That Time We Talked About the New Moen U Shower Controller

This is episode number 54 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. Man, we are so glad that you could be with us today. We have a really cool high-techy tech geek show for you today. I'm gonna be talking about some, some interesting technology Technological advances in showers.

Technological advances in showers. Like, really, how technologically advanced can you get in a shower?

That's right, we're not using water anymore.

It's like this new air bath.

That's right, it'll be great.

Oh man, wow.

So anyway, if you haven't yet, subscribe button, hit it. Follow button, hit it. Thumbs up button, hit it. Review, Do the review.

Yeah, I was hoping you would say hit it.

Hit that review.

Dude, do it.

Send us the virtual punch in the face.

There you go.

Tell us you love us.

Yeah.

Or that you don't.

Well, I'm okay with that too.

We want to hear either way.

Honesty is the best policy.

Yeah, maybe you just got, you know, you just got a lot of tension built up and you're like, we can— I can just take this out on Craig and Kevin. That's fine, we can take it.

Negative podcast reviews are hilarious to me.

Kevin can take it.

Yeah, you're sensitive.

I'm likely to fire back. Listen, podcast reviewer, I have things to say about your comments.

You just shut it down.

I'm going to go hire a grammar teacher.

Wow!

Someone who didn't leave a bad review was my buddy Ronnie Kendrick, who sent me an email about our mortgage episode. He was just telling us how much he enjoyed the episode. I wanted to give him a shout-out for sending us an email and letting us know how much he enjoyed that. It was the episode with Hailey Thayer. over there, and he was just intrigued by all the different ways that she was maneuvering mortgages and, and just looking at, uh, the financial market. So thank you, Ronnie.

Well, how you doing, dude?

I'm doing good. I mean, like, we are neck deep in house remodel. Yeah, the, the remodel, the weird.

Yes.

So it's, uh, it's, it's coming along, um, but we, uh, we've We're almost done with the upstairs and we're moving into the downstairs.

Okay.

And the goal right now is to clean up the downstairs enough to when they're completely done with the upstairs, we can just shimmy on up the stairs and live up there for a couple weeks while they finish the downstairs.

Man, that'll be fun.

Well—

For me.

To observe the crazy. So—

And, and, and we— you gotta So there's the first floor, the second floor, the second and a half floor, then the third half of the third floor.

So there's the third floor, the second, the third floor, second and a half floor, second floor, and then the first floor.

There you go.

Right.

That's unusual in and of itself.

Yes, so.

But kind of awesome.

They finished, it's hard to describe because like the ceiling is over all 3 of those floors upstairs.

Yes, second, second and a half, and third.

Yes. And so they're done with that.

Okay.

Um, you know, barring a few trim pieces and things like that, the major overhaul is done.

Yeah.

And then they did all the flooring on the second floor, and now they're finishing up the tile on the second and a half floor.

And you were telling me you got a sick deal on flooring.

Oh yeah.

And you— he— for those of you who don't know Craig, like, he can find a deal and, and And he struck gold.

I did. I forget what it was like. I want to say it was like 85 cents a square foot is what I ended up paying for like this, like this top-notch flooring.

Yeah, which is, which is a really good price for flooring, for laminate hardwood flooring. It's still— that's a good price.

Yeah.

But considering the quality of what you got, I mean, that's probably close to $3 a square foot normally, isn't it?

If not more.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So to get it for that price, it's just—

I mean, the stuff I was finding that was like it was Anywhere from like $275 to $350 a square foot.

Man.

Which, I mean, that adds up quick.

Yeah.

So, and like, so like when you look at like, you know, just take 1,500 square feet and just, you know, do that fun math problem in your head and it's astronomically different.

That's $4,500 just in materials.

Yes.

Versus less than $1,500. I mean, that's easy math, really.

Right.

That's just materials. I mean, your installation's gonna be the same no matter what.

Right, yeah, so I got a crazy good deal and it looks great and everyone's happy about it and so it's fun. But like the craziest thing that happened this week, man, and like again, like it wouldn't happen in like anybody else's house but mine. So part of what we're doing is because they're finishing the upstairs, we're trying to do some prep work downstairs so that they can move a little bit quicker. when they come in. And one of the big projects that they're doing is our master bath.

Okay.

And so I told them, I was like, look, I will demo the master bath because I actually enjoy it. Yeah, I'm pretty good at it.

Um, it's hard to not be good at demo.

Yeah, I mean, just rip it out. That's right. So, but I mean, like, there, there is some skill involved. I mean, because there's like certain things that you don't want to mess up.

So especially in a bathroom, right? Yeah.

So I was, I was having to, you know, and take my time a little bit and make sure it was done right. And that's the other part is like, you know, I think sometimes demos are done a little too aggressively.

Yeah.

And you end up having to, you know, pay a little bit more to fix other people's problems.

Sure.

