Smart Home – an unnecessary luxury or a pressing need?

Video surveillance

Being at any distance from your own home, you can see everything that’s going on in or near it.

Leak protection 

Kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, toilet – when water is detected in these rooms, the alarm is activated, and special faucets automatically shut off the water – both cold and hot. The owner, who is away from the house, receives a message about the accident.

Sensors gaza and smoke

When detected in the air smoke, carbon monoxide or a leak of combustible gas alarm is activated. Temperature sensors report if a critical value is exceeded. Reports of all these troubles can be received by the owner anywhere he or she is.

“Smart House” provides maintenance of a given climate, controls the individual circuits of the floor heating system or radiators, as well as air conditioners. At the same time for each zone you can set its own specific mode and specify the required temperature for each time of day.

Price of the question

So, there are three main arguments in favor of installing a smart home system: security, energy savings and comfort. But since you always have to pay for the good, it is important to know what it costs to control your home from a distance.

The cost of the system is influenced by two factors. Firstly, the completeness of functionality (the simplest set of options may be limited to control climate and lighting), and secondly, the actual price of the installed equipment. The components from “budget” manufacturers are not inferior to branded ones in reliability and functionality, and cost much cheaper.

Approximate calculation: The equipment of three-room apartment with the use of European – a relatively low-cost – equipment, providing climate control and lighting, can cost about 4 thousand euros.

For a two-storey house (about 300 square meters) with a large set of functions, this figure can be from 6.5 to 9 thousand euros.

Economy

You can save from 9% to 20% if you buy the system from a hardware dealer and have it installed by another company. The price of installation will be about 30% of the cost of equipment. To protect yourself from additional costs, stipulate in advance with representatives of the company all the conditions under which they provide the service.

If it turns out that it is necessary to lay additional cables or refine existing communications, the purchase can be ruinous. In addition, if there are problems with the system, the installers and the supplier of equipment can shift responsibility to each other. So think twice: why not use the service “turnkey”, provided by a major company with an impeccable reputation?

Timing and inconvenience

Timing for the design of the system, its installation and commissioning depends on several factors: the scale and complexity of the work, the choice of company (one day or two weeks – the difference is palpable), the place from where the equipment will be delivered (delivery from abroad can take two months). Therefore you should stipulate the terms for each type of work in advance and fix them in the contract.

Laying communications is best done either during the renovation of the home, or at the final stage of construction. You can choose wireless technology, but this will entail significant costs. And this kind of system today is not reliable and sensitive to interference.

Guarantee

As a rule, the firm-installer gives you a one-year warranty. Some companies provide a three-year warranty. Clarify in advance and mention in the contract the terms of warranty repair or replacement of elements (devices).

Foolproofing

The Smart House systems are for the most part very simple to operate. The software functions in such a way that real damage to the equipment is not able to cause any person (mechanical damage does not count). The only warning: do not try to reconfigure it yourself.

Programming

Nevertheless, some manufacturers give owners the ability to prescribe and modify some simple functions. This is done by moving the graphical icons in the interface of the program from place to place or by using the menu. In advance about which method of control will be most convenient to you.

Development

Once you install a system of basic configuration, you can upgrade the system over time by introducing new features. But to do this, you need to contact the company that designed the system and installed it. Therefore, it is worthwhile to foresee the possibility of such revision in advance and stipulate the conditions with the performers.

Learn what difficulties may arise and what preparations should be made with this factor in mind.