HI everyone, I would like to know what’s the best cost effective way to wire a new house construction. I’m right in the middle of the construction and I wonder if it’s better and cheaper to wire the switches as single switches and add virtual 3 and 4 way or wire the hole house like it use to be for 3 and 4 way switches and add smarts switches later. Thanks!
I’m not sure about cost effective but if you don’t wire for multi-way now it’s much more expensive to do wired later. I think the trade offs would be wired will be more reliable and will always work with cheap switches. Virtual would be more flexible and fun in terms of features but may be flaky and require more maintenance later. If you use better virtual switches like Lutron it’s probably going to be more reliable than z-wave.
Something else to consider is that some models of smart switches still use a traveler wire to control in 3way application.
There is not really a benefit I can imagine for not physically wiring for multiple switch control. Given open walls I’m not sure if multi-way wiring would be any less expensive. Consult the electrical contractor for details.