Um, not with these guys, but I've just experienced that before. But anyway, so like all the cabinets and doors in my house, whoever originally built it, like handmade everything. Um, and like, you might be thinking, well, like, that's just awful that you had to like tear that apart. And it's like, no, they weren't that pretty. Um, they weren't that good. So anyway, I'm demoing the bathroom. I'm, I'm basically ripping it down to the studs so that they're— because they're gonna come in and put like a walk-in shower and, you know, all the stuff that we've wanted. Um, so anyway, I'm taking the cabinets out, and when I take out, there's this like really long, tall cabinet on one side that was like a medicine cabinet.

Yeah.

But it was like for towels and for all kinds of stuff. 3-story cabinet. Yeah. So I'm taking it apart and I get down to the bottom and it's got like the— I forget what you call it, but the boards that go across the bottom that hold everything up. Okay, so I'm getting it out and as I pull out the floor of the cabinet, there's like this plastic circle on the ground and I'm like, well, that's weird. I mean, like, who sticks like a big drain over here? And I'm like, maybe they had it flipped at some point or something. Who knows? But I mean, it was— it's probably 4 or 5 inches in diameter. I mean, like, it's a, it's

a big hole. Maybe even bigger, maybe more like 6 inches.

Okay.

It's a big hole.

Yeah.

I'm like, that's just bizarre.

Yeah.

I was like, I'll deal with that in a second. I don't, I don't have the space for that right now. So I finished pulling out the rest of the cabinets, get everything out, out to the trash pile, and I come back in. I'm like, all right, let me figure out what this thing is. So I— and it's got like a little lid lip on it. So I'm like, all right, this could be like the worst decision of my life, but I'm gonna pull this thing up. So I pull it up And underneath it is a floor safe.

What?

Yes.

A floor safe?

A floor safe. Like, I popped the top and there's like the little dial with all the numbers on it. And it's got like a little handle where like, when you know the combination, you can pull it out. And I'm looking at it going, why?

What? And it's underneath the cabinet?

Underneath the cabinet.

Underneath the flooring of the cabinet?

Yes.

You could never access this unless you're demoing the cabinets like you did.

Well, maybe.

Okay.

Because, you know, I'd never messed with the flooring of that cabinet before.

Okay.

And it wasn't really nailed down.

Oh, so it may have just been hidden.

It may have just been hidden.

Wow.

But, but yeah, not easily accessible. And because it wasn't easily accessible, I was like, I gotta know if there's something in there.

Yeah, because like, I'm sure that, you know, taped to the side of the cabinet somewhere wasn't the combination?

No. Well, not only that, like, the dial was like stuck.

Of course it was.

So I mean, we, we eventually like jimmied it loose with some, uh, some pliers.

Okay.

Um, and once we, once we jarred it loose, it spun pretty good.

Okay.

But we still didn't know the combination.

Sure.

And I was like, well, I guess I could hire like a locksmith to come over and and get it open, but that's probably gonna cost me a couple hundred bucks.

Right.

And if there's nothing in it, then I'll just be pissed.

Yeah.

So anyway, one of my contractor guys was like, why don't we just drill a hole through it?

Hmm.

And I was like, right, that could actually work.

Yeah.

So we did. We drilled a hole through the face of it. Okay.

That's what they did on The Italian Job.

Well, I taught them everything they know.

Okay. If you drill in the wrong spot, it just locks forever.

Right.

Okay.

Yeah, so But anyway, so I was like, well, so anyway, he had a drill that could go through it.

Okay.

And he had the right kind of bit and everything. And I had an endoscope.

Oh.

And so, uh, he drilled a big enough hole and I stuck the endoscope down in there and was just, you know, completely devastated. There was nothing in that safe.

Of course.

So it was still a fun find. I mean, it was just a fun little adventure, you know.

Dude.

I'm just gonna cover it up now.

But of all the things that you could find, Wow.

You know, my big hope was that like, you know, all right, you know, this house has been a lot of trouble. Maybe this—

This was it.

This will be the thing that makes up for all of it.

Yes, there's diamonds in there.

And it was nothing. There's nothing in there.

Well, that's frustrating. Maybe there's a safe under the safe. There could be.

The whole house could be a giant trapdoor.

Straight to hell. That's right.

Wouldn't surprise me. Right through the second and a half floor.

Oh yeah, yeah, Dante's third ring is down there.

We'll find out when we pull up the, the first floor flooring.

Okay.

I'm sure there'll be all sorts of fun surprises.

I'm sure there will be.

There's been surprises, fun surprises around every corner.

Yeah, but the good news is, uh, I was talking to your wife last night and she was like, I like my house again.

Yeah.

So there's that.

There is that. So if Mama's happy Papa's happy.

Absolutely. No, that's good stuff.

Well, anyway, part of why we want to talk about this is because we're gutting my bathroom.

Yeah, I'm not, you are.

Well, I— yeah, well, we'll eventually recruit you.

Okay.

Yeah, you'll do some labor.

Okay, but prove it.

Yeah.

I have never before, so—

Um, well, you've done some work in here.

That's true.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So anyway, one of the big things, the big piece in our bathroom is going to be the shower.

Yeah.

And I think, I think most people will agree that like, that's, that's one of the most important things in the house.

That, that's going to be the thing that you value most in a bathroom. And, you know, whether or not you plan to stay in this house forever, I think everyone should have in their mind, if I don't stay in this house forever, What's something that's gonna pop that people are gonna go, hey, I wanna buy this house because of that.

