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Smart Home Options for Renovation, Upgrading or New Home Construction

By Trevor Ducote
Published December 9, 2020

In the modern-day, new constructions and renovated homes are increasingly being featured with smart options. In fact, it is one of the leading reasons people are looking to buy new homes. Smart home options provide great energy savings, enhanced protection, and security, and increase the values of your home. Forward-thinking builders, as well as smart home designers such as Passion Home Design, are constantly looking for ways to tap into this market. This article will highlight some of the top smart home features being designed and installed in millions of new homes.  

Security and Safety Options

The average household today has a lot more valuables stored and/or used inside the home compared to, say, a century ago. Given that most adults go out to work these days, there is an ever-growing need for enhanced security in the home. Highlighted below are some of the leading Smart Security and Safety options that you can install in your newly built or renovated home.  

Smart Home Cameras

Smart camera systems come in many shapes and sizes. A lot of these come with mobile-phone features such as facial recognition capability, motion sensors, video monitoring, and even notification when an unauthorized breach happens. Technology is moving fast. A great example in this niche is the Arlo Ultra home security camera, which has been hailed for having the ability to zoom automatically, track motion, automatically switch to night vision, and record footage in 4K and UHD. Other examples of smart home cameras include Amazon Cloud Cam, Blink Indoor, Wyze Cam Outdoor, and Arlo.

Smart Door Locks

In addition to taking footage in and around your home, an upgraded smart door lock comes in handy. Like smart cameras, these door lock devices have a number of high-tech features, including the ability to keep track of people going into and exiting your homes as well as create virtual keys for your visitors. The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, for instance, does all this and can be configured to work with Google, Alexa, and HomeKit. Other top brands in this niche include Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro, Schlage Sense, and Nest X Yale Lock.  The best feature is no lock-out moments if you forgot or lost your keys!

Heating and Cooling Options

A lot of people these days continue to look for ways to become more energy-efficient and independent. Additionally, there is a growing demand for convenience. This is perhaps best demonstrated through smart heating and cooling options that allow household members to control temperature and humidity from the convenience of their smartphones.  Ecobee or Nest have great thermostats that upgrade the efficiency of even the oldest units.

Smart Thermostats

People are different — which means that their response to various stimuli varies. Some smart thermostats have embraced this concept by allowing different customization of temperature in various rooms or spaces within the home. We have also seen newly built and renovated homes being installed with voice-controlled and AI-powered thermostats that are able to “learn” your desired adjustments over time so that they can make the changes automatically. Great examples of smart home thermostats leaving a mark include Ecobee Smart Thermostat, Nest Learning Thermostat, Honeywell Lyric T5, and Mysa Smart Thermostat.  

Smart HVAC Vents

The traditional HVAC system not only has a manual-based vent operation, but it also a one-temperature-fits-all system. With smart HVAC vents, however, you can set the desired temperature for each room, and the vents will automatically respond as required. Smart vent brands popular on the market today include Flair Smart Vent and Keen Home Smart Vent.  

Smart Home Devices

Smart Kitchen Options

From refrigerators and dishwashers to ovens and cookers, the kitchen is perhaps one of the household areas that has the most options for smart technology. Let’s quickly highlight a few of these options.  

Smart Refrigerator

The smart refrigerator scene is growing fast. It is impossible to talk about this without mentioning the Samsung Family Hub smart refrigerator — which comes with a range of features, including the ability to automatically take a photo inside and send it to your phone. A big touchscreen on the door allows you to make orders online for groceries. Besides Samsung, other smart refrigerators include GE Profile, LG InstaView, and Kenmore French-Door Smart Fridge.  

Smart Oven

Just like refrigerators, ovens are also becoming more advanced. We have seen some voice-controlled countertop ovens that are capable of a variety of food preparations — such as broiling and baking — while allowing to remotely watch your food thanks to the built-in cameras. The Brava Oven, for instance, has 10 cooking presets that can be automatically set and remotely watched. Other popular smart ovens include Amazon Smart Oven, Tovala Smart Oven, and June Oven.  

Smart Lighting

Much of the smart lighting being produced support Alexa, Google, IFTTT, Siri, and Cortana voice commands. If you are new to smart home devices, smart lighting is probably one of the easiest and cheapest ways to become initiated.

Yeelight Smart LED Bulb is regarded as one of the leading brands in the industry. It connects to Wi-Fi, supports a multitude of AI voice commands, and offers 16 million colors. From its app, users can set varying lighting effects and schedules.

The other great brands in this niche are: Wyze Bulb, Philips Hue Wight Floodlight, and Lifx Mini LED.  

Outside Of A Modern Home

Complete Home Automation: Savant Home Automation

If you want to have full home automation or multiple smart home automation options, Savant is definitely worth considering. Savant is rooted in providing unmatched levels of user experience, personalization, and automation options that support a plethora of devices, including audio systems, lighting systems, climate control systems, home theater, and so much more. Savant apps can be supported by both iOS and Android.

Users can also monitor their energy consumption for the devices and make informed decisions. Perhaps the highlight of this smart home automation platform is its pioneer Savant Remote — which is an ideal place to start if you are new to smart homes. The remote gives users the ability to choose and customize what aspects of their home they want automated.

It’s no secret that a smart home will make your life so much easier. If you’re someone who’s naturally apprehensive about technology, you don’t have to go all in. You can start slow; take baby steps, and see how you like it.

Are you interested in upgrading your home to include AI-powered smart features? Passion Home Design will walk you through all your options to fit your budget.