Security that is part of the house, not a separate box
An alarm panel that only knows how to make noise is doing about a third of its job.
ELK M1 is a professional grade panel with hybrid wired and wireless zones, and unlike most consumer systems it will talk to the rest of the house. That is the whole reason to use it. Armed at night, the panel can drop the lights, close the shades, and set back the thermostat. A smoke zone can bring every light in the house up to full so nobody is finding the stairs in the dark.
The panel does more than alarms, and this is where it earns its place. Water leak sensors under sinks, behind the washer, at the water heater, and in the mechanical room are just more zones to an M1. Wire them alongside a motorized shutoff valve on the main and a leak becomes a closed valve, a notification on your phone, and a hallway light on at two in the morning, rather than an insurance claim. Freeze and temperature zones, sump pump failure, and smoke and CO all work the same way.
Most of that came out of working with high end builders, where leak detection and automatic shutoff are specified as a matter of course on houses of a certain size. Very little of it is expensive on a DIY install. It is mostly knowing which sensors go where and writing the rules so the panel acts on what it sees instead of only announcing it.
Getting there is zone logic, rules, and user codes, which is the part that takes experience rather than wire. I lay out the zone map, program the rules and arming behavior, set up the users, and get the panel talking properly to Lutron and to RTI so all of it behaves as one system.
Door locks and access control belong on the same panel. One code for the cleaner disarms the alarm when they let themselves in, and locking up behind them arms it again. No separate alarm code to fumble with at the keypad, and when you change services you change one code instead of two.
Because the panel knows which code was used, it can tell you who came and went and when. That is notifications by person rather than by event, and it is most of what people actually want from a security system day to day. Intercom and door stations get planned alongside it, so seeing who is at the door and letting them in is one action from wherever you happen to be in the house.
Cameras are planned before anything gets mounted. Coverage angles, lens choice, and mounting heights decide whether footage is usable or just reassuring. I spec UniFi Protect, which records locally to an NVR in your own house with no subscription, or Illumivue where the shot needs a different lens or form factor, size the storage to the retention you actually want, and configure motion zones so you are not reviewing four hundred clips of a tree moving.
Remote viewing, recording rules, and integration with the alarm come last. Alarm Relay handles monitoring at a fraction of what traditional alarm companies charge, with no long contract, and I plan the integration so a DIY installed panel reports correctly.