Yeah.

And kitchens and bathrooms are where that happens.

Absolutely.

And the shower specifically, you get a good shower in there, people are gonna be like, this is my place to come relax, you know, just kinda regenerate for, you know, whatever I'm about to do or have just done, and this is my opportunity. So, no, it makes a lot of sense that this would kinda be your money shot.

Yeah, and so we're, I mean, like, we're expanding that and making it bigger and nicer and more powerful, whatever you wanna. So anyway, I came across this new thing by Moen. That's a good brand. And Moen has developed this new smart shower controller.

Yeah.

And when I initially found it, I sent it to Kevin because like the, I think the site I was looking at it on said it was like $1,500. Which is just insane. And that was like for like the low-end model. And then the top-tier model was like $2,400 or something. And really the big difference between the two is like the lower tier has a 2 output and the upper tier has a 4 output.

Yeah, so the difference there is the outputs determine how many spouts you can have, so to speak. So, you know, you got your main shower head, maybe a handheld, and a lot of, you know, a lot of these newer showers, they're coming out with body jets and stuff like that. So, right. that's where the outputs come. So you either have 2 or 4, and, and, and you can put multiple body jets on one, right? It depends on how much, uh, water flow you want out of each body jet.

Yeah. And I think probably the best way to think about it is like sprinkler zones.

Yeah, it's a good way to put it.

Yeah. And, and I'm— I didn't really get too deep into this. Do you— did you, did you find out if like you could have like multiple going at one time? Yeah.

Yeah. And that's, that's kind of the with this controller, you can control which ones are going, right? And, and, and depending on, uh, the scene that you're using at the time, you can program it for all of them to be on or for 1 or 2 of them to be on.

Yeah.

Uh, that sort of thing. Now, the one thing that you can't control, and this is obvious, is like if you, if you've got 2 body jets on 1 output, Both of those are going to be on at the same time.

No matter what. No matter what. Yeah.

I mean, you can't individually do that off of one output.

Yeah. And I think, I think one of the other differences, and correct me if I'm wrong here, I think the lower tier model had 2 presets and the upper tier had 4 presets.

Uh, no, no, no. You can do multiple presets.

What I mean, like, like they had like the 1 and the 2 button, you know, like that was like, that's the one, that's a preset, and then a number 2, that's like a preset.

Well, so So maybe we're talking about something different here, but like for instance, you and your wife can have different settings and you can do multiple, I said scenes, I'm not sure that that's the exact word, but it makes sense to me. So you can have like a morning shower scene.

Okay.

And then a workout scene. I got you. And so maybe your morning shower is at one temperature with Just the regular, uh, you know, shower head, right? And then maybe your workout one's like, nope, I need more relaxation. Like, I want, I want a different temperature. I want it a little cooler, right? And I want all the body jets going.

Okay, can you, can you pull up a picture of the thing on your computer? Because I, yeah, and I, because I think you're right. I think that's true like through the app, but I think on the physical device it only has like a 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Yes, that is true. Yeah, depending on what you get.

So, yeah. And so, so I mean, right off the bat, there you go. It does have its own app.

Yes.

That you can control the shower from your phone, which may seem like counterintuitive because like you shouldn't take your phone into the shower. Right. Which is true. Yes. You shouldn't do that. And we'll get into this a little bit more, but like there's a reason why you want to have that control from your phone.

Yeah. Yeah. You're— they're not expecting you to take your phone in with you at all.

Yeah.

But So let's just kind of start at the beginning with this thing. So the, the thing that you need to know right off the bat is that, um, that you— if you're gonna install this thing in your house, 2 things you need to know. Number one, you probably need someone who knows what they're doing, a professional plumber, right, to install this thing. Now, if you're— if you've got plumbing experience, it's easy enough to do that if you know what you're doing, you could do it.

Mm-hmm.

But I mean, this is, this is the second thing you need to know is that this is an in-wall installation.

Right.

This is not something that is an aftermarket you can just put on.

It is the valve.

It is, yeah. So there's, there's no actual handles for you to turn the water on and off, you know, the hot water, cold water separate, or just the one lever, so to speak, that, that controls it. This replaces that.

Right.

And so, you know, you can't just put this on somewhere else. It needs to be an in-wall installation. Now, you can put it under a cabinet if you want to, if it's right next to your shower, but you, you still are— this is a real install. This isn't an add-on.

Right.

So that's the thing. That's the reason that, like, since it's gonna be in your wall, you want to make sure you have no leaks. You want to make sure that everything is, is up to code and right exactly where it needs to be. The other thing is that this thing requires AC power. Right.

I was gonna say you're gonna have to run electrical through the wall as well. I mean, we're not typically usually going—

Right, exactly. And so, you know, you got to have a GFCI outlet, which if you don't know what that is, it's just an outlet that is rated to be in a wet space. Everybody that has a house up to code here in the United States at least is gonna have within 6 feet of a water source, if you've got an outlet, uh, it's gonna have the, the little buttons on it that will trip.

Yeah.

