Living in a house of the future isn’t just for the Jetsons anymore. Now you can automate your house so you can control almost everything with just a few swipes on your phone or tablet.
Don’t worry, there’s no danger of creating the ultimate Terminator here. Only comfort and convenience.
Prioritize what you need and want to automate
You don’t have to automate everything in your house, just the ones you think may make life easier for you if it’s remotely controlled. For instance, a smart doorbell comes with a camera so you can check who has rung the doorbell if you’re busy with work or the kids, or you’re all away for vacation.
This will give you an opportunity to rough up a budget for your first device installation. Note that some products may be pricey, which makes prioritizing your needs first before your wants is important.
Other than a security system, discuss if you want to automate your lights, air-conditioning, and other appliances.
Choose a home assistant
For this, you will need to purchase a smart speaker that can help you control all your smart devices. You might want to start with the Google Home speaker which you can buy from Harvey Norman. The Google Home Assistant is smarter than Alexa and Siri, obviously because it’s backed up by the Google search engine.
It’s triggered by saying “Ok, Google” before every command. It collects data from every inquiry (which is covered by Google’s privacy policy) to give you better and more accurate results.
Make sure your Wi-Fi can take it
A smart home is as good as the Wi-Fi being used to power it. When installing each new device, make sure to test if it works without lag first. This ensures that adjusting temperature or checking in on your security system is executed without packet loss.
Use one or two brands only
Building a smart home can be exciting, but we get trigger happy with that Add to Cart button sometimes. Remember that you’ll have to control everything on your smartphone and tablet, which means most of your appliances need to be compatible. For instance, an LG OLED TV may not work with Samsung speakers.
Of course, you don’t have to buy all the smart devices within a brand family. But as a general rule, just keep it within one or two brands only so that it won’t be much of a problem.
Hire professionals
Leave the rewiring to professional installers and electricians. Not just to keep you safe from over 240 volts of electricity, but to make sure that the wires that will make it possible to remotely control important areas of your house on a device is done properly.
We have faith in your skills, but a project this big may require a certain expertise.
As a note, if you will be updating your appliances, for instance, changing from LG to Samsung, you need to call the installer. The process is simple enough since you only need to integrate the new appliance into the system, but an installer can make sure it’s fully accommodated.
A lot of planning is involved in creating a smart home. But if it’s to make it easier for you to manage your chores and helps you keep your house safe and secure, then a couple of days rewiring and installing new systems is small price to pay.
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