You’ve chosen the perfect flooring, fixtures, and finishes for your custom home or remodel, but you’re forgetting one important thing–smart home technology. Every room and function in the home can be improved with smart features. Make entertaining easier than ever, sleep well at night feeling safe and secure, and make even the most tedious daily routines fade into the background with smart technology. What smart features should you ask your design-build team about during your consultation and design meetings?
Smart Features for Every Part of Your Rockingham County Home
Increase security, comfort, and convenience in your home with smart features. Every room in the home can be improved with remote access, programming, and voice command through your voice assistant system. This guide gives a full look at how smart home features can improve your life with a few suggested products as well as installation cost estimates. What smart features should you include in your home?
Safety
Feel secure, both in your home and while away, with a smart security system. It’s one of the first smart upgrades many homeowners make because the difference comes with the benefit of convenience but also incredible peace of mind. Control your locks, lighting, and cameras right from your smart device. With a smart security system, you’ll receive a notification when your cameras are triggered, which is a great feature to have when you’re not home. You’ll also never have to turn around while you’re heading out because you can’t remember if you’ve locked the door or closed the garage.
Smart security systems today even come with smart smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, and sensors that can detect a water leak. Zigbee is one home security company that is equipped with these features, as well as a bedside panic button, just in case. The system also uses mesh networking. It’s a system set up to continue working even if your home loses power. Installing a system like Zigbee will cost anywhere between $1,500 and $7,000, depending on the complexity of the system you purchase.
Comfort
Reach maximum comfort with a smart thermostat in your home. A smart thermostat can be programmed to follow your schedule and routine and even learn your patterns, reducing the tedious task of manually overriding the system. A smart system can be controlled from your smart device and even be connected to your security system so it can adjust automatically when someone’s home.
Install special sensors on your windows that can read the temperature outside or have wifi connectivity to access local weather to adjust to create a comfortable environment inside automatically. Some smart thermostats are equipped to monitor the quality of your indoor air. Have drafty or cold spots in your home? A smart thermostat system can adjust for those, too. The Emerson Sensi Wifi Smart Thermostat and the Ecobee3 Lite Smart Thermostat are two excellent examples that have become go-to's in smart homes. Installation for a smart thermostat system can range from $750 and $2,500, depending on the components that come with the system you choose.
Relaxation
The bathroom is one of the main rooms in your home that can be improved from the floor to the ceiling with smart technology. A full luxury spa experience is possible right at home, with programmable in-floor radiant heating, a steam shower system, smart lighting, a smart mirror, and a Bluetooth sound system. You can even experience the incredible relaxation of a sound bath in your own home with the VibrAcoustic bathtub by Kohler. Sync your music, heat the tub walls, and melt the day away.
An at-home steam is a great way to wake up or wind down, with steam set to your preferred temperature and duration. Use chromotherapy and music while you enjoy the steam, then freshen up with a body spray system afterward. A ThermaSol steam system shower package and steam generator averages $9,000. To create a fully smart bathroom in your home, installation is around $2,000 to $9,000.
Entertainment
Are you interested in a custom-entertainment haven in your coastal New Hampshire basement? A smart tv, or two, connected to a smart speaker system, and smart lighting, will create the perfect atmosphere for watching the game or hosting a gathering without all the effort to get the perfect sound or picture every time. Program your system to adjust to just the right settings depending on what’s on the screen.
Incorporate this completely smart entertainment system in your living room, bathroom, and kitchen to take your news and music from room to room without constantly turning on and off different devices. Your smart system can be part of your morning routine by automatically turning on in the kitchen in the mornings, along with your programmed lights and smart coffee maker.
In the evenings, enjoy an electric fireplace that you can control from your smart device. With or without heat, you’ll create a rich atmosphere with the glow from the flames. Entertainment features and other conveniences could cost from $2,000 to $15,000 and up to install, depending on the number of rooms and features you’d like to improve.
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Lighting
Take the monotonous routine of opening and closing your shades every day with automatic shades that rise and fall with the sun. Override the setting when you want to sleep in or when you’re away. You’ll get the added benefits of natural sunlight and a reduction in energy used with artificial lighting.
As for smart lighting, some systems include sensors that will turn a light off if someone has left a room. Or, control your lights remotely to give your home the appearance that someone is there. Lutron is a smart lighting system that uses wireless shades, dimmers, sensors, and a bedside master switch for your convenience. Installation of smart lighting and shades in your home could cost from $2,000 to $5,000.
Convenience in the Kitchen
The kitchen is one of the most popular rooms in the home to get a smart makeover. Make your kitchen work smarter, not harder, with smart appliances, outlets, lighting, and plumbing fixtures. Experience less stress when entertaining dinner guests, track progress in the oven without leaving your sofa, check the contents of your refrigerator from the grocery store, and access recipes from the smart panel on your fridge.
Every appliance in the kitchen is available in a smart model these days, making it easy to find the finishes, styles, and functions that work for you. Many smart models also come in energy-efficient versions for the best of both worlds. The Samsung Family Hub smart fridge, for example, will automatically adjust its temperature when needed, disinfect the interior, and use wifi capability to allow interior camera access when you’re away. Installation of your kitchen’s smart features could range from $9,000 to $25,000, depending on how many features you’d like to include.
When is the Best Time to Install Smart Technology in Your Home?
Smart technology installation across your entire home can easily top $20,000 when you hire technicians to do the work at around $120 per hour. This doesn’t include hiring a contractor to patch holes and repaint once their job is done. Talk to your design-build team about installing your smart home technology during your custom home build or remodel to save yourself the trouble of hiring outside of your trusted home-building team.
Your Custom Home or Remodel in Coastal New Hampshire
Smart home technology has become a common part of home design. The features have never been easier to use, with more options that will cater to your specific needs. Include smart home features in your custom home plans or remodel for your own convenience and within your budget.
Oxland Builders is a complete design-build firm that can take your project from concept to completion. We’ve created countless beautiful projects in New Hampshire that are at the peak of both excellent style and ultimate function. To schedule a consultation and start the discussion about your new or remodeled smart home, contact us today.
