Rewiring Design and Construction: A new breed of tech startups setting out to disrupt the construction phase

Walk onto any commercial construction site, and you’ll likely see a familiar story unfolding: steel and concrete rising according to plan, mechanical and electrical systems being roughed in—and only then does someone start worrying about modern technology, interoperability, and all the new solutions available today to make buildings more efficient and better for the occupants. 

In traditional plan-spec or design-build processes, technology is treated as a mere add-on. The result is a disjointed workflow where critical tech decisions are made late, shoehorned in after core systems (if at all), leading to inefficiencies and costly retrofits. In the rush to finish construction, building technology often becomes an afterthought—introduced too late in the process to be effectively integrated, or only considered if the project has a substantial IT budget. 

This oversight means systems that should work in harmony end up in silos. I’ll never forget my 8th day on a hospital construction site, when, as the controls contractor, I read a small piece of fine print on the plans that said “parking garage snowmelt system should be integrated into the BAS front end”. Months, if not years, into the design process, this was the first time that integration between two systems was even considered by anyone but the designer who had written the note.

Why does this happen? A big factor is misaligned incentives and fragmented responsibilities. Architects focus on form and compliance, mechanical and electrical engineers stick to traditional scopes (comfort, code, power distribution), and contractors just want to deliver on time and under budget. 

Each critical role “staying in their lane” can result in technology stacks that weren’t what anyone wanted. Each trade optimizes for itself, and the owner or facility manager is left holding the bag, trying to make disparate systems work together after handover. We’ve heard numerous stories of essentially retrofitting a brand-new building with the tech that should have been planned from day one. Leaving technology as an afterthought is not just a technical snafu—it’s a budget killer, schedule killer, and outcome killer.

We’ve discussed ad nauseam how to apply smarter service providers to fix this process. A high-quality master systems integrator (MSI) and design consultant can make the same old siloed technologies work better together. The MSI, as Brian Turner, CEO of OTI puts it, is there to “seek to understand what the owner’s project requirements are, and what technology and integration is needed to get there.” 

In part 3 of our 5 Vital Roles article, the MSI is described as analogous to FlexSeal. Got a hole in your bucket (aka siloed systems)? Simply patch it up with an MSI!

But what if the systems themselves had integration fundamentally designed into them so that there were fewer holes to patch? What if developers started selecting technology that was actually designed to cross traditional silos from the start? 

We’re now seeing a new breed of technology startups emerge with products designed to alleviate common integration issues and prompt the conversation of technology decisions earlier in the building design process. Two notable examples are Overcast Innovations and Domatic—companies that embed intelligence directly into the building infrastructure and push technology decisions much earlier in the project timeline. 

Their approaches differ (Overcast tackles physical integration via modular assemblies, while Domatic reinvents the electrical/data backbone); however, both are converging on the same realization: the only way to construct truly smart, efficient buildings is to integrate intelligence from the start.

Overcast Innovations is an offshoot of McKinstry, a well-respected MEP firm with operations in 27 states, and Armstrong World Industries, an international designer and manufacturer of wall and ceiling materials. Overcast delivers prefabricated modular ceiling systems called “Clouds and In-Grid Panels,” that come with lighting, sensors, air distribution, HVAC, life safety, and other device-layer components as a finished assembly. These plug-and-play ceiling units arrive at the job site ready to be hoisted into place, already containing the brains and brawn of multiple building systems.

Domatic, on the other hand, addresses the problem at the wiring level with a low-voltage infrastructure that carries power and data simultaneously over a single cable. Rather than running separate high-voltage cables for power and Ethernet or specialty bus lines for controls, Domatic’s system uses a unified DC power bus and intelligent hubs to energize and connect everything from lights to sensors to window shades on one network. In other words, Domatic is effectively merging the electrical and IT backbones into one, so that any device plugged into their network is instantly powered and connected by design.

By embedding smarts in the fabric of a building, these solutions illustrate a path forward where technology is no longer an afterthought. “Smart building success doesn’t start at occupancy—it starts at design,” as Robb Andrade, Managing Director at Overcast Innovations, put it.

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Integrating Tech from Day One: Overcast’s Modular Smart Ceilings

In a traditional build, after the structure is up, you’d have ductwork and air diffusers installed by mechanical contractors, light fixtures and wiring put in by electricians, fire sprinklers by fire protection crews, sensors and speakers by low-voltage technicians—all jockeying for space above the ceiling, often clashing and requiring rework. 

