Photos By: Unsplash

The advent of ultra-high-speed broadband and the Internet of Things (IoT) has reinvented our homes in ways we could have never thought of. Together, these two inventions provide a gateway to other technologies that make life in a smart home easier and more enjoyable. 

In today’s post, Betterhousekeeper looks at five reasons you should consider automating your home. 

The Convenience Factor

The top reason people prefer smart homes today is the level of convenience afforded. In a recent study on users’ perception of smart home technologies, over 90% of the respondents said that convenience was their main reason for embracing this technology. 

An intelligent home is an ecosystem of smart components- thermostats, bulbs, cameras, speakers and sensors, e.t.c- that connect and communicate with each other via a hub. The hub then allows you to communicate with the smart systems via an app on your tablet or smartphone. 

Essentially, this gives you total control over the gadgets and devices in your home, wherever you are. An automated home allows you to lock/unlock your windows and doors, adjust the thermostat, turn the lights on/off and even summon the vacuum right from your smartphone. 

The kitchen has also received its fair share of this technology. For example, thanks to smart coffee machines, hardcore coffee lovers can now wake up to consistently good coffee each morning. The market also has smart refrigerators that will let you know when there’s a need to adjust the cooling power and when the door is open. 

Added Layer of Security and Safety 

It’s often argued that connecting your home to the internet increases your risk of being hacked. This is true, like other devices connected to the internet, your residence is vulnerable to cybercriminals. In most cases, this risk is due to insecure Wi-Fi networks and outdated software. 

However, if you can stay on top of your Wi-Fi security and passwords, home automation will improve your home’s security in more ways than one. 

One way automation boosts your home’s security is by letting you monitor your home remotely. The advent of smart cameras means you can keep an eye on every part of your home when at work and traveling. Cameras with Wi-Fi create a constant live feed complete with notifications to see all movements around your home. 

Premium home automation kits also include smartphone-controlled sensors. Sensors can detect your presence in various areas of your house to hit the lights ON and OFF. You can also activate them to alert you to any movements in the house when you’re away. 

Smart locks are another benefit of a smart home when it comes to security. These locks have a traditional deadbolt, meaning they are just as secure as traditional locks. However, because they are locked and unlocked wirelessly from a smartphone, you don’t need to carry a physical key.

Insurance Companies Reward Intelligent Homes  

Smart home tech is shaking up the relationship between property owners and home insurance companies. Because some smart devices are all about improving the security and safety of your home, they could qualify you for significant discounts on your monthly insurance premiums. 

Today, most insurance providers offer discounts to smart-home owners with systems that help prevent theft and water and fire damage. These include motion detectors that help detect the presence of burglars, smoke alarms and water leak detection systems that alert you to leakage before the damage gets worse. Some home insurance providers also reward homeowners with security cameras and smart locks. How much you save on home insurance will vary by state and between insurance providers. But most home insurance companies offer a two to five percent discount, although others take it up to 15 percent. Using the national average home insurance cost of $1,383 annually, smart-home owners could save up to $200 per year. If you’re about to automate your home, check with your provider for systems that are eligible for discounts. 

Greater Control Over Energy Use 

Besides making your home more convenient, automating your home can make a massive difference in your annual energy bills. Although the figures vary, smart home technologies could cut your power bills by 30% to 40%. One way automation reduces your energy bills is through intelligent temperature regulation. Heating and cooling account for more than half of the electricity expenditure in a typical American home. Thanks to smart thermostats and temperature sensors, homeowners can slash their power bills by up to 12%. With these two technologies, you can remotely control your HVAC, so it starts heating or cooling your home just before you get home. 

Smart appliances are also providing better methods of saving on electricity bills. For instance, smart ovens have efficient energy consumption systems, cooking faster while saving more energy. Likewise, smart refrigerators will notify you when the door is not properly locked, increasing energy savings. 

Automation Adds Value to Your Home 

As the demand for smart homes grows, automating your property can make it more appealing to potential buyers. Thus, you can sell your home faster and at a competitive price tag. 

The key is automating your house before listing it because buyers are looking for ready-to-move-in smart homes. Another crucial consideration when automating your home for sale is going for smart devices and systems that buyers are looking for. 

In Conclusion

Today’s society favors convenience and a leisurely lifestyle more than anything else. It’s important to consider smart home technologies that promise this, including smart thermostats, smart lighting and smart garage door openers.

Security is another top concern for potential smart home buyers. Smart security systems, such as smart smoke detectors and alarms, smart thermostats and smart door locks and doorbells, will easily bring the “wow” factor to home shoppers. 

