In what many dealers are calling a “Lutron tax,” Crestron is charging $500 for jobs that include Lutron or Vantage lighting controls.

Crestron, a $1.5 billion leader in building controls and home automation, makes its own lighting control systems. The company wants dealers to integrate with Crestron’s own products rather than third-party solutions, of which Lutron is the most popular.

Social media is lighting up: “This is a wonderful example of the ridiculousness of our industry,” says one dealer. “Arguably the largest integration/control manufacturer is charging their users to integrate with a product they don't make!”

Update: Why Crestron’s New Fee for Lutron and Vantage Integration Makes Sense

Another says, “telling everyone to call their reps and raise heck… the kick in the [expletive] is that no one was warned.”

Indeed, Crestron announced the fee on March 1, the same day it went into effect. Projects with Crestron Series 3 controllers now require a “Third Party Lighting Activation Key” and $500 to unlock integration with Lutron and Vantage.

It Really Does Make Sense

If you sit down and speak with Crestron VP of residential John Clancy like I did, the move sounds perfectly sensible. It’s just that Crestron didn’t sit down with its dealers and explain it so very good.

Crestron spends a ton of money on technical support. The company employs about 200 members of an “Advanced Technology Services Group” that goes into the field to support end users when dealers themselves can’t get the job done.

“We don’t charge for this,” Clancy says. “It is inherently built into what we do.”

As we all know, when an end-user announces, “My home automation system is broken,” there’s a high likelihood that the problem doesn’t lie with the home automation system itself, but with some other element of the ecosystem.

Given that Crestron itself must go into the field to help clients with “broken” systems, it’s a whole lot easier if the ecosystem is built with Crestron parts.

Given that Crestron itself must go into the field to help clients with “broken” systems, it’s a whole lot easier if the ecosystem is built with Crestron parts.

A “significant number” of service calls “have to do with things beyond our control,” Clancy notes. “Many times, we have competing products where there wouldn’t have been an issue.”

Lighting control is particularly troublesome, Clancy notes, because Crestron does not have deep relationships with its fierce competitors in the category. In other categories like audio and video, Crestron does have the relationships that help the company more easily resolve integration challenges.

At the end of the day, the Lutron tax (“Please don’t call it that!”) is all about the user experience, Clancy explains. A Crestron job doesn’t end when a system goes in. “It’s about the services and expectations that go on after the installation.”

The $500 fee would barely be a blip on a full-blown Crestron job. It should sting dealers just enough to remind them “there is another solution that provides a better user experience,” Clancy says.

Lutron (Vantage, too) has been making lighting control systems far longer than Crestron has, so it’s still the go-to brand for many Crestron dealers. Crestron wants to break those habits.

As one dealer notes on social media, “We only spec crestron. … I see no issue here just making some of the fake crestron dealers leave. Hopefully this clears up some of the BS calls into tech support.”

Below is the Crestron announcement. Clancy tells CE Pro that the activation should take just a few minutes, not necessarily the 24 hours noted in the Crestron memo.

Also, Crestron says it won't be charging for pre-existing systems or systems that have already been specified. Crestron wants dealers to know that there is some leeway here.