If it's easy to trip it if, if there's water close. So, um, you know, you gotta have one of those installed. So, uh, most people don't just have one of those.

Yeah.

In their wall next to the, next to the shower. So Uh, you're gonna have to have an electrician come out and do that, and you're gonna have to have a plumber come out and, and install this thing. Now, what that means is, to your point, you really— the, the best way to do this, to have this specific device we're talking about, uh, which is called the U by Moen, uh, and it's just the letter U, um, is if you're in new construction or doing exactly what you're doing, which is kind of a gut job remodel.

Yeah. Yeah, and I, I think, I think one of the, one of the things you mentioned is absolutely crucial to mention. Like, there's no more handles. No, with this thing, I mean, this is the thing that turns your water on, this is the thing that turns your water off, this is the thing that adjusts, adjusts the hot and the cold. Yep, everything. Yes, it's controlled through this module.

Yes, the best way to kind of think of it is like a lot of showers now do not have separate uh, hot and cold, uh, valves. There's a reason for that, and the reason for that is because kids were getting burned. Yeah, they're getting burned by just going and turning the hot water on. Now you can't really do that because you've got the lever that is one lever, and even if you turn it all the way to hot, it is not just blazing hot water coming out. Um, so, so the way to think about this is you've This controller, if you want it hotter, you press the up button, and just like you would move the lever, you know, a little bit hotter. Or if you want it cooler, you

press the down button and it's— it'll, it'll reduce the heat at that point.

Yeah, and I got— I mean, since we're talking about temperature, this, this is actually one of the things I thought was one of the cooler features for this deal, is, you know, you eventually can kind of figure out like what's your perfect temperature.

Yeah, you almost have your same notch level whenever you turn your— right, your shower on. You know, okay, I wait long enough, I just put it right here and it'll be ready whenever I'm ready.

Exactly.

What this—

what this allows you to do, and this kind of ties back into why you have the app, is you say like, look, I want the— I want the water at 102 degrees because that's my setting.

Yeah.

And this device will tell you when the water is at 102 degrees coming out of the shower.

Yes.

And so like you no longer have to be like going in there because I, I've lived in a house before where it's like where it took me like 5 minutes to get the temperature right.

Yeah.

Because I mean, I don't know what it was. It may have been a long shot away from the, the hot water heater or something like that, but it just took a while to get the temperature just right. So you're sitting there waiting and waiting, sticking your hand in the water, sticking your hand in the water. No, it's not right yet. Um, and but this one just says like, look, we'll tell you when it's ready. And then it'll send you a notification to your phone. Or, um, and, you know, we'll probably get into this a little bit more, but like it works with Alexa, it works with HomeKit, it works with Google Home currently. And so you now have voice control over this device.

Yeah.

So it's not, you know, it's not unreasonable to be in the kitchen, you know, which in my house is up A story and a half to say, you know, Alexa, get me a shower started.

Right.

Let me know when the temperature's ready.

Yeah.

And she would just click the water. I mean, and then it would turn the water on downstairs and get my shower ready.

Yes. And the other thing it'll do is it'll even pause it for you.

Yeah.

Until you're ready.

Yeah, it'll get the temp up and then turn the water off.

Yeah. Now, let's just kind of back up for a moment and say that this is not the newest technology as far as temperature goes. A lot of dishwashers have this feature, you may not even know it, but a lot of newer dishwashers, they have a sensor that if the water is not hot enough, maybe someone's taking a shower, multiple people have taken a shower, and the water is not hot enough inside the dishwasher, it will stop until the water is ready, and then it will keep washing because it knows in order to get your dishes clean, it has to be a certain temperature.

Right.

So this, this type of technology has been around for a while, but they're just now— this is the first device ever that does this type of thing where it, it'll sense the temperature that you want it to be and have it completely ready for you whenever you're ready to go.

Yeah, and I haven't, I haven't done a deep dive into like what all the app will do, but I mean like just, just off first glance, I mean it will give you those scenes like what you're talking about. So like you can— so like, and multiple people can be logged into this thing. So like your wife can have her own settings, you can have your own settings if you're, you know, if you have a bathroom that kids have access to and you want them using it, I mean, they— I guess they could, they could have their, their settings as well.

Yes.

Um, so it's, it's a pretty cool device.

Yeah, you don't have to set everything up on the device itself, but there is a touchscreen. Uh, actually it's not a touchscreen, there is a—

it's just an LED screen.

It's an LED screen with buttons on it. Yeah, that can control it when you're in the shower.

Yeah.

Uh, but you're right, most of the work that, that you need to set up the scenes and set up, you know, exactly how you want it to perform, you just do that through the app. So you'd be sitting on your couch figuring out, okay, this is where I want my temperature. And you can adjust it at any time. You can edit those.

Yeah.

At any time. And you can put multiple scenes in. So like I said earlier, you know, maybe you've got a morning setting to where you want it a certain way. And maybe in the summer you want it different than you do in the winter.

Yeah.

And you want to work one after you work out, or one whenever you come home from work. You can set all those things up, just, uh, tell it to go, and boom.

