Executive Suite: Designer Christopher Brody

The average client at Crescendo Designs in Southampton has a 7,000-square-foot home and spends from $100,000 to "a few million" dollars on a fully automated home media system, says president Christopher Brody, 34. That's a far cry from where Brody began -- selling car stereos on the Internet as a teenager, on a website he designed from his bedroom at his parents' house in Amagansett.

He sold that business to open a store on Southampton's Main Street; then closed the store to build his vision -- a $1.1 million, 2,500-square-foot show house that opened in November.

Inside, customers can "experience" a living room, kitchen, bedroom, home theater and even a "starlit" patio, where televisions lift from under beds and appear from behind mirrors and inside showers, and flash as individual screens or as 7-foot multiscreen units; where music sings from invisible speakers and the whole home is automated by touch screen, cellphone or remote.

How is the luxury market different from the everyday market?

I think the aesthetics are largely important when they decide what to do throughout the house. That doesn't mean that everyone puts a hidden TV in every room, but some of the key rooms. You walk into a room that's completely glass along the wall where you'd put a TV, and it's looking out to the water. There, you'd use an [under] bed lift or a ceiling lift to put the TV somewhere without destroying the view in the room.

What are key things that your luxury market is looking for?

The ability to control the house remotely. A lot of these are vacation or second homes out here, so they want to be able to log into the house and make sure the temperatures are right . . . or even raise the pool temperature. Automated lighting control and motorized shades are becoming standard.

What are the biggest obstacles to your success?

I would say probably one of the hardest things has been finding good employees. People don't want to drive out here to the East End to work. If we had the ability to find people easier, we could be much larger than we are.

What kind of employees do you look for?

Technical type people or office staff professionals that do sales . . . designers, engineers, programmers.

What's a hot new product coming out?

Prima Cinema -- it gives you the ability to have first-run movies in your house while they're in the movie theaters . . . the same night it premieres, you could be watching it in your house. The system itself is $35,000.

What are most of your clients' professions?

We get a lot of financial guys.

SNAPSHOP

Name. Christopher Brody, president of Crescendo Designs in Southampton

What it does. Provide home automation, remote home control and audio/video systems to "improve our clients' lives through entertainment and convenience."

Employees. 21

Roles they play. design consultants, system engineers, project managers, installers, programmers, service manager, receptionist, office manager, warehouse manager

Revenue. $6 million