While it’s evident that home automation adds value, it’s challenging to pin down the exact figure. But provided you make well-informed decisions when selecting smart home technology upgrades, you could fetch at least 5% higher than non-smart homes.

Photos By: Stock Images

The popularity of smart technology in homes is understandable. Not only does it make our daily lives easier and daily tasks less arduous, but it can even be used to keep us safe at home, something which is particularly important for vulnerable people living alone like women and the elderly. Smart homes are also believed to be more environmentally friendly making them especially appealing as we navigate the murky waters of the climate crisis. While you can choose from a number of devices such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, if you’ve got a bit of technical know-how you can also build your own home automation systems using Arduino boards. Here we explore some of the systems you could build at home.

Automated Door Lock

If you’ve got a habit of misplacing your keys, an automated door lock could be the answer to your prayers. Building your own smart lock is surprisingly straightforward and can be achieved with a few affordable components, so it won’t cost you a fortune. An Arduino Nano is the ideal piece of tech for this project, as it’s compatible with both Windows and Android devices. Once you’ve constructed your automated lock, your Bluetooth device can be used to open and close the lock.

Email-connected Security Camera

If you’re wanting to make your home safer for you and your family, a security camera is a worthwhile investment. However, with a few simple steps and the right Arduino board, you can go a step further and build a security camera which connects to your email inbox. The benefit of an email connected camera is that it can take a photo of a visitor on your property and send you the photo via email to review.

Automated Roller Blinds

Wouldn’t it be nice to open and close your blinds at the touch of a button? If you build your own automated roller blinds, you can make that dream a reality! An Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V is the base you’ll need to build the automated mechanism with. A soldering iron and a 3D printer will also be required to build your own automated roller blinds, along with various other components.

Alarm System

If you’ve already got some previous experience successfully creating Arduino-based products and you feel up to a new challenge, a home security alarm system could be your next step. Just like a store-bought alarm, this Arduino-based system is capable of detecting motion and will activate a piercing noise to alert you of an intruder. The alarm can be reset or switched off with a password, as with a traditional burglar alarm.

Smart home security possesses several advantages over more traditional home security systems, providing greater flexibility, convenience, and peace of mind when it comes to protecting your property. Here are just six benefits of a smart home security system.  

Alert

Unlike traditional security systems, which only work if you remember to arm them, a smart home security system is constantly alert, providing real-time alerts from your property even when disarmed. Using an alarm monitoring system increases the security of your home even further. With active monitoring and smart alerts, there will always be enough time to respond, allowing you to set up your system and then pretty much forget about it!

Convenient

The convenience factor of being able to manage all your home devices from one place is huge. You will be able to monitor CCTV, activate and deactivate alarms system and motion sensors, or lock doors all from your smartphone or watch. Never again will you leave the house wondering if you locked the back door or left a window open. The convenience of carrying around your home’s security in your pocket means you can check in on your property whenever you want, providing 24/7 peace of mind wherever you are.  

Proactive

Standard home security systems are reactive in nature, they alert you when a break-in or other issue is already taking place. A smart security system, on the other hand, is proactive. They provide ways for you to monitor your home and prevent problems from arising in the first place, by notifying you sooner. CCTV, doorbell cameras and motion sensors can all be linked to communicate with your smart devices as soon as an intruder is registered. Giving you the time to act and respond.  

Diverse

A smart home security system is useful for more than just break-ins. They can tell you when your children arrive home from school, if a door or window has been left open too long, or if your toddler has managed to get into the medicine cabinet. You can keep an eye on your pets while you are out of the house, or see your kids playing in the garden while you are busy preparing dinner with live video feeds or even identify people on your driveway from previous video clips, notifying you of any suspicious, repeat visitors. The possibilities are endless!

Reliable

Any smart home security system worth its salt will be engineered to ensure that emergency signals can get through even if the power is out, the internet is down, or a panel is broken. A traditional security system comes with a lot of vulnerabilities and can be rendered useless by cutting telephone and broadband cables outside of the home. Smart security, on the other hand, will often make use of dedicated mobile and broadband connections to ensure that alerts can still be broadcast even when tampered with.

Valuable

According to CNET, 81 per cent of current smart-home device owners say they would be more likely to spend more on a home equipped with smart security automation. Smart features are becoming the norm for new builds and are expected more and more among new buyers. By investing in a smart security system now you will be increasing the value of your property for the future.

Are you building the home of the future today? You’re not alone. Analysts anticipate a $15.23 Billion growth in smart home technology by 2025. But which technologies will win out? And which ones will fade into the dark obscurity in the coming year? Due to their practicality, here are the ones we expect to see in a lot more homes over the next couple of years.

