A 'New Build' Smart Home

We often get asked by people planning or starting a new house build, what should they be doing to future-proof it and to make sure it is "smart". It is a question that crops up in the Internet forums a lot too. This is our view based on many years of retro-fitting our current contextual smart home, consulting on new build projects and in planning for our new build home.

Note: We have a much more holistic view of what makes a smart home than many people. It isn't just about technology! It is about safety, security, efficiency, sustainability, cost effectiveness and most importantly, improving quality of life.

Your Personal Journey

Smart homes are a journey and not a destination. You can't do it all in one go, with a single installation. Your needs will change with time and the technology will change and improve over time too. You need to plan for these changes and adopt an approach that enables you to make changes further down the line. You also need to factor in the associated costs of making these changes.

If you are new to smart home, then your understanding of what is possible will be limited and your definition of "smart" will be constrained. The current set of products available to the consumer are really quite basic and limited and are not representative of where the smart home is heading in our view. The smart home has such a long way to go yet! Your needs and expectations will almost certainly change, once you have had time to live with your technology choices and understand the user experience implications of them.

Smart home is also a personal thing. People have different expectations and reasons to want to live in a smart home and not everyone is aware of all the benefits. Any new build will inevitably be a compromise that works for all the occupants of your home and is limited by the time and budget available. Some examples:

The current trend to voice control everything using 'voice assistants' is a great example of this. Whilst we can voice control everything in our current contextual smart home (where permissions allow), this is not a user interface we use often (it is basically a voice remote control) and do not trust our privacy to a 3rd party to enable it (such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, etc.). Our goal is , providing a zero touch user experience wherever possible (so you don't need to ask) and a smart home that just works around you, the smart home equivalent of a self-driving car.

Many people currently like to install wall-mounted control panels in their homes. This is something we would never do. It is extremely dated and looks like something from the 1980's in our view. It is driven by the need to expose the underlying technology and is essentially a fixed remote control! This is normally done by people more interested in technology and gadgets, than a great user experience.

General Advice

Try to avoid designing your home around technology, which will inevitably become dated. A good example of this is televisions. Don't build features around them but assume they will be replaced fairly often. It's amazing how many homes I've seen with niches for a deep, 4:3 aspect ratio, wall-mounted TV.

Lighting is another good example. Many new homes still have a ceiling rose in the centre of the room only. What looks like a cool lighting fixture now, may look dated in just a few years.

Ideally, technology should be hidden away and out of sight whenever possible. This often means designing in spaces into a new build to simplify this process.

Keep Control

If you were building a new smart home today, you would be mad to commission one single vendor to design, install, configure and maintain it. You have to assume that this one vendor will not be around for ever and that you can't be dependent on them to make any changes going forward. Equally, you don't want any one company to be the only people that understand the system and how it works.

This doesn't mean you can't use professional installers and trades to do the work but, you really need to understand the system, how it works and essentially own all the equipment and knowledge to keep it working into the future. When the time does come to make changes, you want to be able to get a range of quotes for things that you can't do yourself and knowing how much you can do yourself is also a key element of retaining control.

Privacy

You can't under estimate the value of privacy. Whilst you might not be worried about your personal information being shared now, as your smart home gets more advanced and more complex, privacy is going to be a massive issue. The volume of information and context increases and what can be inferred from it becomes much more sensitive. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

Most of the larger, consumer smart home players have business models based on ownership and analysis of your data. Whilst you may be OK with this, the rest of your family, your tenants, visitors, guests, etc. may not give 'informed consent' for this to happen.

Home Control System

There is a place for some cloud smart home services but all the important stuff should work without an Internet connection. This is even more critical for 'mission critical' safety and security features. This basically means that you will need some kind of local Home Control System in your home.

Many people assume this means you need to make a choice between ZigBee, Z-Wave, or other technologies but if done right, the smart home should be able to seamlessly use any or all of these underlying technologies.

User Experience

The user experience is everything when it comes to the smart home. Many people think that remote controlling things via apps is smart but, this is entry-level smart home functionality and very basic.

User Interfaces

In the smart home, many user interfaces are good but, they must work consistently and coherently, with actions taken via one being reflected in all the others. Where you do have user interfaces (e.g. light switches), they need to be intuitive for both family and guests.

Infrastructure

Ducting

The Romans had the right idea when they invented sewers and aqueducts. Ducts, ducting and conduit are the most future-proof thing you can do in a new build. Many UK (and European) towns and cities are still making use of Roman ducts for modern technology today, over 2000 years since they were first installed.

