Fad. Confusing. Complicated.  These are all adjectives I have heard used to describe smart home products today.  However, customer interest and adoption of these products is growing rapidly, and not expected to slow down in the near future.  Whether you are a remodeler, a production builder, a multi-family builder, a custom builder, or an Electrical, HVAC or low-voltage/security tradesmen, you need to offer smart home products as a way to stay in front of what your customers are asking for.  The good news is, it is not nearly as difficult as you may think.

Why now?

Home automation and smart home technologies are rapidly becoming an important option to home buyers of all types. A recent Coldwell Banker/CNET study of approximately 4,000 US adults found that:

• 28% of US adults already have smart home products in their home
• Parents with children under 18 are twice as likely to have smart home products(42% of those with children vs. 23% of those with no children)
• Parents were also more likely to have made their home "smart" when they moved in (68 percent of those with children vs. 50% of those with no children)
• 59% of parents said they'd be willing to pay more for a home with smart home technology installed ( 47% of those with no children)

Given that the CEA estimates that only 8% of homes are being built with home automation installed by the builder, it’s tempting to go out and start slapping connected door locks, cameras and light switches to the homes you build right away.   However, in order to make the right decision, you have to understand which products and systems are right for you and your customer.

What do consumers want?

From a customer’s perspective, successful smart home products drive one of three things:

• Convenience – table lamps, track/recessed lighting and porch lights that come on at sunset, and automatically adjust throughout the year, so customers never have to come home to a dark house.
• Financial savings – smart thermostats that adjust heating and cooling based on time of day, occupancy and the price of electricity.
• Peace of mind – cameras that keep an eye on the front door or automated lights that turn on at random times, for random amounts of time, so snooping burglars don’t easily pickup that you and your family are on vacation.

How do you deliver what a consumer is looking for?

When choosing what to offer your customers, keep in mind that some use cases are more broad (e.g. a WiFI based light switch that turns porch lights on automatically at sunset so customers never have to come home to a dark house) vs others. Consider adding a few pieces of these broad use case smart home products to your standard offering to reach more consumers and differentiate yourself from other builders.  Then, you can upsell more customer specific solutions (e.g. lighting control inside the house/specific rooms, thermostats/HVAC, cameras, door bells, door locks, alarm systems, blind control, etc.) as upgrades. 

Finally, don’t let technology be a hindrance – 90% of US home owners have WiFi and broadband internet, and there are plenty of WiFi based smart home devices that solve the broad use cases without the need for hubs that use proprietary technology and require custom programming.

Still have questions?

Drop our dedicated builder team an email at [email protected] and we’ll help answer any questions, send you helpful marketing materials and even setup a demo/webinar for you and your team.