Yeah. And I think the, the Hue device itself, I mean, it has a lot of those tactile buttons and knobs. Not, not a lot, but like just enough to where, you know, if, if it's in a guest bathroom and someone wants to use that shower, they're going to be able to turn the shower on.

Yeah.

You know, and, and the LED screen really is more to tell you like temperature and function as to what's actually going on with me, like if it has multiple zones, which zone you're using.

Yes.

And what those temperatures are operating at.

Yeah. And you can— the other thing is like, let's say you've got your— you, you mentioned 102. 102 is your primary. You get in there and for whatever reason, like you just woke up and you're cold that morning, you want a little bit hotter, you can, you can bump it up. and you can make it hotter, or vice versa. If you want it a little bit colder for that, you just bump it down. And if you— let's say you have a 4-zone and you've got the body jets and, you know, you had it set to come on and for whatever reason you're just not feeling it that day, you can turn them off. So you can do a lot of the functionality

of this thing from the device in the shower.

Yeah.

Uh, but setting it up and just kind of have the accessibility of, of making it all function from your phone or your device is, is pretty handy.

Yeah. And also, like, you know, if, uh, like, I know my parents keep it like an Alexa in their bathroom. Yeah, mainly use it for like checking the weather and playing music while they're taking a shower or whatever.

Yeah.

But to have that option of, hey Alexa, turn the shower up by 2 degrees, like you're turning the volume up on the stereo. It's incredible.

It's a, it's a pretty interesting option for, for sure. And they've done a good job because they, like you said, they've integrated with Alexa, with HomeKit, and with Google Assistant.

So how does voice command work with HomeKit? Because I know you use that.

You use Siri?

Use Siri. Okay. Yeah. Is it, is it like voice activated, sort of like Alexa is?

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, you, you use Hey Siri and then—

But it's on your phone? It's on your phone or whatever device you got.

Yeah.

So you don't have to have like a HomePod.

No, you can use your phone.

Or the, the Apple TV really functions like, uh, the, the hub for that.

Yeah, but you're not— you can, you can use, uh, Hey Siri through the remote for the Apple TV. And my phone just went off. Through the, uh, through the, uh, remote for the Apple TV.

Okay, like the new ones?

The new— yeah, the 4th generation ones.

Right.

Uh, but They also have the, you know, just like Alexa has their pods or whatever, Apple has one. Most people don't buy one because they're horrible, um, but, uh, they're not nearly as good as the Alexa devices are as far as—

I just think their price point was off.

Yeah, they're, they're high, and they're just— the Siri functionality on them is not quite as good as Alexa's is, right? And so, but, you know, you've got if you've got an Alexa, if you have a HomeKit device, or if you've got a Google Assistant device, whether it's the Home or their various options as well. Um, yeah, you could be anywhere in your house, you have that, that device, tell it what you want it to do, and then boom, it'll do it.

Nice.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty incredible.

So, um, like we said, and neither one of us know how the Google Home stuff works. I think it's just like a Google.

But yeah, it's very, very similar.

Yeah.

Um, so there's a couple of things that, that it, that it also has that are, that are really cool features. One of them is you can do a shower length. So, you know, let's say you're trying to, in the morning, you're trying to really conserve time. Uh, you can tell it, hey, I want an 8-minute shower, and after 8 minutes it's just gonna shut the water off.

Get the soap out your eyes. That's right.

So you just gotta know You know, so you can do that. Um, the other thing is, um, it will update itself. So if there's ever some new options or updates, uh, that it needs, it's Wi-Fi, so it'll update itself automatically. You'll get a push notification on your phone, hey, it's been updated.

Yeah. Um, so, and is that primarily how it connects, or is it also Bluetooth?

I think it primarily connects through Wi-Fi.

Okay.

Now That brings up a whole new point. Um, so this thing's electric, right? You have to plug it in.

Yes.

For it to work. So let's say you're, you know, there's a, there's a power outage and for— you need to take a shower. I can't turn the water on because I have no knobs. But, you know, if I had just a regular shower with a regular knob Water is not controlled by electricity. So, um, what, what they've done is they've basically given you a battery backup option. It's more expensive, but it's not outrageously more expensive to get the battery backup option, right? You plug the battery backup into, uh, the device itself, and it goes in the wall as well, and it gives you 3 days of access.

Oh, wow.

Um, beyond, you know, having no power. So they've tried to do their best to, uh, kind of mitigate problems. For this being an inaugural run at a smart device, they've really hit a home run.

Seems like it.

In a lot of ways. I mean, as long as the thing functions— and we don't either one have it, uh, but as long as it functions the way they say it functions, uh, and, and And I mentioned this earlier just kind of in passing, but Moen is not a, a little company.

No.

I mean, it's like Delta, and they, they're, they're probably right next to Delta as far as the number of products that they make, the tenure of business that they've done, then the amount of business that they've done. Really great high-quality materials coming out of Moen brand. So I, I feel very, very confident that if someone were to install this, they would be happy with the product.

Well, and I was, I was much more confident once I saw the price on Amazon.

Yes, that, that really made a big difference. Do we want to talk about it?

