Hawaii · Wailea and Makena, Hawaii
Smart Home, Lighting & AV in Wailea and Makena.
Resort-community estates where the design committee approves every exterior change, the utility can cut power in fire weather, salt rides the trade winds uphill, and the coast is a tsunami evacuation zone. Wailea wants a system approved first and built for the island.
Wailea and Makena, Specifically
Approved First, Built for the Island.
The Wailea Community Association functions like a municipal design authority: any new structure or exterior change needs Design Guideline approval before work begins, and a camera, a shade housing, a conduit run, or a dish mount is an exterior change. Low-voltage work in Hawaii falls under the C-15, C-15a, and C-15b contractor classifications, none of which include conduit, so a licensed electrician is on the job, and Maui restricts construction work to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
Hawaiian Electric runs a Public Safety Power Shutoff program on Maui that de-energizes lines in high fire-risk weather, and residential time-of-use rates ran about 47 to 48 cents per kilowatt-hour in late 2024. Hawaiian Telcom's Fioptics fiber covers Wailea and Makena, and Maui became fully fiber-enabled in 2026. The trade winds carry salt-laden aerosols well inland, the coastline is a tsunami evacuation zone, and Makena Road estates have traded between roughly $17 million and $45 million since 2023.
01 · Review
The Committee Sees It First
Cameras, outdoor fixtures, shade housings, and the generator enclosure go into the design submission with the architect, drawn for the guidelines, so the committee reviews a plan. Inside, the system is yours.
02 · Power
Built for the Shutoffs
A planned shutoff in fire weather can last as long as the wind. A generator sized for the house and a battery-backed rack keep the network, the control system, and the cameras up, and the state's emergency-generator noise exemption is met with the right enclosure.
03 · Salt
Marine-Grade, Uphill Too
Salt reaches rooftops and hillside lanais owners assume are protected. Outdoor speakers, cameras, access points, and fixtures are specified marine-grade, and the maintenance visit is on the calendar.
At a Glance
Wailea and Makena in brief.
- Design review
- The Wailea Community Association functions like a mini-municipal design authority: any new structure or exterior change needs submitted Design Guideline approval before work begins, and its Design Committee Rules of August 4, 2023 carry a section on antennas, satellite dishes, flagpoles, towers, and windmills and another on roof materials, pitch, overhangs, and roof decks.
- Licensing
- Low-voltage integration work in Hawaii falls under the Contractors License Board's C-15 (electronic systems), C-15a (fire and burglar alarm), and C-15b (telecommunications) classifications, none of which include conduit, so a licensed electrical contractor is coordinated on permitted work.
- Hours
- Maui County construction and installation work is generally restricted to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays under the state community noise rules enforced locally.
- Electric service
- Hawaiian Electric serves Maui and runs a Public Safety Power Shutoff program that proactively de-energizes lines in high wildfire-risk areas; Maui's residential time-of-use rates averaged roughly 47 to 48 cents per kilowatt-hour in late 2024. More than half of Maui already has underground electric equipment; full islandwide undergrounding is estimated at about $7 billion.
- The fire
- Maui County and ATF investigators found the 2023 Lahaina wildfire was ignited by a fallen Hawaiian Electric power line; insured losses passed $2.3 billion and a $4 billion global settlement followed.
- Internet
- Hawaiian Telcom's Fioptics fiber, with gigabit and multi-gig symmetrical speeds, covers Wailea and Makena, and the company announced in 2026 that Maui is fully fiber-enabled as part of a $1.7 billion statewide build.
- Salt and sea
- Maui's trade winds carry salt-laden marine aerosols well inland and up hillside neighborhoods; the Wailea-Makena coastline is an active tsunami evacuation zone, and the county closes water valves in Wailea and Makena during tsunami warnings.
- Market
- A November 2025 market report put the Wailea and Makena single-family median at $3,812,500 and the condominium median at $2,387,500; a Makena Road oceanfront estate sold for $32.67 million in 2023, and Makena Road properties have traded between roughly $17 million and $45 million since.
