USA TODAY International Edition
Lennar plans to feature Alexa in all new homes
Amazon will even send a technician for set-up
VALLEJO, Calif. – The nation’s largest home builder is betting voice-activated digital assistants and smart devices will become as expected in a new home as garages now are.
Lennar announced Wednesday that standard features in its new homes will include built-in Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats and lights — all controlled by Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant.
Each house will come with two Alexa-enabled smart speakers, an Echo Show and an Echo Dot. New homeowners will also get a free visit from an Amazon technician to help set up and teach them how to use it.
“This will be the hallmark of why we buy a new home,” said David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures. “It’s an important step in the mass adoption of all these technologies.”
No other major builder has folded this technology into all its homes. The announcement comes as Amazon, Google and Apple fight for market share in the smart speaker category. In 2018, about 18% of Americans will use a smart speaker at least once a month, digital marketing firm eMarketer found. Amazon holds 66.6% of the market and Google 29.5%.
To get the word out to home buyers, Lennar and Amazon on Wednesday will open eight model homes across the country featuring the built-in tech.
“We want them to be able to walk into one of these model homes and see how it all works in a real house, so they can see how much it would simplify their lives,” said Nish Lathia, general manager for Amazon Services, who helped give a tour of one such model home in Vallejo, about an hour north of San Francisco.
The 3,600-square-foot model home in Vallejo was set up with an Echo Show, an Alexa-enabled smart speaker with screen, an Amazon Echo Dot and a large, wall-mounted television linked to Amazon’s Fire TV digital media player.
Alexa was linked to the home’s many smart devices. Ordering “Alexa, turn the temperature to 72,” reset the Honeywell thermostat. When the doorbell rang, saying “Alexa, who’s at the door?” turned on the Ring video doorbell and showed a view of the front porch on the TV.
Lennar began rolling out the bakedin capability last summer, working with Amazon to get the technology right. Beginning this month, all its new homes will be Alexa-enabled. It already has integrated Wi-Fi.
Because of Lennar’s everything-included pricing, all of its homes will come with the system installed. Customers can choose to turn the system on but can’t buy a home that doesn’t include it.