Well, absolutely, because I mean, like I already mentioned earlier, when I found it initially, it was like $1,500 or $2,500. Yeah, which is, I mean, like when I saw what it was, I was like, okay, I could I mean, I could kind of see you— somebody paying that much.

Okay, so, so let's look at it this way. I mean, you're going to have to buy, um, some things for your shower, right? Now you're gonna buy a shower head, and most of the time it's gonna come with a controller, right?

Yes.

It's gonna come with a knob. Um, you're gonna buy the body jets, all that kind of stuff. And, and seriously, you can spend a ton of money or a little bit of money, just kind of depending on what you want. But, um, if you're just going with a standard, uh, you, you want to have a shower head and maybe a handheld, or maybe just a shower head, it's just a simple shower, you're gonna want to go with a 2-outlet controller. And on Amazon right now, as of, you know, the middle of September 2019, it's $360.

Yeah.

Now you got to remember, you got to get it installed, so that's gonna cost you some money on top of that. But if you're having someone install your stuff anyway, For them to do this is not out of— I mean, this— they've got to install stuff anyway, right? That this might, from what I can tell, this might take them an extra 30 minutes to hook up.

Yeah.

So if you're having to pay a plumber an extra 30 minutes when they're already there, I mean, you're talking what, like $50 or less? Maybe.

I don't know.

For labor. I mean, most plumbers are less than $100 an hour. So just consider that. But if you want the battery backup, you're going to pay a little bit more. So instead of the $360, it bumps the price up to $735. So $735, that comes with the battery backup so that you don't ever have to worry about power outages.

Yeah.

If you want to go with the 4-outlet controller, that one's $550. Yeah.

And I mean, like, At that point, like, if you've got 4 different sets of jets and, you know, all that kind of stuff, like, $550 is a drop in the bucket for that shower.

It really is. And I mean, the knobs that you have to have to turn all those things on. Yeah, I mean, that sounds annoying. It does. I mean, and again, when you come talk about resale, you, you show someone, I've got this controller Over— I've got 4 knobs in here for each of my body jets and everything else. It looks slick. Yeah, it's a good-looking device. And for $550, that might be the thing that sells someone on your house.

Well, I'll tell you one of the things that I've seen that's, that's really cool is this is one— like with the walk-in shower, one of the things that annoys me is that usually they usually end up putting the water flow and temperature control by the shower head.

Yes.

And so like, you're gonna have to stand in cold water in order to turn the water on.

Yes.

What I've seen with this thing is like, they usually end up like installing it like on another wall.

Yeah.

Or outside of the shower.

Yeah.

And so like, you don't have to be in there with the water when it's cold initially to turn the shower on. You just program in what you want, turn it on, and it'll tell you, hey, the temperature's ready now. It's fine to walk in.

That's right. And, and by the way, just so you know, Even if you don't buy this device and you want to put the knob somewhere else, you can do that.

You can do that. It's more expensive.

It is more expensive just because there's different connections you have to make, whereas it's in line with the shower head otherwise. Uh, but yeah, you, you absolutely can do that.

Yeah.

And so just consider that if you want to do the battery backup with the 4-outlet, uh, it does jump up pretty significantly, uh, to $1,285. Yeah, uh, so that's, that's a significant update or upgrade from 550, but peace of mind of if I, if I have no, uh, no electricity, that'll be really, really important.

So, and I gotta be honest, like, I mean, like, the battery backup's not that big of an appeal to me.

Okay.

I mean, just because like I have other showers.

Yeah.

And, you know, right.

And this is like, if I'm without my shower for a day, right, I'll be fine. Most likely this is a master shower only. install. And so most people have— maybe, who knows— most people have at least 2 bathrooms in this area.

Usually.

Usually. It's not always the case, uh, but the, the thing is, like, there's other ways around it. I mean, maybe you decide you're gonna put a generator on your house or something, you know.

I mean, it's exactly what I was thinking. I mean, like, if it's a 110 outlet, I mean, like it's no big deal.

Right.

General can handle that.

Right, exactly. So, um, so yeah, that's, uh, that's what you're looking at. Um, now, uh, one, one of the things I'm just noticing here is those prices are for the controller only. Uh, for the— you also have to have the valve. The valve is what can— what the controller use, you know, is controlling. The valve is what goes in the wall. The controller is what goes on the wall.

Yeah.

Uh, so, uh, If you want to buy both of them at the same time, which most people probably would, um, the 2-controller, uh, is $700 and the 4 is $1,250. So, uh, the part of the reason you would do that is the way they've got it broken up here on Amazon.

Mm-hmm.

Is you can buy like the outlet and the battery kit But there's not a— there's not an option here for the, the, the outlet, the battery kit, and the controller. So anyway, here's what you need to do. If you're interested in this, go to amazon.com, uh, through our link.

Yeah.

Use our link right there in the show notes. It's super easy to do. Um, that way you make sure you're actually looking at the thing that we're talking about. Um, click on the link and you can see all the prices right there.

Yeah, we'll make that available in the show notes.

Absolutely.

So, and it means it's a slick-looking device.

It really is. It really is.