1. Smart Speakers

These are already becoming a mainstay in many homes. We can expect that to continue as these devices become compatible with more smart home technologies, allowing you to run your home automatically and through voice. But we do expect the playing field to expand. In the US, a lot of people know Google and Amazon. But LG and Samsung are quickly gaining market share.

2. WiFi Smart Plugs

Smart plugs give you greater control over devices and lighting in your home to regulate power usage, ambiance, and safety. You can control them using the app or a voice-enabled assistant like Alexa. In addition to enhancing home automation, smart plugs can pinpoint where you’re using vampire power (standby power). That’s the power appliances use when they’re plugged in but not on. Experts estimate the average household spends around $130/year on this “unused” energy, but some homes use much more. Another major benefit of smart plugs is that they help you home in on energy-hogging appliances, so you can make a more energy-efficient appliance choice when that appliance is on its way out. Or you might decide to off-load it in a yard sale now and shrink your home’s carbon footprint.

3. Smart Mailboxes

Smart mailbox technology can retrofit a traditional mailbox with smart sensors that notify you of mail arrival. Or you can go all out with a special package delivery mailbox to outsmart porch pirates.

There are many benefits to knowing exactly when the mail is delivered:

• Know the best time to put out outgoing packages
• Identify when is the best time to meet your mail carrier in person
• Get a letter you’ve been anticipating as soon as it arrives (if you work from home)
• Avoid leaving perishables in a hot or cold mailbox
• Safely receive larger packages with some models
• Identify and have proof of a discrepancy between tracking and actual delivery.

4. Smart Thermostats

In some parts of the country, as much as 27% of the family budget goes to heating and cooling the house. Anything you can do to shrink this spending matters. Like smart plugs, smart thermostats can help you identify where and when you’re wasting money. In the summer, are you leaving the thermostat too low while you’re on vacation or at work (outside of your home)? A smart thermostat will help you identify this. Did you forget to lower the temperature a few degrees before leaving for work? You can fix this remotely on your phone or laptop. These are just some smart thermostat benefits.

5. Smart Locks

Surprisingly, these are taking so long to catch on. With smart locks, you can check, lock, and unlock your door remotely. They can notify you when your teenager has gotten home from school or if they leave contrary to house rules while you’re at work. Some locks use RFID key tags (similar to those used on pet doors) to unlock the door for you as you arrive, so no fumbling for a key with your hands full. Or you can open the door using your voice on your smartphone.

6. Smart Leak Detectors & Shut Off

Smart leak detectors have been around, but they’re getting better, so we expect them to become more of a mainstay in the modern home due to the outrageous costs associated with undetected leaks–rotting floorboards and supports, damaged flooring, black mold, etc. These smart devices notify you of a possible leak and can be fully integrated into your other smart home or security system technology. Not only can they detect leaks. Some devices actually have the means to temporarily shut off that leaky pipe to avoid sudden water damage from a burst or root-infiltrated pipe.

7. Smart Robot Vacuums

Like other smart technology, this one has been around for several years. But technology is getting better. Use your voice to start cleaning or set your robot vacuum to clean on a schedule. It does its job then returns to its base to charge itself, minimizing the work required from you. If you have pets that shed or small children who tend to make messes, this is a great way to keep your space cleaner between major cleaning. Extend the period of time you get to enjoy a clean space without having to constantly clean.

Like all smart tech, robot vacuums take some of the monotony out of life while saving you time and often money.

Reputation is everything in the trade show business. To build a name for yourself and solidify your spot as an innovative and unrivaled exhibit show designer, you must prove your worth to customers. This is why company reputation and portfolio is among the critical aspects prospective clients review when comparing trade show display and booth designers.

Reputable companies like ExpoMarketing boast several years of experience and consistency in delivering satisfactory quality designs each time. More importantly, they offer customized trade show displays and innovative designs tailored to your unique needs and target audience. Keeping in touch with existing and emerging trends is essential, considering how dynamic modern technology is. There are numerous highlights for those seeking to create unforgettable trade show relationships and brand experiences. Some of the considerations to make include:

a) Industry Experience

If there is anything that will reveal more about a trade show display designer, it is their industry experience. By default, long-serving businesses that have worked in the smart home industry deserve some credit for consistency. Providing services in the trade show industry for a couple of years takes streamlining and adaptation to the ever-changing market.

