Who does what, in what order, so the house is working on move-in day. Verizon is already installed. Move-in is September 12.
Two jobs, two people, in this order. Verizon is already in and working, so the internet is done.
Installed and working. The Ring base takes over as the house Wi-Fi when it arrives (one cable swap, on the John tab).
The wall work only: hang the TV and soundbar, the kitchen screen on its arm, the doorbell and the three cameras, and stick the alarm sensors and keypads where they go. Take photos. Done.
Everything that plugs in: the Ring base, the extender, the Echo Dots, the Fire TV Sticks, the rolling screen. Then all the app setup on Tracey's iPhone, with Tracey there. Tests it, turns the monitoring on.
The crew mounts. Nobody opens an app.
Every Ring sensor, camera and doorbell has a plastic battery tab. Leave every tab in. Mount the device with the tab still in it. If tabs get pulled early, the sensors wake up all at once, the pairing fails, and Nate has to add thirteen of them by hand instead of watching them join on their own. Same for the cameras: mount, aim, leave the app alone.
Anything that just plugs into an outlet or an HDMI port is Nate's, not the crew's. Those boxes stay closed until setup day.
| Room | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Wherever Verizon put their box | The Ring Alarm Pro base goes right next to it. The base is the Wi-Fi router and replaces the Verizon one. This is the brain of the house. |
| Front door | Ring doorbell. Alarm keypad on the wall inside, by the door Tracey actually uses. |
| Kitchen / dining pier | Echo Show 21 on a swing arm, so it turns to face the kitchen or the table. |
| Living room | Echo Dot. The rolling Samsung screen for Bible study parks in a corner. Nothing goes on the fireplace. |
| Den (downstairs) | 75" TCL on the wall bracket, Sony soundbar under it, Fire TV Stick behind it, Echo Dot, eero extender. |
| Primary bedroom | Tracey's own Echo Spot. Panic button by the bed. No TV, no camera. That room stays quiet. |
| Main bathroom | Echo Dot on the far counter, away from the shower. Panic button. |
| Outside | Three Ring cameras: driveway, the shared side path, the back deck. |
| Doors and windows | Contact sensors on the three outside doors (front, deck slider, den door) and on the kitchen and bathroom windows. One motion detector for the hall and living room, one for the den, which covers the den’s whole row of windows. Water sensors at the sinks, washer and water heater. The apartment is separate and is not on this alarm. |
Anything about where a thing goes or how it mounts: John. Anything about accounts, apps, Wi-Fi names or passwords: Terry, or Nate on setup day. If something on this page and something in a box disagree, stop and call Terry before improvising.
Your job is the wall work: the TV, the soundbar, the kitchen screen on its arm, the doorbell, the three cameras, and the alarm sensors and keypads. Mount, wire, aim, photograph. Everything that simply plugs in is Nate's, so leave those boxes closed.
