Smart Home Automation

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What is a smart home?

Any home can be a smart home, whether it’s a small studio apartment or a large mansion. It’s the powerful connections between individual devices that make it smart. At its very core, a smart home could be defined as a home with connected technology, working together in an autonomous way to enhance your life.

A smart home can be made up of many devices controlling things such as your lighting, blinds, heating, security, door locks and much more. Using a smart home controller, all these individual devices can be made to work together. They can then be controlled using various methods ranging from wall mounted keypads, sensors and timers to voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri.

What a smart home is for you depends on your own unique usage requirements. No two smart homes are the same and the beauty of a smart home is that is highly customisable and uniquely tailored to your individual needs.

Touchscreen Smart

The 4 pillows of a Smart Home

Automation 600

Automation

Automation enables tasks to happen automatically without user input or intervention. For example, turning the sprinklers on every evening at a set time. Automation eliminates menial everyday tasks and can also use artificial intelligence to make decisions and act upon those decisions. For example, an occupancy sensor may detect that a room has been empty for 2 hours and consequently turns the heating and the lights off. Automation also enables multiple actions to be combined into a single action. For example, a single keypad button press can turn your lights off, lock your doors and arm the intruder alarm. Automation at its best will compliment your lifestyle and blend into the background.

Comfort 600

Comfort

A smart home systems ability to manage your comfort levels is one of the core functionalities of any modern smart home. For example, a normal thermostat would have the ability to turn the heating on at 4pm every day so the house is warm when you get home from work. A smart thermostat takes that a step further and would only turn the heating on when you’re at home or you’re within a specified radius of your home. It would do this by using your phones location to detect where you are. Then, in combination with sensors within the home and online weather reports for your area, the system will decide the optimal temperature for your home and ultimately, manage your comfort levels.

Security 600

Security

Keep your home and the important things in it, safe and secure. Check the locks, cameras, garage doors and more from your workplace or even from across the globe using complimentary and intuitive mobile apps. Receive alerts and notifications when someone enters your house or talk to someone who calls your doorbell or intercom even when you’re not home. Set lights to automatically come on at sunset so you’ll never have to approach a dark house again or set them to turn on and off randomly and automatically to deter burglars when you’re not home or on holiday. Intelligent security solutions give you peace of mind so you can trust that your home is safe and secure.

Effeciency 600

Effeciency

A smart home system enables a homeowner to take control of their energy usage through a variety of methods. At its simplest, a smart home system can perform simple operations such as switching lighting and heating off when nobody is home, but it can also execute more complex functionality. For example, in the bright summer months of a year it can trim the output of all the lighting in the home to achieve substantial cost savings without the occupants noticing a difference in light levels. Technological advances in smart home technology like this allow homeowners to implement new strategies for lowering both their home’s energy use and their utility bills.

Smart Home Automation Features

Keypads

Keypads provide stunning interfaces that compliment your home and can trigger connected devices from a single button press.

Energy Efficiency

Smart home technology allows homeowners to implement strategies for lowering their home’s energy use and their utility bills.

App Control

Control from within your home or when you’re out, with intuitive mobile apps available for both Android and Apple devices.

Security

Check the locks, cameras, garage doors and more from your workplace or even from across the globe using smart apps.

Smart Automation

Artificial intelligence can make decisions based upon variables such as your location, past usage and sensory inputs.

Timers

Enable everyday events to occur automatically at a given time and for a specified duration or by using an astronomical clock.

Sensors

Control devices and systems from sensors within the home such as occupancy sensors, light level sensors or temperature sensors.

Comfort

Manage a home’s comfort levels from a single place by interacting with heating, ventilation and cooling systems at the same time.

Voice Control

Control all elements of your smart home using the most popular voice assistants including Google, Siri and Alexa.

Frequently Asked Questions

I want a smart home but I don't want to run cables everywhere. What can I do?

This is a very common question with our customers. Although, we would recommend a wired system over a wireless system, we understand that it’s not always viable to run cables through a customers home. In these situations we would use wireless products such as wireless lighting dimmers, intercoms, heating controls, sensors and even wireless locks. When designed and installed correctly, you wouldn’t notice that the system is in-fact a wireless system. It would perform and act exactly the same.

I've heard smart home equipment is expensive. How much will it cost me?

Every home and customer need is different. Smart home equipment can be expensive but also be surprisingly reasonable and save you money in the long run. We are accustomed to working within a budget, so if you let us know what you would like to achieve and what your budget is, we can provide you with options at different price points. Our initial consultations are free and our quotations are completely itemised and transparent so you can see and understand the costs clearly.

How much money can a smart home save me?

A smart home system would be designed in coordination with a whole-home energy saving strategy. We have had customers save up to 30% on their utility bills after implementing such a strategy. This can include changing incandescent/halogen lamps to LED, automatically turning heating and lighting off when an area is not occupied, trimming light and heating levels in the summer months and intelligently controlling heating and cooling systems so they don’t work against each other making them more efficient. There are many ways that a smart home system can save you energy and therefore, money. Every home is unique and has potential to save energy if designed correctly.

I've seen commercials on the TV of people answering their doorbells with their mobile phones. Can you do this?

Yes, we can most definitely install a smart doorbell/intercom system for you. The systems you seen on the TV are a little basic, battery powered and have alot of limitations. Our smart intercom systems take the concept and adds a layer of additional functionality. When you answer a call, you can perform other actions such as turning lights on, opening doors and even disarming the intruder alarm. Optionally, you can also add wall-mounted touch screens around the home to be part of the intercom system.

Can I use my existing Alexa or Google devices to control my new smart home?

Yes, you can! Our smart homes support all new and legacy Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. You can even use devices that have a voice assistant built in. For example, if you had a Sonos player with built in Alexa, you could use it to control your entire home.

If you’re thinking about turning your home into a smart home, contact us today for a free and non-obligatory consultation. Our friendly team will be happy to visit your home and discuss your options with you.

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