Some popular choices like ExpoMarketing have cemented their spot as a reliable designer experienced in creating memorable shows and designs. However, the number of years in business does not automatically qualify one to be the ultimate designer. You should ask these three questions to guide you to qualified booth design companies:

• How many years have you been operating?
• How many displays and booths do you design each year?
• What is your average repeat business?
• Who handles the design project, is it the same company?

b) References and Past Portfolio

If the designer cannot provide references and past clients who have outsourced their expertise, then you should continue looking. When you finally find one that can give actual references, take time to verify the references before signing any agreement. You can also request a portfolio of the past exhibition shows the designer has been part of, as well as their best innovations and designs. The portfolio demonstrates a picture of what the designer makes more often and can give you insights into whether they will meet your needs.

c) Project Timeline

You need a qualified designer who can provide high-quality trade show displays. More importantly, they should be able to meet the completion deadlines, especially if you are preparing for a trade show or brand exhibition event. You should interview prospect designers early enough to provide ample time for estimation and prototype creation.

d) Level of Customization

No design project is similar to another. If you are contracting third-party services to take care of your display designs, they better focus all efforts towards achieving your unique objectives. You need a team that understands the industry but also allows your business to create the most fitting displays and booths that will steal the showroom spotlight. Make sure the display is customized according to your vision.

Conclusion

There are numerous other minor aspects to review before settling for any particular trade show booth designer. Factors like price, customer service, quality guarantees, websites, and premise are all critical. It’s recommendable to start with renowned firms like ExpoMarketing, but you can compare several offers to make an informed choice. Make sure you plan your budget, outline your needs and expectations, and communicate all the relevant details with your designer.

Photo: ReShip.com

Improved Security

Several kinds of smart technology will make you feel safer in your own home. Through programmable apps, you can activate lights in your home, even if you’re not there. Lights discourage thieves from entering, as they believe that an illuminated home has people in it.

Similarly, automated door locks ease your fear that you forgot to lock the entry points to your home. With a single click, you can verify that your doors and gates are shut. You can also add security cameras throughout your home. These devices are easy to install, and you can monitor all your rooms from your phone. Many of these products will also record video of unexpected movements. Should burglars get inside, the video can bust them and guarantee that they’re going to jail.

Photo: Engadget

Updates on Pets and Children

Smart technology also enables you to feel like you’re at home while at work. The side benefit of having cameras everywhere in your home is that you can monitor your children and pets. When you’re at work and feeling homesick, you can pull out your smartphone and see what’s going on at home. A napping child or playful pet is sure to put a smile on your face.

Photo: Top Dog Tips

Cheaper Energy Bills

The average American spends $110.21 per month on energy. A lot of the energy you consume gets wasted. That’s because you set your thermometer to a certain temperature, and it turns on whether you’re home or not. Smart devices like Google’s Nest Learning Thermostat overcome this issue.

The Nest will track your energy consumption, uncovering ways to save on consumption. It’ll turn off your device when you’re not home. It also learns the times when the ambient room temperature is sufficient. Google estimates that a Nest will save a consumer at least $131 annually on an energy bill, meaning that it’ll pay for itself in two years.

Photo: Heating & Colling Two, Inc

Comfort and Convenience

Do you hate those moments when you’re finally settled in and comfortable on your couch, only to realize that you forgot to turn off the light? Did you leave the oven running at 400 degrees? When these situations occur, you have to get up and walk over to the switch. Sure, it’s a small aggravation in the greater scheme, but it’s still annoying.

With smart technology, you no longer have this problem. As long as your smartphone is close at hand, all you have to do is unlock your phone. Then, use the applicable app to manage your smart technology. In three seconds, you can turn off the oven and the lights, all while remaining nestled in on your couch. Due to its convenience, smart technology makes your house feel more like a home.

Photo: Mac Rumors – HomeKit

Your Smartphone Does Everything

The most amazing part of smart technology is how easily you can control it. Inventors understand that the average American’s phone is never farther away than a purse or back pocket. As such, they’ve built apps that function as remote controls for the house. Once you unlock your phone, you can turn off the lights, check security footage, or change the temperature on your thermometer. You can operate every smart device in your home from your phone.

Since your smartphone is now the hub for all your technology, you need the best one possible. You should purchase the best one on the market, which is the iPhone 7 Plus paired with a reliable network such as T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network. The iPhone effectively started the smartphone craze in 2007, and Tom’s Guide research shows that T-Mobile is the best wireless carrier today. With this combination, you will always have full control of your home apps. Best of all, you can buy your iPhone using your savings from smart technology!

Adding smart technology to your home is a no-brainer. Everything you add will improve your quality of life, and some of the enhancements will save you money, too!