Oak Bay’s residential mix is one of the more demanding briefs on Vancouver Island. Heritage homes in Uplands and Estevan Village. New custom builds along Beach Drive. Waterfront properties whose architecture deserves restraint. The technology brief on each looks different — but the principle is the same. A real smart home is one platform, one user interface, one accountable team.
Oak Bay neighbourhoods we serve
Wenner runs Oak Bay projects out of the Hillside Avenue Experience Centre, ten minutes from most Oak Bay project sites. The neighbourhoods we work in continuously:
- Uplands — heritage estates with carefully restored architecture and increasingly serious integration scopes
- Estevan Village — heritage homes with retrofits that have to respect the streetscape
- Willows — substantial residential lots with new and renovated custom homes
- South Oak Bay — waterfront and golf-course-adjacent properties
- Beach Drive — landmark seaside builds, several of which are recent Wenner projects (see Beachside)
Heritage Oak Bay — the retrofit conversation
A meaningful share of Oak Bay projects are heritage homes where the technology has to be designed in around the existing architecture. The conversation looks different from a new build:
Lutron RadioRA 3 is the workhorse for retrofits where pulling new wire to every fixture isn’t realistic. Wireless dimmers, wireless keypads, and a hub that ties them together. Less programming depth than HomeWorks, but a fraction of the install scope. Keypads come in finishes that work against original cabinetry, plaster walls, and heritage trim.
Network and audio-video can be retrofitted with surface-mount conduit and careful millwork integration. The Wenner team coordinates with the cabinet maker so the equipment closet gets a designed home, not a shoved-in solution. Speakers go behind plaster where possible; where it isn’t, the grille finish is chosen to disappear.
Heritage exteriors restrict where you can place exterior lighting fixtures, cameras, and antennas. The plan respects the streetscape — fixtures hidden in eaves, cameras on existing soffit conditions, no surface-mount antennas where you can see them.
New builds along Beach Drive
New construction on Beach Drive and similar Oak Bay waterfront streets is a different brief entirely. The technology is designed in at schematic — full Crestron or Lutron HomeWorks, layered architectural lighting, integrated audio-video, motorised shading and drapery, climate integration, security, networking. Every system runs through one platform.
The Beachside residence (see the portfolio entry) is the Wenner reference for this kind of work: a landmark seaside build with layered lighting and shading, a quiet whole-home audio scheme, and an integration brief that disappears into the architecture rather than competing with it.
What to specify (in order of how early to bring us in)
- Architectural lighting — at schematic. Layered ambient/task/accent/decorative, on a Lutron HomeWorks or Crestron platform. Keypads engraved to match the metal palette. Scene programming so the homeowner has one button for “Dinner” instead of fifteen dimmers. The fixtures need to be on the architectural drawings before framing begins.
- Electrical drawing set — at schematic, on the same scale as the architectural set. RCPs, panel schedules, conduit layouts.
- Motorised shading and drapery — at design development. Fabric, hardware, side channels, headers all need to coordinate with the interior designer and the millwork sub-trade.
- Audio and video integration — at design development. Speaker locations, equipment closet, theatre room geometry.
- Climate integration — during construction documents. HVAC by your mechanical contractor, controls integrated into Crestron or Lutron.
- Security, surveillance and access — during construction documents. Camera locations, alarm coverage, smart locks.
What it costs
A whole-home Crestron or Lutron HomeWorks system in a luxury Oak Bay custom build typically lands between $80,000 and $400,000+ for the technology scope, depending on home size, system depth, and how much sits on the platform. The technology budget is usually 4–8% of the home’s overall construction cost.
Wenner produces three Design Packages — Foundation, Premier, and Estate — sized to project complexity. The package drives the budget conversation rather than a parts list.
Heritage retrofit budgets are different
A Lutron RadioRA 3 retrofit on a heritage Uplands or Estevan Village home — lighting only, no full integration — typically runs $25,000–$75,000. Add audio-video, motorised shading, and security and you’re back into the same range as a new build for that scope.
Next step
Book a Centre Visit at the Hillside Avenue Experience Centre — ten minutes from Oak Bay. Bring your architect, your interior designer, and your builder if you have them. An hour with the work in front of you is the fastest way to align the team on what the technology scope can be.
See also: Smart home automation in Victoria and the Oak Bay smart-home market page.