Overcast turns that chaos into a coordinated product. Their ceiling assemblies are built and tested off-site, ensuring that the components don’t conflict physically or electronically. The factory fabrication provides much better quality than what can be achieved by building on-site. And when the owner wants to make future upgrades, a modular system designed for it can make that far easier. It requires just swapping a panel or a plug-in component, rather than a full demo.

On site, installation becomes a matter of plug-and-play: lift the module and connect a few main interfaces, and you’ve instantly installed several systems at once.

But it’s less about the ceiling and more about fundamentally shifting when and how MEP decisions get made. With Overcast, the coordination between architecture and all those systems happens upfront during design and prefabrication. 

“We make it so that the architects and the designers have to think about technology much earlier in the process than they normally would, and it’s all of the technology required to run the building. So, why would we think about it so late in the process?
—Robb Andrade

From an engineering perspective, Overcast is bringing traditionally disconnected disciplines together under one umbrella, forcing them to collaborate early. The payoff of this early collaboration shows up in downstream benefits to all stakeholders. 

By integrating multiple systems, you eliminate redundant cabling, mounts, and multiple trades cutting into the same ceiling tile three times. The savings from that efficiency can offset the added cost of high-tech components, making a smarter building achievable within a conventional budget.

Better yet, it also improves the final product for the architect. Architects often feel they lose ceiling design control when every trade punches holes and adds their devices randomly (colloquially referred to as “ceiling acne”). However, with a modular, coordinated ceiling, the design intent (both aesthetic and functional) is preserved while still accommodating all the necessary systems. This is evident in Overcast’s recent partnership with Arktura, an architectural metals firm, with which they develop aesthetically pleasing ceiling panels; the brains of the Overcast solution are hidden behind the scenes. 

Finally, integrating multiple systems into one physical platform brings us that much closer to a feasible digital twin at the end of construction. As Andrade explains, “Each panel contains a QR code that has all of the information that any CMMS would want, about every device when it was installed, who's the manufacturer, all this stuff. You snap the QR code with your phone, it starts to generate a work order. So we're the warranty management, but also we're the vendor manager during the warranty period.” The Overcast team is just scratching the surface of what’s possible as a living, breathing as-built for every device in the ceiling.

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One Wire for Power and Data: Domatic’s Unified Low-Voltage Infrastructure

If Overcast is simplifying the physical integration of building systems, Domatic is simplifying the nervous system of the building—the wiring and communications that connect everything. Anyone who has peeked above the ceiling or inside electrical closets of a commercial building knows it’s a spaghetti of high-voltage cables, low-voltage control wires, data Ethernet cables, coaxial cables, and so on. 

The Domatic team challenges this outdated infrastructure: What if wiring up devices in a building was as easy as plugging a USB device into a computer?

Domatic’s solution is a 50-volt DC bus that runs on 18-gauge cable (a class 2 power distribution, which is low-voltage and inherently safer than 120V or 277V AC). Devices that need power—LED lights, sensors, thermostats, blind motors, and more, can tap into this DC bus using any termination method, even a simple wire nut.

The same wire also provides network connectivity using the IEEE 1901 protocol of modulation, so that each device is not only powered but is online and addressable. Each fixture or device that’s “Domatic-enabled” has a small module that allows it to handshake with the network, drawing the power it needs and reporting data back, with no on-site configuration required. The bandwidth of this network is up to 100 Mbps, meaning it’s not only useful for control, but for larger packets of data like audio and video as well. 

This approach is conceptually similar to Power over Ethernet (PoE), which also delivers power and data over a single cable. But unlike PoE, which is typically limited to lower-wattage loads like cameras and access points, Domatic’s infrastructure supports a broader range of building devices—including lights, sensors, and shades—at higher power levels. Other advantages Domatic’s solution offers over PoE include arbitrary topology (connect devices in whatever order, no home-runs necessary) and a single, thin wire pair which doesn’t require special terminations like RJ45, and saves significant space in crammed IDF/MDF closets.

Under the hood, a Domatic Power Hub (roughly analogous to a managed Ethernet switch, router, and a server) takes in 48V DC power from either an ACDC converter or a building-wide DC power distribution system, breaks it up into ten NEC Class 2 conforming power sources, and injects a communication network into the power it distributes, giving every fixture in the building both power an and IP address.

