Hope you guys can help me here.

I am almost finished wiring a nice, no cost spared home when the homeowner brings out a home automation contractor to pre-wire the home. I of course stick my nose into the situation because I know that this is going to involve my work. The home automation guy tells me that he is going to daisy chain a 2 conductor, 16 guage wire to every one of MY switches in the house. This is where I almost lose it, but I calm down enough to listen.

Well, I am not at all knowledgable in home automation, but I told him that low volt wire is not permitted in the same box as line voltage. After being assured that he would not mess with my work, I told him that I would check out the NEC to see if there was some kind of application where this is possible.

Here are my questions to all of you "code guru's".

I started at article 725.55 and found that I could use class 1, 2 and 3 wire in switch boxes if they were seperated by a minimum of 1/4" or a non-conductive sleeve. Am I mis- reading anything here or is this my solution?

So after this I keep reading my code book and find article 780-Closed loop and programmed power distrubution.
I thought I had it all figured out now. You can share the same box if you use a hybrid cable. My problem here is I do not understand what a 'hybrid" cable is. This article is small and simple except for my ignorance is this type of wire.

I am now very interested in this application and want to learn more about home automation. I do have a problem however with non-licensed people having access to and working on our devices.

Thank you for any information you guys can give me!