| Where | What | How | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Den, TV wall | 75" TCL television on the monTEK full-motion bracket | Bracket into two studs. Height set from the recliners: center of screen at eye level when seated. Confirm the height with Lani before drilling. | Outlet behind the TV. Leave the TV plugged straight into the wall for now; Nate adds the surge strip and the Fire TV Stick. |
| Den, under the TV | Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 6 + wireless subwoofer | Bar on the wall under the TV or on the floor stand it comes with. One HDMI cable from the bar to the TV port marked eARC or ARC. Sub anywhere on the floor nearby. | Bar and sub plug into the wall for now. |
| Kitchen / dining pier | Echo Show 21 on the Mount-It swing arm | Arm into solid blocking on the pier, screen at standing eye height. Use the mounting plate and screws from the Echo Show box. Swing it toward the sink, then the table, to make sure it clears everything. | Recessed outlet behind it. The Show's cord is only about 5 feet, so the outlet has to be close to the arm. |
| Front door | Ring Battery Doorbell | In the existing doorbell spot. If there are doorbell wires there, connect them to the two screws on the back. It keeps the battery topped up all winter. Photograph the transformer plate first (see photo list). | Battery, plus the doorbell wires if present. |
| Driveway | Ring Stick Up Cam | Wall or eave, beside or below the floodlight you already put up, never looking into it. A light in the picture blinds the camera at night. Aim at the driveway and the walk to the front door. | Battery. If an outdoor outlet is within about 20 feet, tell Terry; a plug-in cord gets added so it never needs charging. |
| Shared side path | Ring Stick Up Cam | Wall mount looking along the stone walkway from the front corner toward the stairwell. This is the camera that watches people crossing the front of the house to reach the apartment. Aim at the path, not down the stairwell or at the apartment windows. Nate masks those in the app later. | Battery. Same outlet question. |
| Back deck | Ring Stick Up Cam | Wall or eave, looking across the deck and the slider. Aim level or slightly down at the deck, never over the rail toward the stairwell and apartment windows below. | Battery. Same outlet question. |
| Inside, by the front door | Alarm keypad | On the wall at a comfortable reach height, next to the door Tracey actually comes in through. The second keypad goes inside by the den door. | Battery. It can also plug in if there is an outlet. |
| Front door, deck slider, den door, kitchen window, bathroom window | 5 contact sensors (the kit has 8; the other 3 are spares) | Big piece on the frame, small magnet on the door or sash, lined up within a finger's width. On the slider and the windows, put the magnet on the part that moves. Tab stays in. | Battery. |
| Hall / living room, and the den | 2 motion detectors | One in a corner of the hall or living room, one in a corner of the den looking across the room toward its windows and door. 6 to 8 feet up. Not aimed at a sunny window, a heat register, the fireplace or the wood stove. | Battery. |
| Kitchen sink, both bathroom sinks, washer, water heater | 5 flood & freeze sensors | On the floor where a leak would show up first. Under the sink cabinet, behind the washer, beside the water heater. | Battery. |
| Bedside and main bathroom | 2 panic buttons | Bedside one within reach lying down. Bathroom one on the wall near the toilet, not in the shower. | Battery. |
Short list. Everything here is outlets and blocking.
No blocking where the kitchen arm needs to land. The TV bracket cannot hit two studs at the right height. A camera will not reach its spot. A battery tab got pulled by mistake. The Ring base light is still red after five minutes. Anything asks for a Wi-Fi name or password.
That last one matters most. Once the network name is set, the thermostat and everything else expects it. Changing it breaks the house all at once.
| Device | Good | Still working | Problem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Alarm Pro base / eero extender | Solid white (eero) or solid blue (base) | Flashing while starting | Red means no internet. Blue on the eero means it is waiting to be set up. |
| Echo Show / Dot | No light | Spinning blue while starting | Orange means it cannot find the Wi-Fi. Solid red is just the microphone muted, harmless. |
| Ring doorbell / cameras | Steady | Spinning white | Flashing that never settles, usually signal or power. |
If a light does something not on this list, match it to the card in the box before calling. Manufacturers change these.
Everything on the list above mounted, the unopened boxes stacked for Nate, cards and manuals left in the house, photos sent to Terry. Nothing else is needed from the crew after that. Terry books Nate's setup day.
One session, about five to seven hours. The crew has done the wall work. Your job is everything that plugs in, then making it all talk to each other, then turning the alarm monitoring on last.
About 30 minutes. These boxes were left closed for you. Nothing here needs a drill.
