whole-home automation program, an integrated media system, a network built to carry all of it, or a new build where the technology needs to be planned alongside the construction. If you are looking for someone to mount a single TV or set up one device, I am probably not your best option, and I am happy to point you somewhere that is. If you want the whole thing to work as one considered system, that is exactly what I do.
About Russell
I have spent my working life running projects and improving how things work across a range of fields. I have led operations as an executive chef, coordinated supply chains and logistics, managed procurement, and built data and automation systems for manufacturing and hospitality clients. The through-line is the same everywhere: take something tangled, figure out how it should actually work, get the right people moving in the same direction, and see it through to a result. I am also a serious DIYer with a working understanding of how homes are built and how the trades operate.
That is the whole idea behind Datum. A home technology project is a coordination problem as much as a technical one, getting the systems, the trades, the designers, and the way you actually live to line up, and that is the kind of problem I have solved my whole career. I am comfortable designing a technology system and comfortable building it, and I can hold a real conversation with your electrician, your builder, and your architect about how it all fits. I am not a tradesman, and for anything that needs a license I bring in the right one. I am currently completing a Master of Science in Software Engineering, which keeps the technical side sharp.
The result is someone who treats your home the way a good systems consultant treats a business: assess what is really there, design something that fits, run it cleanly, and hand back something you control.
Start a conversation
The first conversation is free. Tell me about your project and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right fit and how I would approach it. Phone and email consultations are always free. If a project reaches the point of needing an on-site assessment, we will talk about what that involves before anyone commits to anything.