Access Panels

Where ducting meets or where cables cross between floors, it can make a lot of sense to design an access panel into the new build. This means you can more easily run cables from several rooms to this point (ideally in straight lines) and then onward to the right location or another access panel. They effectively allow longer cable runs to broken into smaller jobs. They are especially useful between floors and adjoining rooms and might be hidden in cupboards or other storage spaces, or they may be in the floor and then hidden under carpets or other flooring materials. Designing them in from the outset means you can work around things like mains wiring, pipework and underfloor heating more easily later.

Cable Trays

In areas with fairly easy access (loft, basement, etc.) it makes a lot of sense to use cable trays to keep existing cables tidy and to make it easy to run new ones later if required.

Whilst it looks very neat and tidy to tie-wrap cables to cable trays in neat, parallel lines, this totally defeats the objective of using them, which is to allow old cables to be used to pull new cables through later if required.

Networking

A wired IP network is the backbone of any smart home. It is essential that your do it right. This doesn't mean installing miles of the latest (and very expensive) network cable technology throughout your home. We see so many people on TV programmes (like Grand Designs) and in the Internet forums that try to impress by installing huge numbers of networking cables in their new home. This really isn't clever, especially if not installed in a future-proof manner.

There are very few smart home applications that require more bandwidth than Cat 6 cable supports and the later cable specifications (Cat 6e, Cat 7 & Cat 8) require much more expensive terminations, switches and other hardware to realise their benefits.

It is much better to install ducting and run cheaper and less expensive cables through it initially. When the time does come to upgrade (which will most likely be several years away), who knows what the latest standards and protocols will be capable of?

Note:  If we were undertaking a new build right now, then we would be installing Cat 6e Ethernet cables which are capable of 10Gbps (the same as Cat 7). We would be making sure we installed enough cables for each planned device and a few spare ones as well. We would assume that every single appliance in our home will be networked, so this would include all white goods as well as all entertainment devices, speakers, light switches, lighting and HVAC elements.

Ensure you are installing a quality cable. It is tempting to buy cheaper cables but they are often aluminium core with a copper surround. Always install solid copper core cables.

Use multi-strand cable for patch cables and single core for point to point connections to be terminated at a patch panel of faceplate. Bear in mind that some RJ45 face plates require a deep wall box (45mm is the minimum I'd use).

In rooms where you are fitting face plates, fit twin sockets at least and ideally quad sockets. You don't have to wire them all up to start with.

When you run cables in walls, don't run the too close to mains cables and if running in parallel with a mains cable, ensure a minimum of a 9" gap.

Always handle network cables with care and don't bend them to too tight a radius. Cat 6 cable is more fragile in this respect and a 20cm bend radius should be considered the tightest used.

Ideally, find a central location in you home with space for more patch panels than you think you will need. This 'cabinet' will need power and a shelf for one or more switches, to connect everything to you home network.

A quality 'punch down' tool is required to get a good connections and it makes sense to get a network test tool too.

It is better to have physical network segments for each specific smart home function. This allows separation of traffic but it will require more physical wires. Typically you would separate:

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi should be avoided as much as possible in the smart home but, it is essential and unavoidable for some things. Having a good mesh Wi-Fi network with excellent coverage in and around your home is very important if you use portable devices like tablets and smartphones. There are also desirable devices which only have Wi-Fi connectivity such as bathroom scales, etc.

In smaller homes, a single, centrally located access point can provide good coverage throughout your home and the addition of a secondary access point may be all that is required to extend coverage out into the garden. In larger properties it makes a lot of sense to plan for a mesh Wi-Fi system, using 3 or more 'nodes', distributed throughout your home. Installing wired Ethernet backhaul between mesh nodes will maximise reliability and performance.

Sensors

One thing that many people fail to consider in a new build is the installation of sensors but, these are a critical part of the smart home and need to be installed in the right locations, to provide the best performance and lowest possible latency. In a new build the following wired sensors should be considered as part of the build process:

Whilst you could retro-fit all these sensors using battery powered Z-Wave or ZigBee devices, the performance will be compromised and the user experience in terms of unsightly plastic boxes and the need to regularly change batteries, will be poor.

Services

Running ducting from the street to your home before things like drives are laid may sound obvious but, I've seen plenty of new builds where this has been an after thought.

Communications

Plan the services to your home, how they will enter and where. I wouldn't even consider installing a PSTN phone line in a new build in the UK any more. Your network service should be run to a suitable space towards the centre of your home, somewhere for the required network termination and distribution equipment to reside. A small comms cabinet or cupboard will be required depending on the scale of you smart home and the planned features.

Foil lined insulation is used in many new homes. It will impact on the ability of radio waves to pass in and out of your home. Be very careful of using this internally.

