Smart answers on smart homes

Ben Johnson, director of Powertrac Electrical Services, a Berkshire-based smart home and electrical contractor, answers some of the frequently asked questions on smart homes.

What is a smart home?

In short, a smart home intelligently automates and allows you to control all of the services throughout your home.

Why do I need a smart home?

A smart home is designed to be energy efficient and provide you with a more comfortable style of living, customised to your particular needs.

Think about a modern day smart phone or a new car – functions are automated and devices are connected to work together. 

Now have a think about a traditional ‘dumb’ home:

• One thermostat to control the heating in the whole house.

• Kids leaving the lights on.

• Multiple keypads, switches and thermostats from different services that don’t interact.

Ask yourself, is this efficient? Is your home specifically designed around the way you live? Even a basic smart home can eliminate these issues, allowing you to take back control of your home.

How does it all work?

They key is being connected. A centrally managed ‘brain’ is typically connected with various sensors and switches throughout the home. This along with some clever programming allows services to work with each other, for you.

So, when you leave the house in the morning, the lights that were left on in the kitchen will turn off, the heating will drop down to your ‘away’ temperature and the burglar alarm will be set – 30 seconds after you shut the front door.

What can be controlled via apps/mobile devices?

Your whole system – apps provide full user customisation. For example, you can alter your lighting ‘scenes’ or heating schedule on your mobile device, from anywhere in the world.

How complicated it is to set up?

A truly smart home requires detailed planning from the outset of your building project, so it’s key to get a smart home professional on board early to aid you with design and functionality.

Following design, the cabling can often be installed by your onsite electrical contractor. The final phase of the project would be installation of hardware, programming and testing by your smart home professional.

How much does it cost?

As an example, Powertrac’s smart home system is modular; it can be used for anything from a single room retrofit lighting installation to a whole home fully automated system. With this in mind, the cost can vary quite largely. The hardware costs for a three bedroom home with an affordable automation package would start at £2,000.

Can a smart home save me money?

Yes, running costs can be reduced with a smart home – for example, with more efficient heating. According to Ofgem (2014) a multizoned heating system could save up to £400 off an annual dual fuel bill of £1,385. Compared to the £150 saving offered by single smart thermostats, this seems an attractive prospect.

With a well designed home, you will know the temperature of each room. You’ll also be able to control each rooms heating source, so rather than heating the whole house like a traditional UK home, you will only be heating each room to the your desired temperatures.

Is it a hassle to constantly monitor everything or is it automated?

Not at all, the idea is that you’ll have a more comfortable lifestyle. On handover day your home will come pre-programmed and you can then alter schedules, temperatures and light levels over time to suit your lifestyle. After this point your home will intelligently operate itself.

Typically your smart home provider will allow some time for tweaks to the system once you have settled in, but most of this can also be done remotely.