Home Improvement

The Smart Technology Way

This year has been the downfall of many things, but one area that’s on the up and up is home improvement. With more time spent indoors, homeschooling, and working from home, it only makes sense that you want to upgrade the spaces that have become everything to you. Especially for those of you balancing more tasks than usual from the comfort of your home, we’d like to explore some smart home technology upgrades and improvements that can make your stay at home journey more efficient and comfortable. Not to mention, this technology is designed to bring ease to your life at home, which we could all use.

Smarter Homes of Austin has an array of services that can totally transform your way of life. Let’s get started. 

Smart Thermostats And Scheduling

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When you increase the time you spend at home, you raise the utility bill right along with it. One way you can cut down on energy use is by installing a smart thermostat in your home. With a smart thermostat, you can control the temperature of your whole home, or specific zones from your personal device. The benefit of that is that no matter where you are, you can adjust the temperature. Let’s say you and the family run out for a spontaneous trip to the park. From the bench, you can crank the home’s temperature up and save energy while the kids play. On your drive home, drop the temperature back down and achieve comfort for your return.

In addition to easy controls, you can also set your system to learn and use schedules. Learning your patterns of use is a huge benefit because it eliminates human error and provides consistent temperature ranges and changes in your home. Why run the AC if you and the family are gone at a specific time on a specific day? Smart technology is all about efficiency. That’s why smart thermostats measure humidity levels, your use patterns, your distance from the home, and more.

Media And WiFi Scheduling

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If the kids are supposed to be in their Zoom class from 9 am to 2 pm, then there should be no reason for them to have their TVs on or log in to their gaming devices. Prioritizing and controlling devices through the WiFi and app control is one more way you can keep an easy handle on the goings-on in your home. 

By prioritizing certain devices on the WiFi, you can make sure that your work laptop and the kid’s school tablets always have priority over content streaming, gaming, and downloads. That means even if you’re burning the midnight oil, the Xbox party happening in your media room will never take priority over your tasks. This requires a Smart WiFi system in which you own your own equipment and have a private network. There are so many benefits to having a set up like this that extend beyond scheduling and control. With a smart WiFi system, you can receive a reliable connection throughout your entire estate that is high-speed, hack-proof and equipment fee-free.

Energy Monitoring

One way to keep a close eye on your energy consumption is by tracking and monitoring it. Smarter Homes provides an energy monitoring feature through the smart home control app we use via RTI. In this app, you can see the energy levels used in your home, when they peak and valley, and your wattage used in totality and at specific times. 

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With this knowledge comes power. For example, if you are barely using energy at 11 pm, why not capitalize on those dead hours that follow by cutting power to outlets in the kitchen, for example, turning off the water heater, and making sure the house is scheduled to turn off any forgotten lights since everyone is asleep. Smarter Homes owner and operator, Pete Sandford, did this with his family and saved money and energy. They cut the water heater off after their morning showers until dinner time. They scheduled the lights to turn off at bedtime and the outlets to stop providing power to unused utilities. Then, using their energy monitoring app, they got to see a huge drop in usage. By checking the app, you can also see how much wattage is being used at any given time, giving you a good idea of peak use hours and forgotten devices still running. 

We hope you feel inspired to improve some of your Smart Home technology in ways that Smarter Homes is doing for families every day. If you’re in the Austin area, create a budget for your home improvement goals, today.

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Austin’s Certified Luxury Home Automation, Home Theater, Audio Video & Wi-Fi Experts

CREATE YOUR SMART HOME BUDGET

*The calculated home technology budget range you will receive will includes parts, labor & accessories (Tax not included)
(a round number is OK)
Numerous structures on the property: Dock, Casita, Guest House, Barn, Gate etc. Check all that apply.
Prewire installation calculations assume you would like your home fully wired for ALL home automation technologies shown throughout the budget calculator, including 'future-ready' wiring. Prewire pricing can vary substantially based on what features you would like in your home. The wiring budget is for low-voltage wiring, not for electrical.
Prewire pricing will vary based on exactly what features you would like in your home. Read this article about the importance of wiring/cabling in today's "wireless" world. Your local Smarter Homes integrator is the best resource for exact prewire pricing. Wiring budget is for low-voltage wiring only, not electrical.
Keep in mind that our modern lifestyle and our home's automation technology systems are extremely reliant on a quality network and Wi-Fi system. Most homes are moving towards enterprise-grade hardware and away from the types of network products you could buy in an office supply store or a consumer computer store. We recommend that all homeowners consider the network and Wi-Fi system to be the most important system and installation within the home.
Higher-quality sound or higher-grade architectural finished speakers can range from $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 PER ROOM
Basic background music system pricing ranges from $1,500.00 to $5,000.00 per room including all equipment, labor, and programming.
Range includes video sources such as AppleTV, a Blu-ray player, satellite receiver, and remotely-locating them for best aesthetics. A basic soundbar is included for better audio.
This is called “video distribution” and reduces the amount of audio/video equipment located at each TV location/room.
A surround sound system creates an immersive sound experience, much like a dedicated home theater room, though in a dual-purpose room such as a Family Room, Master Bedroom, etc. If you would like more than one surround system location, click on the "Add Another Surround System" button below
Typically, homeowners want to see the following areas: front of house, front door, driveway / gate, sides of house, and pool. If you are more concerned about security, you may want to add cameras for the perimeter of your property. Good-quality cameras see about 75 feet of distance on average. The high range of the budget estimate includes higher resolution cameras, better night vision, and longer surveillance recording time.
The installation of a lighting control system reduces wall clutter, allows preset lighting scenes at the push of a button, increases security through programming automation, and adds convenience.
Motorized shades add beauty, convenience, address privacy concerns, and can be used to save energy. If desired, provide your best guess on how many windows/shades you want to motorize. The higher-end of the budget range includes higher-end fabrics, large windows, and dual-roller shades (both sheer and privacy shades on one window).
For example, a house music app, an app to operate your TV, an app for lighting automation, an app for locks, an app for cameras, an app to open close garage doors & gates, etc. Or do you want to control the entire house through a single unified app that controls all the automation systems within the home?
Make your home feel larger by balancing the light between indoor and outdoor areas.
Smarter Homes Austin
Austin’s Certified Luxury Home Automation, Home Theater, Audio Video & Wi-Fi Experts

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