Brilliant dealer and installer, Kent WA and the South Sound
Brilliant smart home control.
The affordable tier, professionally installed.
An in-wall touchscreen where the light switch was, running the lights, scenes, thermostat, locks, music and cameras you already own. No hub, no rack, no required subscription. Installed by Rivas Technology Group for homes, ADUs, rentals and builders in south King County and Pierce County, at a fraction of a Control4 budget.
Rivas Technology Group is a Brilliant dealer and installs Brilliant control panels in Kent, Tacoma and the South Sound. Brilliant replaces a light switch with a touchscreen that runs lights, thermostats, locks, Sonos and cameras from more than 30 brands, with no hub or rack. It is the affordable tier below Control4 and Josh.ai for mid-market homes, ADUs and rentals.
- What it is
- A touchscreen control panel that replaces a 1 to 4 gang light switch; dimmers and plugs extend it
- Hardware
- Brilliant lists its second-generation panels at $599 to $749 retail, as of September 2026
- System
- Brilliant states a typical system runs $600 to $3,600 and up in hardware, against $15,000 and up for Control4-class platforms
- Works with
- Sonos, BluOS, Lutron, Philips Hue, ecobee, Honeywell, Schlage, Kwikset, Yale, Ring, Nest, Alarm.com, Deako, Shelly and more
- PoE model
- A power-over-Ethernet panel installs anywhere on low voltage, with no line-voltage work
- Care
- Every Brilliant install comes with CURATOR Base at $79 a month, which includes Brilliant Max and remote monitoring through ProView
- Response
- Call or text back within one business day
Who Brilliant is for
The homeowner who wants lights, scenes, the thermostat, the door lock and the music on one panel by the door. That homeowner does not want a rack in the closet or a five-figure invoice. The builder who wants a smart home package in every unit at a price the buyer sees as standard. The ADU, the rental and the guest house, where a tenant needs something simple and the owner needs to reset it from a phone. And the Bellevue or Gig Harbor house with good Sonos, Lutron and Ring gear already in it that only lacks a way to run it all from the wall.
What it does
A Brilliant panel replaces a one- to four-gang light switch and controls those circuits directly. From the same screen it runs the smart devices already in the house. That includes Sonos and BluOS audio, Lutron and Hue lighting, ecobee and Honeywell thermostats, and Schlage, Kwikset and Yale locks. It also runs Ring and Nest cameras and doorbells, Somfy and Hunter Douglas shades, and Alarm.com, Total Connect and Ring alarms. More than 30 brands work with no custom drivers1. Scenes and schedules are set on the panel or the app. Voice control is built in, and panels call each other as an intercom. Smart dimmers and plugs extend it to rooms that do not need a screen.
Brilliant, Control4 or Josh.ai?
| Brilliant | Control4 | Josh.ai | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware | $600 to $3,600 and up, per Brilliant | $15,000 to $25,000 entry, whole-home $35,000 and up, as of September 2026 | $800 to $1,500 per room on top of the platform |
| Equipment | In-wall panels, no hub or rack | Controller, rack, keypads, touchscreens | Voice processors on a Control4 or similar platform |
| Programming | None; scenes built on the panel | Dealer-programmed, documented, supported | Dealer-configured with the platform |
| Best for | Mid-market homes, ADUs, rentals, production builds | Whole-home lighting, audio distribution, theater, estates | Homes that want natural voice as the main interface |
| Local control | Switches local; many integrations use the partner cloud | Runs locally on the controller | Processes speech in the house |
Brilliant's own comparison puts its system at most of the everyday value at a fraction of the price1. We agree for the homes it is built for, and we say so in the walk-through. When a house needs distributed audio in ten rooms, centralized lighting and a theater, the Control4 page is where the conversation goes.
The PoE panel and older houses
Brilliant's power-over-Ethernet control runs on one low-voltage cable, so it installs where there is no switch box at all: a hallway wall, a kitchen island end, a mudroom2. It also solves the 1970s house whose switch boxes have no neutral wire. We pull the Cat6A, terminate it in the rack we install, and the panel needs no line-voltage work. That is the model we spec on retrofits across Tacoma, Federal Way and Puyallup.
