Homebuilders look to upgrades to fill tech-savvy buyer demands

Homebuilders are continually looking for high-tech appeal when trying to attract tech-savvy buyers. Installing “fiber-to-the-home” systems that include high-speed communication lines and outlets throughout their homes is one way to make that connection.

Working with those developers is Zial Networks. The firm currently provides the service in southwest Boise’s Hazelwood Village subdivision, south of Lake Hazel Road and west of Five Mile Road. The Boise-based company offers digital video, Voice-over Internet Protocol phone technology, high-speed Internet service and surveillance.

From its own switching equipment in a central location in Hazelwood Village, Zial runs fiber-optic cable to individual homes as an alternative to copper infrastructure such as phone wires and coaxial cable. The fiber “backbone” – rough out the subdivision in a trench shared with other utility lines.

Systems like this are more commonly installed in commercial buildings.
“It’s the first full ‘triple play’ fiber-to-the-home deployment in the Treasure Valley,” Zial founder and President Chris Adams said. Each household that opts for the service has its own fiber rather than shared lines.
Adams said fiber-to-the-home represents advancement in that it’s a high-capacity single source connected and accessed at a central location. With earlier modes, risks included that one or more providers of a single service would encounter capacity limitations or would offer varying degrees of quality, he said.
“FTTH provides vastly higher bandwidth to consumers, enabling more robust video, Internet and voice services,” according to information that Zial supplied.
U.S. market penetration for fiber-to-the-home technology stands at about 2 percent but continues to grow, the company said. Adams said Hazelwood Village is one of three fiber-to-the-home deployments in the Western U.S.
Trends such as the growth of online retailing point toward consumers increasing their appetites for fast, high-bandwidth technology, he said. Zial’s direct fiber application also holds strong potential for uses such as health care monitoring, distance learning and telecommuting, he said.
Zial’s revenue from the fiber-to-the-home segment jumped from about 10 percent of total revenue two years ago to nearly half of revenue last year, Adams said.
“And it will be over 80 percent at the end of last year,” he predicted.
Partnerships with content providers including DirecTV enable Zial to offer a package of free services for six months at Hazelwood Village, Adams said.
It costs about $1,250 for the builder to wire the homes to accommodate the system, said Syringa Construction LLC Managing Member Steve Hanson, one of the builders in Hazelwood Village. He wires all of his homes in the Treasure Valley to accommodate low-voltage cable phone, video and sound systems.
“Going from a basic daisy-chain phone loop to a low-voltage package through a provider does cost more to provide,” he said. These costs “are passed on to the extent that the competitive market allows.”
It would cost much more to do this after the home is built, Hanson said.
“We are trying to add value to a home, not just at occupancy but long-term,” he said.
Fiber optic communication infrastructure can be an attractive amenity for homebuyers in that it protects them to an extent from future limitations in bandwidth capacity, Adams said.
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