Home automation that still works in five years

The risk in home automation is not that it will break, it is that it will be discontinued. A proprietary system whose manufacturer exits the market leaves you with switches that no longer respond and no path forward except rewiring. That is a real outcome and it has happened to plenty of households.

The defence is to insist that everything works without the automation layer. Every automated light should have a physical switch that operates it. Every motorised blind should have a manual override. If the hub dies, the house should degrade to an ordinary house rather than to an unusable one.

Prefer open standards over closed ecosystems where you have the choice. Wired protocols are more robust than wireless for anything structural — lighting and blinds especially — and the cost of pulling the cable is only low while the walls are open.

Start with lighting and blinds, which have a genuine daily payoff, and resist the temptation to automate things that were never a problem. An automated tap solves nothing and adds a component that can fail.

Start with lighting and blinds, which have a genuine daily payoff, and resist the temptation to automate things that were never a problem.