While Overcast’s ceiling panels simplify on-site installation for multiple trades, Domatic’s low-voltage DC setup streamlines the installation and termination of device wiring. It eliminates the need for pricey and hard-to-find high-voltage electricians in many parts of the installation. The opposite is also true: buildings that may not have the budget for low-voltage control contractors can use their standard electricians to complete the work.

“In the electrical code, it’s called class 2 power. The number of pages in the electrical code is typically around 9,100. For class 2 power, it drops down to five pages. It’s a significant reduction in the code requirements around the installation. When builders hear that this is low voltage, they perk up and say, I see why this can help us.” 
— Jim Baldwin, CEO of Domatic

The safety benefits are notable: 50VDC is below the shock hazard threshold, meaning the risks during installation and reconfiguration are much lower and can be done with hot wires. It also means potentially lower material costs (no conduit, lighter-gauge wiring) and more flexibility.

From an integration standpoint, Domatic’s power-and-data unified backbone breaks down the wall between electrical and IT. For more complex buildings, it effectively forces early consideration of where devices will be placed and how they will communicate, as the entire network, power schematics, and design can be completed simultaneously. For simpler buildings, it provides an opportunity to incorporate IoT devices into a building without needing to worry about network design.

The payback is significant simplification later. A building wired with Domatic has devices communicating the moment they have power. “People are pulling multiple cables to a conference room sensor that costs $100. One for power and one for network—it’s absurd. We can do it all with one wire now, and we can avoid the time spent on configuration like you would with a wireless connection,” explains Baldwin. Facility managers can monitor every light, sensor, and plug load from a central interface (the “Domatic Cloud”), since connectivity is inherent rather than an add-on. 

Of course, Domatic’s approach requires a paradigm shift. It means the electrical design in a project must incorporate a DC network from the outset, but doing so drastically simplifies the design of network connectivity to devices. In a typical implementation, you might still have AC circuits for heavy equipment and backup, but all of the lights, ventilation fans, sensors, and control devices could be on the Domatic network. This can drastically reduce the number of AC branch circuits and panels needed.

Additionally, device selection must favor those that can operate on that network. The Domatic team recognizes wider adoption will depend on device manufacturers embracing the concept. They provide development kits for fixture manufacturers. They are seeding an ecosystem where, for instance, a lighting company can easily build a Domatic-compatible fixture by swapping in a Domatic-compatible driver, much like they to do support other control protocols like 0-10 or Dali. They offer open APIs to get information from the Domatic Cloud to other building applications. “A typical building leaves a massive amount of data on the floor. We are able to cost-effectively capture everything that happens into our data warehouse, where you can create the analytics you always wanted but couldn't justify,” says Baldwin.

As the larger adoption of this technology occurs, the silos between electricity for power and electricity for network will (theoretically) break down and data on your systems will be the default, not the afterthought.

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Disrupting Archaic Processes Takes a Village

Integrating smart technology early in design can break down traditional barriers, but only if every stakeholder aligns behind the change. Brian Turner, CEO of OTI (an MSI) explained in a recent Nexus Labs event, “The ability to select vendors that are willing to partner and want to participate in an integrated facility and want to be part of a community that’s delivering these outcomes for the owners is paramount. That’s what drives success in these projects.” 

Architects are key to setting the stage, yet their primary focus on spatial planning and aesthetics means that technology integration is often outside their core priorities. If smart systems are to be embedded from the start, architects need support to coordinate those systems without detracting from design intent. The Arktura/Overcast ceiling panels serve as a great example of embedding technology without detracting from the design. 

Contractors, for their part, must be willing to adopt new installation methods and sequencing. Both Overcast and Domatic’s solutions demand a shift from business-as-usual practices on the job site, requiring retraining and early coordination among trades.

Technology vendors must stop competing against one another and instead focus on competing against the status quo. Partnership and product compatibility universally increase the adoption of technology.

Building owners have the most crucial role: they must champion innovation and provide the mandate to consider new systems during design. They need to understand and communicate the broader picture of how upfront technology investment can save time and money overall. It often takes an internal “smart building champion” to drive this vision, which is why it’s crucial for owners to empower technology champions who can navigate organizational hurdles. 

Disruption isn’t a solo act. Transforming archaic construction processes requires a village of committed stakeholders working in unison. That collective approach is the only way to ensure early tech integration delivers on its promise of smarter, more efficient buildings.