Sources: Wailea Community Association, new owners; Wailea Community Association, Design Committee Rules (August 2023); Maui Property, market report, November 2025; Contractor License Requirements, Hawaii low-voltage licensing; Maui Now, construction noise hours; The Maui News, Hawaiian Electric shutoffs in West Maui; Hawaiian Electric, time-of-use rate history; Civil Beat, the Lahaina fire finding; Maui Now, undergrounding power lines; Hoodline, Maui fully fiber-enabled; Hawaii HVAC Authority, salt air corrosion; Hawaii Real Estate, Maui luxury sales since 2023; Maui Now, tsunami warning, July 2025.
Reading for Wailea and Makena
Guides and work nearby.
What We Install and Service
Every System. One Keypad.
Lighting & Shades
Lutron HomeWorks, Ketra and Rania light, Palladiom keypads, and shades that disappear into the ceiling.
Lighting →Whole-Home Control
Crestron and Lutron on one set of keypads and touchscreens, programmed the same way in every house you own.
Residential →Cinema & Music
Dedicated theaters, media rooms, and music in every room without a speaker in sight.
Residential →Network
Enterprise Wi-Fi and fiber sized for a large house, guest houses, and the far end of the lawn.
Networking →Security & Gate
Cameras, access control, gate intercom, and an alarm that a UL-listed central station answers.
Security →Outdoors
Landscape lighting and outdoor sound on one buried infrastructure, on the same keypad as the house.
Outdoor →Upgrades
Older Crestron and Lutron systems brought current, reusing the wiring already in the walls wherever possible.
Upgrade paths →Support
Monitoring, remote fixes, and priority response under one plan.
Cave Watch →Questions From Wailea and Makena
Wailea and Makena, Answered
Who installs Lutron and Crestron systems in Wailea and Makena?+–
Cave Group does. We are a Crestron Elite Gold Partner and Lutron Gold Dealer based in New York, and we design, install, and service lighting control, shades, cinema, outdoor audio, networking, security, and backup power for houses in Wailea and Makena on a project basis, on site with Hawaii-licensed electrical and electronic-systems contractors.
How does a New York firm work on a Maui house?+–
On a project basis. Our offices are in New York and New Jersey, and our hospitality work includes hotels; the design and the drawings happen with your architect and builder from there and on site at the milestones that need it, the installation and commissioning happen on site, and Cave Watch supports the system remotely afterward. The permitted trades Hawaii requires, a licensed electrical contractor for line-voltage work and the C-15 electronic-systems and C-15a alarm classifications for low-voltage and alarm work, are local, and the licensed contractor pulls the county permit.
Will the Wailea Community Association review our cameras and outdoor lighting?+–
Yes. The association approves any new structure or exterior change before work begins, and a camera, a fixture, a shade housing, or a generator enclosure is an exterior change. We draw them for the design submission with the architect and keep the equipment inside, where the committee has no say.
What about the grid and the shutoffs?+–
Hawaii's island grids cannot borrow power from a neighbor, so Hawaiian Electric carries its own reserves and the outages are long when they come: rolling blackouts on Oahu in January 2024, Hurricane Lala on Hawaii Island in 2026 with warnings of weeks or months in the hardest-hit areas, Hurricane Lowell taking power from more than 90 percent of Kauai that September, and Public Safety Power Shutoffs on Maui in fire weather. A battery-backed rack and a generator sized for the house are part of every Hawaii design, with the emergency-generator exemption in the state noise rules met through best available control technology.
What does salt air change?+–
Everything outdoors is specified for salt air. Trade winds carry salt-laden aerosols well inland and uphill, so outdoor speakers, cameras, access points, fixtures, and the enclosures they live in are marine-grade, racks and transfer switches stay out of flood and tsunami evacuation zones where the maps put them, and the maintenance visit is scheduled rather than discovered.
Nearby
Other Hawaii markets we serve.
Start Here
Walk the House With Us.
Bring the drawings if the house is on paper, or the list of what no longer works if it is already built. We will tell you what we would do, in what order, what it would take, which design committee sees it first, and how a Hawaii project runs from New York.
Start a Projector call · +1 (888) 712-2283 · [email protected]