why a smart home?

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Smart home technology (home automation) simplifies the way you use your home.  It makes ordinary tasks more convenient and your appliances easier to use.   You can control your home from your smartphone, smartwatch, tablet or even with voice commands.  Here are ten of the biggest benefits that a smart home can provide.

1. Reduce family life stress

"Turn that toilet light off!" - does that sound familiar?  No problem, set a timer to turn it off after 10 minutes.  Is the 'off' position of a light switch unknown to family members?  Tell Siri, Alexa or Google to turn off all upstairs lights and fans.  Do you find yourself running out the door to get the kids to school and leaving lights on?  Easy, schedule all lights to turn off at 9am.  These are some of the easy convenient things that you can do.

2. Get your home to take care of you

You can use smart switches to improve almost everything in your home.  Imagine waking up to lights that slowly increase in brightness as it is time to get up, your towel being warmed on the heated towel rail and the kettle boiling all simultaneously or simply use your voice to turn on the lights and heated towel rail as you get out of bed.

There is really no limit to the things that can be improved with a smart home.  Anything with a power source and an internet connection can be automated, even things you never thought needed an internet connection, like your light bulbs and power points.

3. Save on bills and energy costs

Home automation technologies come with a range of energy saving features.  Control your heating and cooling and you control 48% of your energy spending. 

You could, for example, program your heated floors to turn on and heat to 24-degrees early in the morning when off-peak energy rates apply and then turn off before the peak rates kick in.  Not only will your home be heated to the perfect temperature you will have saved money on the energy costs.  Some smart home technologies monitor water usage too, helping to prevent exorbitant water bills.

4. Improve security

Improved security is one of the top two reasons people opt into smart home systems and the reason we at eco3® started looking into smart homes.  Smart home systems use the information of connected devices and motion sensors to know when you leave the house and can close the smart garage door, turn off lights, or lock smart locks.  You can also tap in through a smart app and turn off forgotten connected appliances.  There are even video doorbells which can send a live feed to your phone when someone is at your door and let you speak to them. This also gives the appearance that you are at home even if you’re not.

5. Increased safety

Having a smart home increases safety whether it is lighting your way when you get home at night or getting alerts when something is amiss.

6. Increase the value of your home

Home automation is becoming more and more popular with buyers, which means demand amongst homebuyers in increasing.  It can be a point of difference when you sell your home.

7. Convenience 

Homes have more electrical lights, fans, heaters and devices than ever.  Because home automation technology performs rote tasks automatically, end users experience great convenience. Lots of smart gadgets are compatible through IFTTT with one another, and you can set different triggers between devices to automate regular home processes. For instance, you could set your smart lock to turn on your smart lighting when you unlock the front door. 

8. Comfort

Connected devices can help create a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere throughout your home.   You can set automatic lighting, sound and temperature settings to create the perfect environment in your home.

9. Peace of Mind

Many consumers invest in smart homes for peace of mind.  Ever left home and wondered if you have closed the garage or front door?  Or wondered if you have left your hair tongs or iron switched on?  You can simply log in to the app to check remotely and make any changes necessary.  

10. Future proofed

eco3® smart universal technology is universally compatible wi-fi technology, operating in any country without rewiring your home* or requiring additional hub equipment and works natively with Apple and Android products.  Our competitors, zigbee, z-wave, insteon, c-bus etc are locked in a proprietary technology battle and quickly becoming out-dated.

Note: *requires a neutral wire as present in most homes built in the past 20 years and current electrical standards.