In this video I’m basically brain-dumping my whole pre-wiring plan for my new construction smart home and asking you all to sanity-check it. I’ve done a good amount of research, but the whole point here is future-proofing: I don’t want to cheap out now and regret it later when the walls are closed up. We talk through where to put Ethernet drops, how many drops you actually need (spoiler: the “included” number is almost never enough), and where a centralized network/patch panel should live so it’s practical to expand later. I also get into the stuff that matters specifically for Home Assistant folks: planning for PoE access points, wiring for cameras on the corners of the house, and thinking ahead about smart switches (I’m leaning Zooz or Inovelli—my current GE Z-Wave switches aren’t my favorite). We go back and forth on Cat6 vs Cat6a, why conduit is a big deal for a two-story house, and how too many access points can actually make Wi‑Fi worse. The big takeaway: run more wire than you think you need, plan for ventilation where your network gear lives, and make the builder do the hard stuff now—because opening walls later is the expensive part.