Planning & infrastructure
Making the Internet of Things work for you is all about connectivity and infrastructure – here’s how to do it
Smart home technology is a diverse area and the number of gadgets available is growing day-by-day, whether they’re aimed at enhancing your lifestyle, saving money or securing your property. But the best examples all have one thing in common: they do their job in a way that can be easily integrated into your routine, often without you having to even lift a finger to swipe a screen.
“There are isolated benefits, such as intelligent thermostats that can help cut your bills or clever locks that allow you to open the door to someone from afar,” says Philipp Schuster from Loxone. “But a real smart home makes life easier and gives you more free time. If you have to get out your phone and open several apps every time you want to adjust a setting, you might live in a connected home, but it certainly isn’t smart.”
Andy Moss from Moss Technical agrees: “People are much more aware of smart tech thanks to primetime TV ads for the likes of Hive and Apple Homekit. When they come to us, they soon realise they can do much more than they’ve seen so far: they can control and automate almost everything in the home.”
Wouldn’t it be nice, for instance, if when you locked the front door on leaving the house, all the lights turned off and the underfloor heating dropped down to an energy-saving background temperature? What about if directional lighting were to switch on when the smoke alarm trips? Or perhaps, when you pop into the ensuite at two in the morning, your home was intelligent enough to know the lighting should only come up to 10% brightness to avoid dazzling you, and to suppress the fan so you don’t wake up your partner?
All of these things – and more – are possible with modern smart technology, as long as the setup is carefully designed and realised. “If you want to get a smart home right, you need to do three things: plan early, be realistic with your budget and put the infrastructure in properly,” says Andy. “If you succeed with all three, you’ll have a future-ready home.”
Choosing an integrator
An important initial step is to ensure you’re working with the right people from the start of your project. “The best option is to appoint a specialist in the field to take responsibility from beginning to end and get a dialogue going early,” says James Charasma from Sevenoaks Electrical Installations. Fail to do so and your setup may not meet your expectations – in fact, the scheme may never even get off the ground.
“One of the biggest stumbling blocks comes when your builder or architect decides they should allocate, say, £5,000 to conventional electrics – but it’s only after this point that you decide you want automation,” says Andy. By now, you might have set your heart on a high-end kitchen or bathroom, and smart tech starts to look like an expensive addition instead of an integral part of the fabric of your new home.
A well-planned setup will greatly enhance and simplify your lifestyle – but there’s no doubt it’s a technical area. “You need joined-up thinking across all the possible elements – before the design and specification of systems such as heating, lighting, security, access control, AV etc has been done, and before you’ve appointed individual trades,” says James.
With a single, experienced point of contact coordinating things, you’ll know every aspect is being properly considered – such as the compatibility of manufacturers’ equipment and its ability to meet your needs. If your trades have already quoted based on using certain products, it becomes more difficult and less cost-efficient to achieve this.
A good first port of call when looking for an integrator who can take your scheme forward is CEDIA, the leading global trade body for the home technology industry. Its website includes a search facility so you can track down members operating close to you. Treat it like you would appointing an architect or main contractor. Does the company understand what you want to achieve, for instance? Do they have a proven track record of successfully designing and installing the kind of scheme you’re after? Does the quote include everything and match up with your budget?
Have them introduce you to happy clients, too. “Don’t rely on sterile showrooms; ask to see a real-life installation,” says
James. “You can quiz past customers on the performance of the installer and gain an invaluable insight into what it’s like to actually live with a given system day-to-day.”
The infrastructure
If you’ve read Build It before, you’ll know we’re pretty hot on the idea of a fabric-first approach to energy performance (ie packing in plenty of insulation rather than relying on bolt-on renewables). It’s a similar story for smart technology: the infrastructure always comes first. “If your home is wired properly, with cables in place for strategic access points, you or a future owner won’t get stuck five years down the line when you want to start streaming 4K video or fit motorised blinds hooked up to the lighting system,” says Andy.
CEDIA publishes a guide to minimum requirements for data and Tv/satellite cabling in generic new developments. It’s a useful introduction to the topic, but it can only take in the simplest of setups. The truth is that as soon as you get into anything resembling a true smart home, you’ll need to go bespoke. “There’s no one set infrastructure blueprint that will suit all potential systems,” says James. “Careful and creative design is required to ensure optimal functionality and avoid limiting your options further down the line.”
Everything stems from the main controller (the hub or rack, usually contained in a well-ventilated plant room). “The IP networking – your routers, switches etc – is the foundation on which all your smart home products rely,” says James. “They must be good-quality and properly configured so you get robust, reliable communication and functionality.” All the cabling and services for your smart home will branch out from this point. This could include wiring for multi-room audio-visual, lighting control systems, motorised blinds, door access, CCTV, heating and ventilation and more.
Making a wish list of how you’d like your home to perform is a good idea. “We give clients a spreadsheet to help start the process,” says Andy. “This covers everything from lighting to heating, including how much zoning you’d ideally like and how many wall controls there will be.” Perhaps as well as the main switch pad in the bedroom, you’d like one each side of the bed – but you can’t afford the whole lot just yet. It’s a question of putting in the infrastructure now. “We can just run a bus cable behind the plaster and add the switch later,” says Andy.
A common mistake is installing all the electrics in one long run. “Avoid locating structured cabling on the same routes as mains power, as this can cause electromagnetic interference and crosstalk that compromises performance or permanently damages delicate wiring,” says James. “The same applies to heating pipes, as the warmth can lead to issues.”
Flexibility and robustness is critical in both the software and the hardware. After all, if you’re spending thousands of pounds on a home automation setup, you want it to be pretty much rock solid. “We usually go for Lutron for our artificial illumination setups, as it gives us everything we need in terms of dimming protocols – plus it has an astonishing reliability record,” says Iain Shaw from Brilliant Lighting.
Setup & handover
If you want the full lifestyle benefits of a smart home, it has to be set up properly – and you need to know how to use it. However intuitive the interfaces seem, it’s likely to be fairly new to you. Your integrator should run you through everything; but the very best will think ahead. “Opt for manufacturers who produce high-quality documentation,” says James. “Good ongoing support is a big factor. We like suppliers who make easy-to-follow videos and manuals for later updates.”
System maintenance is a key area, and many installers offer a service agreement package so they can take care rolling out software and security updates swiftly, without interrupting your experience. Again, the right manufacturer can make a big difference. “Control4 offered native voice command via Echo Dot on the day Amazon launched it,” says James. “And when some manufacturers recently struggled with SSL security certificate issues, Control4 issued a new set of more secure SSLS to every product everywhere.”