2020 has been quite a year: a year with a deadly virus, political instability, economic fall-down. But even more importantly, 2020 is the year in which staying at home has become the norm.
Whether you are now working from home or in the second wave of lockdown restrictions, your home is the place where you will eat, work, and rest most of your time. That's why it's essential to get the most of your space.
A smart home is the peak of both convenience and security. We're talking about security cameras, door locks, lighting control systems, thermostats, and many more smart home devices. With the best smart home device, you can monitor your property against intruders, but you can do much more too. You can set up the thermostat to switch itself on a rainy day or turn on lights as you enter home without the need to click on any switches.
Smart homes might, at first, sound like a fancy way of living that is far from your daily routine and even further from your budget. That's actually one of the main smart home myths, which we have debunked here.
Let's review together where and how you can get started with making your home smarter.
What's All the Fuss About Home Automation?
Smart homes are often portrayed in the media as either mind-blowing or freaky. Do a quick search online, and you'll discover what we're talking about. You can read about super responsive homes that seem to read your mind for how interactive they are. But you can also discover how some people are frightened by the possibility of Alexa spying on them and storing their information somewhere in the Cloud.
Smart homes are actually more secure than you might think. Just like with every device, the risk is always there. But if you implement good habits of keeping your passwords safe, not lending or sharing your devices to others - Well, you should be protected 99% of the time.
On the other hand, owning some of the best home automation systems comes a long way into making your and your family's life much easier. Imagine being able to check your kids after school, calm your pet down with your voice from the office, dim the lights when it's almost bedtime. The options are literally endless.
Plus, you don't need to spend millions to get started. Whether you are building a new house or transforming your space, it all starts with one first piece of smart equipment. It might be a smart home controller like Alexa or Google Home. Or you might want to start by installing smart bulbs at the entrance of your home. It all starts with your needs and desires.
You Convinced Me - Where Should I Get Started?
Unless you have suddenly become a strong believer in smart homes, we recommend starting small. Taking the first step towards a smart home is more affordable when building in phases based on your budget. This is especially true when transforming your space into a smart home rather than building one from scratch.
Many smart products are made to be "backward compatible," meaning that they will work with existing products already available on the market. This way, you don't need to invest all your money at once, and you can keep upgrading your home as time goes by.
Wireless or Wired Connectivity?
Technology developments have taught us that wires are a thing of the past when it comes to an internet connection. Nowadays, wireless connectivity is the only right way to go.
While this makes sense, it does not always apply to smart homes.
When making your home smarter, try to always opt for a hardwired connection if possible. This type of connection is more stable and provides a direct link to your network. See it as a room full of people talking all at the same time. It becomes hard to understand each other, causing conversations to slow down or impacting the number of words you can fully grasp.
The same principle is true for smart homes. When your smart devices only rely on Wi-Fi to communicate with each other and the smart home controller, this can impact your phone's and tablet's connectivity. Even when your home has a 5G-speed network, you'll be more likely to experience a 3G connection because of the number of devices talking to each other at the same time.
Wireless is often the only option available for older homes. When building a new home, you can install more wires to connect each device to your home network. However, with a pre-existing space, you most likely won't have the right infrastructure to implement all the changes you want. In this case, the wireless connection between your smart devices and a smart home controller is the best option.
On the other hand, with a new build, you will have the full freedom to wire your home or office as it is being constructed. This option is less expensive, and it will also boost the performance of your smart home devices. We recommend running more wires than needed so that you have everything ready in case you want to add more devices in the future.
Either way, congratulations on taking the first step towards a smarter home!
Wait - There's a Better Way to Get Started
With a smart home, you can either follow the IKEA way and build it yourself at home. Or you can free yourself from spending hours upon hours searching for the right smart bulb online and ask a professional for help.
Save yourself from the pain of picking the wrong smart device and facing device-to-device or device-to-hub connectivity issues in your smart home environment. Find a reliable home automation professional and get everything sorted just the way you want it.
We at HDL do exactly this. We help you build the smart home of your dreams, step by step. We first start by discussing what you want your smart devices to help you with, your budget, and how some of the best smart home devices can match your daily routines. Our main solutions go beyond KNX systems, and include our proprietary technology called Buspro and Buspro Wireless.
We develop a recommended home automation plan for your home, office, or hotel based on these and more information. It's then up to you to decide if this suits you well or if this plan needs any extra adjustments. Either way, we're here to assist you at any step of the process. We will be there for you even if something doesn't go like planned or if you're ready to boost one more area of your property with home automation.
Get started today by making your house a smart home with HDL Automation. Contact us or find our partners in your country!
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