CURATOR Base, Brilliant Max and what happens after install
Every Brilliant install includes CURATOR Base at $79 a month, as of September 2026, and Brilliant Max is bundled into it. Max is Brilliant's own subscription. At $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year per home it adds curated Away, Vacation, Home and Night modes that trigger on geolocation, a schedule or a tap. It also adds presence alerts, a door sensor and premium support3. We set the modes up at install. CURATOR Base also gives us remote sight of the panels through Brilliant's ProView, so a problem is fixed from Kent before anyone drives, and it keeps firmware current. The plan cancels month to month, and the panels keep working without it; what stops is the watching.
What drives the cost
The panel count, which is usually one per main room and one by the door. The dimmers and plugs added to rooms without a panel. The devices we connect and configure. Whether the boxes have a neutral, which decides line-voltage or PoE panels. And whether the house is built, framed or being remodeled, because a pre-wire is the cheapest path. The walk-through ends with a fixed proposal per room. The smart home cost page shows where Brilliant sits against the other tiers. CURATOR Base at $79 a month is on every Brilliant proposal, with Brilliant Max inside it.
Where we install Brilliant
Kent, Renton, Tukwila, Federal Way, Auburn, Covington, Maple Valley, Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, Bonney Lake, Tehaleh, University Place and Gig Harbor, from 415 Railroad Ave S in Kent. Bellevue, Mercer Island and Seattle have their own pages with the travel terms stated. Rivas Technology Group is a Brilliant dealer and a Control4 Authorized Dealer, and holds WA electrical contractor license RIVASGL799DR, active, bonded and insured4. The whole residential catalog is on the residential hub.
Questions we hear
What is Brilliant smart home control?
An in-wall panel with a touchscreen, voice and intercom that installs in a standard electrical box where a light switch was. It controls the lights on its own switches plus the smart devices already in the house: Sonos, Lutron, Hue, thermostats, locks, cameras and shades. Rooms get a panel each; dimmers and smart plugs fill in the rest5.
Is Brilliant a good alternative to Control4?
For a mid-market home, an ADU or a rental, yes. Brilliant positions itself as most of the everyday value at a fraction of the price, with no hub, rack, custom programming or required subscription1. For a large house with whole-home audio distribution, centralized lighting and a theater, Control4 or Josh.ai is still the right platform, and we install both.
How much does a professionally installed Brilliant system cost?
Brilliant lists its panels at $599 to $749 each and says a typical system runs $600 to $3,600 and up in hardware, as of September 202631. Our installed price depends on the panel count, the switches and plugs added, the devices we connect, and whether the boxes have a neutral. The walk-through prices it per room.
Does Brilliant need a neutral wire?
The line-voltage panels install in a standard box, and the four-switch model needs a neutral and a ground6. Older South Sound houses without a neutral in the switch box get the PoE panel instead, which runs on a low-voltage cable we pull, or an electrician adds the neutral.
Can builders pre-wire for Brilliant?
Yes, and it is the cheapest way to get it. A neutral in every switch box, a Cat6A run to the panel locations for the PoE model, and a wired network closet. Brilliant is the entry package we spec for production homes and ADUs on the builder partner page.
What is Brilliant Max?
Brilliant's subscription, listed at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year per home, that adds curated Away, Vacation, Home and Night modes, geolocation triggers, presence alerts and premium support3. We include it in CURATOR Base, which comes with every Brilliant install, so the modes are set up on day one and we see the panels remotely through ProView.
Why does a Brilliant install include CURATOR Base?
Because a Brilliant home lives on Wi-Fi and partner clouds, and the value is in someone watching it. CURATOR Base at $79 a month, as of September 2026, bundles Brilliant Max, ProView remote monitoring, firmware and a two-business-day response. It comes with every Brilliant install and cancels month to month; the panels keep working without it.
Does Brilliant depend on the cloud?
Partly. The panel controls its own switches locally; many integrations run through the partner's cloud. Brilliant relaunched under new ownership in 2024. So we put the panels on a wired network we install and tell you which features depend on which cloud. Where local control is a requirement, Control4 stays the answer.
Where do you install Brilliant?
Kent, Renton, Tukwila, Federal Way, Auburn, Covington, Maple Valley, Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, Bonney Lake, Tehaleh, University Place and Gig Harbor. Bellevue, Mercer Island and Seattle have their own pages with the travel terms stated.
Start with a walk-through.
Tell us the rooms, the devices you already own and whether the house is built, being built or being remodeled. We check the switch boxes, count the panels and send a fixed proposal per room. We call or text back within one business day.