I mean, I just— I mean, like, it— and I know we're like in a technologically advanced era, right? But like, this actually looks like something from the future.

It really does.

Yeah. So, and I'll tell you something else, man. A business that's operating like it's operating in the future is our new sponsor, Drone Man, these guys are—

they're doing some really cool stuff, man.

Yeah.

I'm impressed with them.

Yes.

I mean, any— anybody that is going to create a business around making my life easier, I'm instantly interested.

Yeah. And one of the things that just blows me away is that they're able to source quotes from multiple companies in one visit.

Yes. I mean, it really— it really takes all of the headache out of shopping for someone to come either do a new roof or solar on your house.

Yeah. And then, you know, to add on that, that we're going to send out an FAA-certified drone pilot. They're going to come out and do the photographs, the measurements, and then give you the feedback from those companies. Just the cherry on top of the cake, man.

That's right. Yeah. And all you got to do is, you know, click our link, uh, to go to DroneQuotes website put your information in, they're gonna have a professional call you and get in touch with you and then send someone out. And after they send someone out, you're gonna have an email with, with quotes. And you don't have to wait around for different people to come give you quotes on your, on your installation and do all the legwork. They're gonna do it for you and you're not gonna pay a premium for that.

Right.

They're, they're doing the best they can to give you the best deal possible.

Yeah. And this is a, this is a veteran-owned business. Uh, that's just looking to serve you guys and get you guys the best quotes on solar and roofing. And usually when you're doing solar, it's not a bad time to go ahead and talk about getting a new roof anyway. You want to make sure that that really big investment that you're making for your home is sitting on top of some good real estate on your roof.

Absolutely.

So if you can go to the show notes, click on our link, or you can go to dronequote.com/homeownershow and let them know that you heard about them from us. They love hearing from you guys. It's a great way to support the show.

That's exactly right.

Kev, what else do we have with this Hue device from Moen?

The thing that I think you really have to ask yourself with this deal is, what am I trying to do with my house? What am I trying to do with my time? What am I trying to do with my money? First of all, what am I trying to do with my house? If you're trying to move your house into the 21st century and say, listen, I'm going to do everything I can to update this thing to be more smart. And I— if you don't know this already, go back and listen to some of our episodes on the Ecobee thermostat, right? Go listen to our episode on the Rachio water sprinkler device. There are devices out there that will save you money, right? I promise you, Craig, last month, August,

was one of the worst months rain-wise that we've had, right, here in the Houston area. I mean, you drive down Any residential neighborhood, you're going to see water conservation. Absolutely. And dead grass because water conservation, right? We're not getting rain, all that kind of stuff. Uh, I was— we did not have water conservation in my neighborhood, and so we were able to water anytime we needed to. My water bill was $60 for the month of August, and my grass looks fantastic. So, these devices are smart for a reason. You can control how much water flow is coming through this device. You can set it to a water-saving mode. Okay, so depending on what you're trying to do with your house should determine whether or not you should consider this.

Yeah.

And then what are you trying to do with your time? I mean, are you on the go a lot? Like, do you need something that will do the work for you? Because I was making a joke with someone the other day, and I was like, I know what you do. Like, you go into the bathroom, you turn the water on to the shower, you then you go pick out your outfit, go to the bathroom, try to, you know, get this stuff ready to, you know, do your hair after you're done, and then you start checking the water temperature. They're like, how did you know? Are you in my bathroom? Like, No, of course not! But I know that's—

It's what everybody does.

It's what everybody does. So this takes all of that time and thinking out of it. So if you are on the go a lot, you need to conserve time, this is something that I think you should consider. And then what are you trying to do with your money? I already said that these smart devices are not just to make your life easier, they're to make your budget better. You're gonna spend a little bit more on the front end of this, But again, you're gonna get a decent amount out whenever you sell the house, and hopefully you're gonna wind up saving water and time and energy of your house using a device like this. So I think if you can answer all of those 3 things in a, yeah, I need this thing, then,

then check it out, especially if you're already ready to do a remodel on your bathroom or you're considering a new construction house, man. I don't think you can go wrong with this thing.

Yeah. And I will tell you this, man. I mean, after we did that Ecobee episode, I mean, like, I, I mean, I went out and got one hook, line, and sinker.

Yeah.

And like, I didn't do it because I was convinced by the episode. I was like, all right, I actually want to, I want to test this and see if it really does affect, you know, my, my convenience and the, uh, the efficiency of my air conditioner and, and all those kinds of things. And it did. It absolutely did. And it's one, it saved me a bunch of trips up and down the stairs because our thermostat's actually upstairs.

It's on the second and a half floor.

It's on the second and a half floor. And, uh, and so when the temperature is not quite comfy enough downstairs, I just flip the app on and we adjust the temperature there. And man, that's— I mean, that doesn't sound like a whole lot. Like, Craig, you're being lazy. You just don't want to go, you know, up and down the stairs. Yeah, I didn't, right? I didn't. And so you might be looking at this shower thing going like, what? What's it— that's going to save you, you know, 2 to 4 minutes a day, you know, if you're showering every day, which you should.

Please do.

Yeah, you oily creeps.