I have been to a new build 'smart home' where a small utilities and comms room was part of the design but unfortunately the builder had used foil-lined insulation in its walls. The Wi-Fi access point inside it provided no coverage outside this room. I have also seen access points installed in metal cabinets. Many people also sit them on metal filing cabinets!

Water

A truly smart home will minimise water usage and recycle grey water and rain water at every opportunity. This requires careful design from the outset and consideration of the local environment and surroundings.

A big part of any new build is getting the plumbing right, so that water pressure is maintained throughout the house. Once the basics are in place, then you can start to add smart features, such as water flow monitoring and connected shut-off valves. These things need to be designed in from the outset though, with good access and suitable power and network connectivity nearby.

I have also designed in intelligent irrigation systems into our home, which use harvested rain water.

Energy

Think carefully about your electricity supply and whether you need a 3-phase supply for local power generation, providing energy back into the grid, electric car charging, etc. This may be even more critical with the UK planning to ban gas boilers and cookers.

You are going to need some kind of protected power supply if your smart home is running any kind of access control, safety or security services. This should be factored into the design of a new build from the outset.

Lighting

I have written a lot on smart home lighting. If you read a lot of the Internet forums, you would most likely think you choices are restricted to high-end, professional installations, smart switch modules or smart bulbs. I reality, pretty much anything is possible, as is a much better user experience than most consumer smart home technologies enable.

In a new build, the key is to understand what kind of user experience is possible and the range of lighting and light fittings available. The real power of the smart home is that it can often deliver a zero touch user experience independently of the underlying technologies used.

Recommendation: 

In a new build, I would recommend you use plastic dry lining boxes (pattress boxes or back boxes), to ensure any wireless switch modules are not compromised by being surrounded by metal. I would also use a deep box (at least 45mm deep), to ensure plenty of room for switch modules and wiring.

Heating, Ventilation & Cooling (HVAC)

When designing a new home, it would make a lot of sense for factor in climate change and to design for more extreme weather conditions and temperatures. Money invested in insulation is never wasted.

Here in the UK, gas hobs or boilers could soon be banned from being installed in new homes. A report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says that from 2025 at the latest, no new homes should be connected to the gas grid, with super-efficient houses and flats heated using low-carbon energy instead.

This essentially means the smart thermostat as we know it is dead. In fact, in a truly smart home you don't need a smart thermostat now.

Safety & Security

The contextual smart home is the only security alarm system you need. It will always out perform 3rd party, stand-alone systems if implemented correctly and will work with full context and awareness of all the other safety devices installed in your home.

Our advice would be to hardwire as many dumb, connected sensors into a new build as possible. The main reasons for doing this are to avoid networking technology and protocol obsolescence but, also to deliver the best performance, reliability and aesthetics.

This should include PIR sensors in every room, door contact sensors on every door, temperature sensors in every room (at several levels if the ceilings are high), humidity sensors, smoke sensors/alarms, carbon monoxide sensors, etc.

Windows

You don't need to electrify and automate every curtain or blind in your home but, in a new build it makes sense to t least put the elements in place to to make it so much easier later.

It makes sense to install switch boxes at every window where curtains or blinds are to be fitted, to enable manual controls for electric curtains and blinds. Switches need to installed on the correct side and at a standard height (normally switches are centred at 140cm above floor level). It also makes sense to run power to them and conduit from switch to power outlet near each curtain rail or blind.

For best reliability, you also need to be running wired networking to these too.

Entertainment

Entertainment systems are place the greatest demands on your home network, especially when streaming high-resolution content and even more so, when distributing it around your home. A 4K video streamed from the Internet is highly compressed and uses a lot less bandwidth than a 4K signal from something like a 4K blu-ray player.

Whilst most entertainment does get delivered over the Internet, our UK terrestrial TV system is going to be around for a while yet. Think about running low-loss, high-quality co-ax (through ducting) to each likely TV point. These will typically be run up to the loft or some other place where an aerial or dish will be mounted. You will also need to factor in power for a distribution amplifier. Avoid the cheap solution used by most builders of connecting this into a lighting circuit if possible.

Televisions

Every TV is connected these days and so are all the other 'boxes' that provide extra services (Apple TV, Youview STB, Blu-ray disc players, etc.). It makes sense to run Ethernet cables for these next to every TV.

Some people want a centralised distribution system for video sources and this requires more cabling and a central locations and potentially a 'rack' to install the required equipment.

Music

We know a lot of people like Sonos for whole home music but, whilst it is very good on the distribution side, it simply cannot compete with a decent separate amplifier and speakers. If top quality music is important to you, then you need to factor this in to a new build.

Smart Home Audio

We like to use a separate audio system for , one that is optimally located for these kinds of things, uses a protected power supply and is n integral part of our contextual smart home.

A Few Things To Watch Out For