| Where | What | How |
|---|---|---|
| Next to the Verizon box | Ring Alarm Pro base | See the cable swap below. This one comes first because it is the Wi-Fi. |
| Den | eero extender | Any outlet. Solid white light means it joined. |
| Halfway between the base and the den | Alarm range extender (from the kit) | Any outlet. Helps the sensors reach the base. |
| Behind the den TV | 12-outlet surge strip, then the TV, soundbar, sub and Fire TV Stick into it | Fire TV Stick into any spare HDMI port. Soundbar cable into the TV port marked eARC or ARC. |
| Living room | Samsung 32" Movingstyle rolling screen, plus its own Fire TV Stick | Unbox, stand it up, cable through the stand to a wall outlet, Fire TV Stick in its HDMI port. Park it in a corner. |
| Living room, den, main bathroom | Echo Dot x3 | Shelf or table. Bathroom one on the far end of the counter from the shower. |
| Primary bedroom | Tracey's own Echo Spot | Nightstand. |
| Office | Second 12-outlet surge strip | Computer, monitor, printer, lamp into it. |
Verizon is installed and working, so the house already has internet. The Ring Alarm Pro base is going to take over as the house Wi-Fi, because the cameras, the alarm and the backup internet all run through it. That is one cable swap and it is the first thing you do on setup day. Terry is on the phone for it, about 20 minutes.
With the base up and everything plugged in, you start with the sensors and end with the monitoring.
Weak Wi-Fi at the spot is the usual reason. The Ring app shows a signal strength for each camera. If the back deck or a far corner is weak, that is what the second eero extender is for. Tell Terry and it gets ordered.
Your part is short. Turn on two subscriptions and send this guide to John.
Done. It is installed and working. The only Verizon thing left: if Nate finds the Verizon router is hooked up with the round coax cable rather than a regular internet cable, you call Verizon and ask them to set the ONT to Ethernet. That is a two-minute call and Nate will tell you if it is needed.
The Ring alarm kit, the eero extender and the panic buttons come from ring.com. Order those first, because the base is the new Wi-Fi and everything else connects to it. Everything else can arrive with the crew.
The tenant goes on the guest Wi-Fi network, not yours. Nate sets it up. It gives them working internet with no way into your cameras, alarm or thermostat. Give them that name and password only, before they move in.
Just the link to this guide. He has his own tab, and it is short: the TV, the kitchen screen, the doorbell and cameras, and the alarm sensors. Nothing about prices is on here.
The full list, grouped by where it comes from, so a box can be matched to a spot on the John tab.
| Item | Goes | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Ring Alarm Pro 14-piece kit: base station with built-in eero Wi-Fi router, 2 keypads, 8 contact sensors (5 used, 3 spare), 2 motion detectors, 1 range extender | Base in the office. The rest around the house per the John tab. | Sensors and keypads: crew. Base and range extender: Nate |
| eero 6 extender | Den | Nate |
| Ring Alarm panic button x2 | Bedside, main bathroom | Crew |
| Item | Goes | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell (2K) | Front door | Crew |
| Ring Stick Up Cam, 3-pack | Driveway, side path, back deck | Crew |
| Echo Show 21 | Kitchen pier, on the arm | Crew (arm) |
| Mount-It full-motion arm | Kitchen pier, for the Echo Show | Crew |
| Echo Dot x3 | Living room, den, bathroom | Nate |
| Fire TV Stick 4K x2 | Den TV, rolling screen | Nate |
| Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 6 with wireless subwoofer | Den, under the TV | Crew |
| Samsung 32" Movingstyle rolling screen | Living room | Nate |
| monTEK full-motion TV wall bracket (already ordered) | Den TV wall | Crew |
| ALESTOR 12-outlet surge strip x2 | Behind the den TV, office | Nate |
| Item | Goes | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Ring Alarm flood & freeze sensor x5 | Kitchen sink, both bathroom sinks, washer, water heater | Crew |
| Item | Goes | Who |
|---|---|---|
| TCL 75" QM7L television (already bought) | Den TV wall | Crew |
| Item | Goes | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Echo Spot | Primary bedroom nightstand | Nate |
| ecobee thermostat | Already on the wall | Nate checks it |
No smart lock (she keeps a regular key). No separate Wi-Fi router (the Ring base is the router). No battery backup box (the Ring base has its own battery and cellular backup on the Pro plan). No smoke or glass-break listeners. No TV in the bedroom, and no camera pointed anywhere inside.