My wife and I are currently gut-renovating a house. With the walls fully open I have the opportunity to build-in as much smarthome connectivity as I want. Reading the home building thread in BLtS I've gotten a few ideas that I hadn't previously thought of but with our design largely complete I'm most interested in figuring out what smarthome features are currently worth purchasing and which ones I should wait on or pass on.
Key Assumptions:
- I'm fairly tech-savvy but my wife is not at all so whatever I do needs to be simple enough that I can set it up and have it work via touch/voice (i.e. I can program an IFTTT recipe but I'll need it so she won't have to troubleshoot)
- We're pretty much an Apple house, so while it appears they are still lacking in that department, I would likely look towards solutions that have HomeKit connectivity even if I don't start there (i.e. I'll likely purchase a few Echo Dots to scatter throughout the house)
- We have a Sonos play 5 and I anticipate purchasing a soundbar / running wires for outdoor speakers I'll plug into a Connect:AMP for music.
Thermostat - Leaning towards an Ecobee3 over Nest but open to thoughts.
Smoke Detectors - Doesn't seem to be worth the premium to pair with the Nest thermostat.
Garage - One of the Chamberlain MyQ enabled doors
Lighting - Unsure; the Lutron Caseta looks really interesting and given that I'm doing a full rewire the cost premium isn't as much as doing a retrofit. But I'm not sure
Doorbell/Outdoor Cameras - I'm meh on these at the moment; the use case is fairly limited for us.
Sprinkler System - Not 100% sure we'll have it put in immediately, but likely a year 1/2 project so I'm interested in ensuring its wired to start. Leaning Rainmachine over Ranchio but interested in feedback.
Mesh Wireless - Given the plan to ramp up the amount of devices connected, is pay the premium for a mesh wireless setup (Netgear Orbi is the wirecutter pick) worth it? Our house won't be massive but the main router hub will not likely be centered due to my office location.
What else am I missing or should be considering? What has or hasn't worked for you?
Key Assumptions:
- I'm fairly tech-savvy but my wife is not at all so whatever I do needs to be simple enough that I can set it up and have it work via touch/voice (i.e. I can program an IFTTT recipe but I'll need it so she won't have to troubleshoot)
- We're pretty much an Apple house, so while it appears they are still lacking in that department, I would likely look towards solutions that have HomeKit connectivity even if I don't start there (i.e. I'll likely purchase a few Echo Dots to scatter throughout the house)
- We have a Sonos play 5 and I anticipate purchasing a soundbar / running wires for outdoor speakers I'll plug into a Connect:AMP for music.
Thermostat - Leaning towards an Ecobee3 over Nest but open to thoughts.
Smoke Detectors - Doesn't seem to be worth the premium to pair with the Nest thermostat.
Garage - One of the Chamberlain MyQ enabled doors
Lighting - Unsure; the Lutron Caseta looks really interesting and given that I'm doing a full rewire the cost premium isn't as much as doing a retrofit. But I'm not sure
Doorbell/Outdoor Cameras - I'm meh on these at the moment; the use case is fairly limited for us.
Sprinkler System - Not 100% sure we'll have it put in immediately, but likely a year 1/2 project so I'm interested in ensuring its wired to start. Leaning Rainmachine over Ranchio but interested in feedback.
Mesh Wireless - Given the plan to ramp up the amount of devices connected, is pay the premium for a mesh wireless setup (Netgear Orbi is the wirecutter pick) worth it? Our house won't be massive but the main router hub will not likely be centered due to my office location.
What else am I missing or should be considering? What has or hasn't worked for you?