How to Make Your Home “Smart” During Your Renovation

Update: 07.01.2022

Renovation work offers the perfect opportunity to rethink your own four walls. Finally, you can change those details that have been bugging you for years, but you’ve had to deal with up until now. This will make your home look more attractive and more modern, but you can even go one step further and create a “smart” home. We’ll show you how in this post.

Smart, comfortable living

Why do you even need a Smart Home? A Smart Home makes everyday life easier and carries out certain processes for you. For example, you can automatically raise the blinds at a specific time in the morning, switch on the lights, and activate a power outlet. Technology therefore makes life more comfortable, not more complex.

First things first: make a plan

Before you start choosing all kinds of Smart Home gadgets that take your fancy, take a step back and think about how to integrate your Smart Home upgrade into the plans for your overall remodelling.

Make a decision on the following four aspects during the planning of your Smart Home:

• What are your expectations for your Smart Home? Initially focus on a few aspects that are important to you, for example keyless access or saving energy.
• Set a separate budget for purchasing and, if necessary, installing Smart Home devices. You can accomplish quite a lot with €1,000– €1,500.
• Estimate the extra work required to make your home smart as precisely as possible.
• Adapt your Smart Home planning to the circumstances in your home. In a new build good basic cabling or even a bus system may already be available for you to use. In older building you’ll want to focus on battery-operated Smart Home gadgets or wireless Smart Home standards such as Z-Wave, as you may not have a power supply everywhere. If you live in a rented flat, you will probably want to choose Smart Home gadgets that you can take with you to a different home in the future.

The essence of your project: implementation

Finally, it’s time to get started and let yourself be inspired by the many different options a Smart Home offers. Our blog and a quick Google search can give you guidance if you’re not sure yet which Smart Home devices best suit your needs (e.g. Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa etc.). During the planning process you’ve already thought about the Smart Home elements that you want to integrate first. This will make your selection easier and help you focus on the essentials when you are faced with a wide range of options. This is only the beginning – you can expand your Smart Home at any time after you’ve gained a little experience.

If you’ve chosen Smart Home devices that you cannot install yourself, arrange appointments with experts or get advice from friends or acquaintances. If you’re in the middle of general home renovations, you may already have the experts you need (e.g., an electrician) on site who can help you with your plans.

However, many Smart Home devices can be set up without in-depth technical knowledge. For example, you can install our Nuki Smart Lock in just three minutes – without anyone’s help and without drills or screws. With a Nuki Smart Lock you can turn your smartphone into a key, open the door automatically (with Auto Unlock) and control the access remotely with the Wifi Bridge (Nuki Bridge). An electronic door lock also allows you to assign digital access rights to others. You can send these “digital keys” via the Nuki app, limit their duration and delete them at any time – and all this without making any structural changes to the existing door.
But if you’re going to install a new entrance door anyway, check out our Smart Door.

Reap the benefits: upgraded comfort

Your remodelling might have its ups and downs, but as soon as you have completed your project, take the time to enjoy your new home before throwing yourself into the next project. You have laid the foundations for your Smart Home, and now many little everyday tasks are happening automatically and virtually unnoticed. Dedicate your newly-gained free time to your favourite hobbies and then arrive at home feeling relaxed. Welcome home!