Smart Homes & Residential
Home Automation
Lighting, climate, shading and scenes on one system — and one that still behaves like ordinary switches when nobody wants to open an app.
The measure of a home automation system is what happens when the person who commissioned it is not home. A guest, a child or a housekeeper has to be able to turn on a light, and if the only way to do that is an app on one particular phone, the system has made the house harder to live in rather than easier.
So the design principle is that automation is added to conventional control, not substituted for it. Every switched circuit keeps a physical control that works standalone; scenes, schedules and remote access sit on top. This also determines the failure mode: when the hub or the internet is down, the house is a normal house rather than a dark one.
The other decision is wired against wireless. A property under construction should be wired, because it is nearly free to do then and removes battery replacement and interference from the next fifteen years. A finished villa is a survey question, and the honest answer is usually a mix.
What this covers
Lighting control
Dimming, scenes and schedules per room, with conventional switches retained so the lighting works without the system.
Climate zoning
Per-zone temperature with schedules and occupancy, which in this climate is the largest single influence on running cost.
Shading and curtains
Motorised blinds and curtains, scheduled against sun position to reduce solar gain before cooling has to work against it.
Scenes and automation
Combined actions for arriving, leaving and night, tied into the alarm so leaving the house sets it.
Voice and app control
Added as a convenience on top of physical control, never as the only route to a light switch.
What we will ask you
These are the questions that decide the specification. Having the answers ready is what turns a first conversation into a real quotation.
- 01
Is the property finished?
Under construction, wire it. Finished and occupied, the survey decides — and a mix is the usual honest answer.
- 02
What happens when the hub is down?
Every circuit should have a control that works standalone. This is what keeps a fault from becoming a dark house.
- 03
Who else has to use it?
Guests, children and staff. If they cannot operate it without instruction, the design is not finished.