Where to start on a smart home depends on three things: your budget, time and enthusiasm. Honestly you could just buy one connected home gadget and get going with the individual brand’s app then work any additions out later. For the past five years or so that’s what plenty of people have been doing.
It is important to understand what specific smart home capabilities you would like to have. If you already know you are going to have a very strict budget, you must decide which functions are absolutely necessary and which are secondary. For example, you might prefer to have fully automated lighting and HVAC controls but home movie theater, while nice to have, might bring your expenditure above acceptable level.
After you have decided on required functionalities of your smart home, you have to come up with realistic budget. While you do not have to spend an arm and a leg, the most advanced technologies, installation and integration do cost money. So, if you decided to have state-of-theart smart home, you should set aside a much larger budget than the one you need for a simple security system installation.
First, properly done smart home automation is a very complex task that typically requires very high levels of engineering, programming and installation competency. You must be absolutely certain that your contractor understands available technology, how to program and integrate different components of the system so they work seamlessly together.
You should meet with selected automation contractor technical team to go over your requirements and specific functionalities you defined in step one. This is also the right time to ask technical questions, inquire additional functionalities that you might want to have but never thought about, identify locations of mounted controls and discuss all other technical aspects of your project.
Once all technical design questions are addressed, your contractor will present you with commercial proposal. You should study it carefully. It is sometimes possible to opt out for cheaper version of products as long as they are compatible with the rest of the system components and can be easily integrated and maintained. For example, if you are offered security camera with night vision capabilities but your house is well illuminated from outside.
After you have approved contractors proposal, and usually made initial deposit, you must make sure that contractor’s employees have unobstructed access to job site. Postponing access will usually lead to shifted project completion date and will often lead to rising costs. Most automation contractors will divide project into phases and complete one at a time. For example, they might first complete wiring, then install HVAC system, then complete outside lighting, etc.
Professional contractor will always test both individual components and the entire system. This is necessary to insure proper functioning of each individual smart home element as well as making sure that the entire system is well integrated and all components properly operate and communicate with each other. Insist on thorough testing and functionality check of all components.
This is the final stage of any home automation project. After everything have been tested and all identified issues addressed, you can release your final payment. Congratulations! Now you can call your house smart home and enjoy all its features. Safe and enjoy the perfect time for both parties to see if the project is truly a success or adjustments have to be made.
We live in the modern age. The internet is at the reach of our hands and smart devices are almost in every pocket. The technology we have, can help us to:
We’re here to answer any questions you might have about living in a Smart Home. Regardless the technology that we decide to use, it is important for us to understand a few ideas.