But we can spot you a mile away.

That's right. But, you know, 2 to 4 minutes a day doesn't sound like a whole lot, but like over the course of a week, over the course of a month, would you like to have an extra hour?

Yes.

An extra 2 hours, maybe?

Thank you.

Yes, please. Yeah, I want that. Yeah, I want that for myself. I want that for my family. I want that for like my other projects.

Yep.

The things that are stressing me out. stressing me out. Like, I want those— I want that time because they're not making any more of it, right? You know, that's right, we have a limited amount of it. And so like, if I could get that back from my shower, yeah, I want that.

I'll take it.

So, yep. And it's, it's, it's really just one of those, one of those wrapping your, your mind around the value of your time and how that works out exponentially over, over time.

Yeah. And, and again, Maybe you're listening to this and going, listen, Kevin, Craig, I, I'm just not that technologically advanced. I don't care that much.

And you can say that and we can't hear you.

Right, that's true. In fact, you may be saying it right now.

So you may need another kind of help.

That's right, yeah, talking to yourself. But I mean, don't buy it, and that's fine.

That's right.

But you know what, you may be in a conversation with someone and they're talking about something, but you— I heard about something, you need to go listen to that episode. And that's how you can share our episode right there. Absolutely.

And you know what, it It may be that like it's, it's not cost prohibitive for you to do it right now.

Sure.

Like it's out of your budget.

Right.

Um, you know, eventually these things become more affordable.

Yeah, yeah. And, and obviously they have because when this thing came out, uh, the initial price point was $1,100 and $2,200 without the battery backup. So, so it's a lot cheaper than it was. And that was just January of 2017.

Yeah, when they rolled it out the first time.

Absolutely. And so things do get cheaper. The other thing is consider adding it to a budget if you're thinking about a remodel. I mean, maybe you're looking at your, your bathroom right now and you're going, man, I wish this was different. Yeah, I hope within the next couple years I can update this. I'm going to start saving for it. Save another $1,000 and put a smart controller in there.

Yeah, and that's, that's the That, that's actually the thought process I'm having to go through right now. Like, I, I, my bathroom is gutted.

Yeah.

And I, I'm not gonna do this again anytime soon.

It's now or never.

So like, am I gonna regret not doing it in 2 years? Maybe.

Yeah.

Um, I don't know. We'll see what we're seeing. We'll see where I end up.

Okay. So what if, if you decide to go with it? I mean, obviously we're gonna have to have a report.

Oh yeah.

And if you don't, then I don't, I don't care.

You don't know about my showering habits?

No, I don't. I don't. I couldn't care less, honestly. I could try, but I would not succeed.

It's pretty close quarters in the studios. I think I could make you care.

Yeah, maybe. I got Clara on my side right now. His Australian Shepherd is right next to him.

She, she likes to, uh, to snuggle up in the studio with us from time to time.

So if, if you look, she's on, uh, half of the pictures we put online of, of our guests.

She loves the new studio wall.

She does.

Like, I find her in here napping up against it like all the time. I'm like, what What is wrong with you?

I don't know, it's a pretty cool wall. I'm not gonna lie.

There's all kinds of comfy places to like lay down and take a nap, and she's just laying on the wall.

That's the one. So, well, man, I, I think we pretty well covered it.

I think so.

Okay.

Yeah, if you're not ready to go get one by now, you're probably not ever gonna be.

No, but check it out. I mean, go, go check our link out and just, just see what you think. Give us your thoughts. I mean, I mean, some of you, I mean, seriously, if If you're listening to this right now going, that's the coolest thing ever, let us know. And if you're saying, guys, are you serious? Send us that email, info@homewonershow.com. We want to know because we're here for you. That's right. Craig and I, honestly, we really like technology. So, so for us, we're kind of geeking out over this thing a little bit. But we also know that many of you out there are going, that's just ridiculous.

Makes me feel like I have a butler. Go turn the shower on for me.

Yeah, it's a whole lot cheaper than a butler, I'll tell you that. And he's not cooking for you, but man, that's— you can spend some money if you're having a butler get your shower ready.

Well, yeah, there are people out there that do, but I mean, for, you know, $700, I can—

That's right. If you can afford that, uh, you can afford to listen to The Homeowner Show on your commute to work because someone else is driving you there.

That's right. So you got— you can— and you can be laser-focused.

That's right.

I can even leave a review in the commute.

Easy, maybe 2. But thank you guys for tuning in, for downloading this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. We've enjoyed doing some research for you guys and we would love to know of other things you want us to review.

Yeah, maybe there's like another shower controller that we're not aware of that's out there, like it's way better than this one.

There may be.

Tell us.

As far as we know, this is it. We'll review it.

Yeah, absolutely.

We'll buy it and put it in Craig's shower. Yes. Well, probably not.

You can buy it and send it to me. There you go. I'll put it in my shower.

Hey, it's a deal. It's a deal. Uh, but yeah, thanks for downloading the episode. We are here every Tuesday, every single Tuesday.

Every Tuesday.

That's right. Download the episode, subscribe. Thanks for listening to us. Until next time, we'll see you later. See ya.