“We’re basically a one-stop shop for all home technology,” says Brandon Schultze, co-founder of North Star Home Technologies. Services include pretty much everything needed to make a home safer, and entertainment more fun: custom home theaters, networking and Wi-Fi, home security and surveillance systems, lighting control, home audio and video distribution and both motorized and non-motorized shade installation.
After college, Schultze met co-founder Chris Hayes while working for the same custom AV company, and the two decided to venture out and start their own business. “I was looking for a partner with drive and interest and we just clicked,” Hayes says. Both men are natives of Woodbury—they went to Woodbury High School and East Ridge High School, respectively. “It’s unique how we found each other four years after graduation but didn’t know each other [before],” Schultze says. “And we like that we’re doing business locally in the neighborhoods we both grew up in.”
In terms of what makes North Star Home Technologies stand out, Hayes and Schultze say that customer service is most important. Both owners stand behind their business and strive to offer the latest and greatest products to keep up with ever-changing technology advances. “We don’t want to take shortcuts,” Hayes says. “We only sell and install products we believe in ourselves and would use in our own homes.”
