The Architect

A house should outlast
the platform that ran it.

Mt Olympus is built on a single principle: the systems in your home should belong to you, work without an internet connection, and still be running when the company that made them is gone.

I

Origin

From residential construction to autonomy engineering.

Mt Olympus pantheon The Pantheon, in full council

Mt Olympus Builders was founded by Aaron Shaw, a Computer Engineering graduate of Valparaiso University who transitioned from a career in residential construction to an engineering career at one of the world's leading OEMs as an Autonomy & Automation Engineer.

The same engineering discipline that ships heavy autonomous machines around active industrial sites — sensor fusion, redundancy, fail-safe state machines, validated configurations — applies, at smaller scale, to the smart home in your living room.

Most smart home companies do not work that way. They sell installations they cannot service, lock customers into proprietary apps, and disappear when the platform pivots. Mt Olympus is the alternative: an engineer's smart home, built the way an engineer would build one for their own family.

II

First Principles

Six rules. Non-negotiable.

I

Local First

Core functions work without an internet connection. The cloud is a feature, not a dependency. Your front door opens during outages.

II

No Lock-In

Open standards where they exist — Matter, Thread, Z-Wave, MQTT. No proprietary apps for what should be a switch.

III

Built to Last

Hardware from manufacturers with five-year track records, not Kickstarter promises. Replaceable components. Repairable systems.

IV

Right-Sized

Honest answers about what you need and what you don't. The best smart home is the one that solves your actual problems.

V

Documentation Matters

You receive a binder. Network diagrams, device passwords, recovery procedures. The next engineer to touch the system shouldn't need an archaeologist.

VI

Honest Guidance

No vendor kickbacks. No upsells masquerading as recommendations. If a $40 sensor solves your problem, we don't sell you the $400 one.

III

The Mission

Engineering discipline, residential scale.

Modern Olympus Where ancient and modern meet

Industrial autonomy programs take systems integration seriously because the cost of failure is measured in lives. The smart home industry has, until recently, taken it less seriously — and homeowners are now living with the consequences: orphaned platforms, abandoned apps, doorbells that became e-waste.

Mt Olympus brings the validation engineer's mindset to the home: every system tested at the bench before installation, every configuration version-controlled, every fail-mode considered before it happens. Boring on purpose.

Greater Kansas City is the primary service area. The national contractor network handles consultation, design review, and remote commissioning anywhere in the country.

IV

The Engineer

Aaron Shaw

"My job is to build a system you'll still be happy with in ten years — not one you'll be paying a subscription for in two."

After more than a decade running residential construction projects, Aaron transitioned into autonomy and automation engineering at one of the world's leading OEMs — working on the platforms that move heavy autonomous machines safely through active industrial environments. Sensor fusion, validated control systems, hardware-in-the-loop test development.

Twelve-plus years operating All American Contractors LLC — over 100 residential projects across the Midwest. Engineering thesis at Valparaiso focused on sensor fusion for robotic localization.

The combination — software engineer who has actually wired a house, autonomy engineer who has spent years thinking about fail-safe state machines — is what Mt Olympus is built on. There are not many people who have done both.

Credentials

  • ◆ B.S. Computer Engineering, Valparaiso University
  • ◆ Former Autonomy & Automation Engineer at a leading global OEM
  • ◆ 12+ years residential construction (All American Contractors LLC)
  • ◆ Published research: CubeSat sensor fusion (Valparaiso Physics Symposium)
  • ◆ SH@W Labs founder · multi-subsidiary engineering portfolio
V

Active R&D

What we're building next.

Internal research projects. Some will become production services. Some will publish as white papers. All of them keep the practice on the leading edge of what's actually deployable.

HERMES

Local-First Architecture

Validated reference architectures for homes that retain full functionality during 30+ day internet outages. Edge-resident automation engines, local DNS, on-premises voice control.

HELIOS · HADES

Weather-Responsive Climate

Sensor-fused HVAC and shade control using local weather forecasts, indoor air quality data, and solar gain modeling. Cuts conditioning energy without sacrificing comfort.

APOLLO

Inductive Loop Audio

Hearing-loop assistive audio systems integrated into whole-home distributed audio. Accessibility-grade design that doesn't sacrifice sound quality.

ZEUS

Extended Backup Architecture

Battery + generator + solar topologies sized for 7+ day grid outages with full security and network operation. Designed against ice-storm and tornado scenarios specific to the Midwest.

POSEIDON

Predictive Maintenance

Flow signature analysis to detect failing fixtures, slab leaks, and water heater degradation before they cascade. Drawn from industrial vibration-monitoring techniques.

ARES

Edge AI Detection

On-device person/vehicle/animal classification running locally on NVR appliances. Eliminates the cloud round-trip and the privacy problem in one design choice.

The Summons

Want to talk about your project?

Free consultation. Honest answers. The architect picks up the phone himself.

Schedule Consultation → Explore the Pantheon