A whole-home smart system without the subscription trap

What they wanted

The owners had been quoted for a "proper" smart home by a dealer of one of the big integrated platforms. The number was large, and it was the smaller problem. The larger problem was everything around it: a proprietary controller only that dealer could program, an annual licence to keep it working, a monthly fee for the app, and the quiet fact that if the dealer went away the house went dumb. They wanted the experience without the hostage arrangement: lights and shades that respond to the time of day, cameras they could check from their phone, one app instead of six, and a system that would still work in ten years.

The approach

I designed it around three platforms that are each excellent at one thing and happy to talk to the others. Lutron for lighting and motorised shades, because nothing else is as reliable or as pleasant to use and it does not need the cloud to function. Ubiquiti for the network and cameras, because a smart home is only as good as its Wi-Fi, and because the cameras record locally to hardware the owners own. And Home Assistant, running on a small box in the rack, as the brain that connects them: it is open-source, it runs entirely inside the house, and it speaks to everything.

The cabling came first. Every access point, camera and fixed device got a wired drop so Wi-Fi was left for the things that actually move. Then the network, segmented so cameras and automation devices live on their own VLANs away from laptops and guests. Then the hardware, and finally the automations: scenes for morning, evening and away; shades that track the sun; lighting that follows presence; and a single dashboard on the wall and in their pockets.

What it gave them

A home that behaves the way the expensive demo promised, with no monthly fee, no licence renewal and no dealer dependency. The shades lower themselves on summer afternoons. The lights are never on in an empty room. Cameras cover the drive and the doors, recording to a drive in the basement rather than someone else's cloud. Everything keeps working when the internet does not, because nothing depends on it.

The total came in well under the dealer quote, and the ongoing cost is zero. Because the system is built on open platforms, any competent integrator can maintain it, and the owners can add a device themselves without calling anyone. It was handed over with a documented network, labelled drops, and a one-page guide rather than a binder.

← All work