Home automation worth wiring for, and what to skip

The useful split is between things that are painful to retrofit and things that are not. Wiring for motorised curtains, a video door phone, and any switch position you want automated is cheap now and a wall chase later. Smart bulbs, plugs, speakers and cameras are all wireless and can wait.

Curtain tracks are the clearest case: a concealed pelmet with a power point in it costs very little at the electrical stage and is close to impossible to add cleanly afterwards. The same is true of a neutral wire at every switch box, which most retrofit smart switches require and most older Indian wiring does not provide.

Be sceptical of anything that requires a proprietary hub to function at all. The question worth asking of every device is what it does when the manufacturer stops supporting it, and the answer should be that the lights still switch from the wall.

Keep the manual control. A home where the only way to turn on a light is an app is a home that fails for guests, for elderly parents and for anyone holding a phone with a flat battery.

Ask what each device does when the manufacturer stops supporting it. The lights should still switch from the wall.