Technology is amazing. It’s now possible to not only turn the lights on in your living room before you get home in the evening, you can even set a specific ambiance, complete with shades drawn, lights set to a color scheme, and music playing. The options available today are endless and somehow still growing.
What Are My Options?
You name it and it exists. Smart homes now incorporate every function of a home.
Here are just a few:
- Security: Garage doors, gates, door locks, alarm systems, cameras, doorbells
- Climate control: thermostats, pool/spa temperature, radiant heat, shades, solar
- Entertainment: televisions, audio systems, lighting
- And more: landscape watering systems, ovens, coffee pots, refrigerators, etc.
These features can all be operated from a smart phone of tablet and many of the integrate with one another.
Know Your Comfort Level
Some folks are incredibly adept at learning to use and combine different technologies, and love operating their home from their cell phone. Then there are some people who, while proficient at using technology, aren’t quite secure with having their entire home operating online. And some just prefer things to be as manual as possible, so there’s little more than cameras and a working alarm system in their home. All of these comfort levels are easy to work with as long as we know where you stand and what your goals are for your home.
A Hybrid Approach
Apps can be a lot of fun and bring immense efficiencies to operating a home. You can let guests in remotely when they arrive before you’ve even left your office. You can see what your kids are doing when you’re not home. It’s easy to turn the air conditioning down on a hot day so the house is cool before you enter. But if an app needs to be restarted after an update or the Wi-Fi goes down and you’re not sure what to do, that can cause frustration. If you love technology but always feel like you have to find a teenager to help you manage it, we can hardwire your systems so they can also operate without apps. If you want to shut the blinds or turn the music down without finding your cell phone or when the software experiences a glitch, you can operate them by hand.
Can My Older Home Become A Smart Home
Yes. Certainly, there are things we can easily do when building a home from the ground up that we can’t easily do to an existing home, like wiring every room for sound without great expense. But generally speaking, with a good Wi-Fi signal and proper equipment and apps, we can make any home a smart home.
Is It Expensive?
It depends on what you want to do. A few cameras, an alarm system, and some remotely operated lights can be quite affordable. Wiring the entire home for multiple music zones, a media room, and all the bells and whistles can cost between five and six digits, or even more.
If mood lighting is your thing, start with lights and a stereo that you can set to greet you with preset mood scenes each evening. If security is your priority, invest in cameras and an alarm first, and add smart lights later. Or install the wiring for a smart stereo system but spring for the high-end speakers in another year.
If your home has south-facing windows, maybe you’d benefit from a smart thermostat and some programmable window shades. You can set the shades to automatically close at sunset or at the hottest time of day during the summer, but open and take advantage of that heat in the winter. This is an excellent way to save on your utility bills, so it pays for itself over time.
There are affordable options, and there are wildly expensive, cutting-edge options. No matter your comfort level or your tastes, there’s something on the market for you. Winthorpe has an experienced team to help you prioritize and select what suits you. Technology is forever evolving, so you can always start with a few features now and add more over time.
