Home automation for new construction

Check out the lutron caseta system. Then you can use whatever lights/bulbs you want.

Where? And for what purpose?

Just curious, why smart bulbs instead of smart switches? I would think they would last much longer since you wouldn’t need to replace when the light goes out. It might be cheaper too depending on the number of bulbs for the fixture.

I guess a disadvantage is if you wanted them to change colors.

As for other things:

-As someone said earlier, cat 6 everywhere with conduit running down walls for easy swap out.

-If you need one(really even if you don’t need it they are nice to have), plan for a media closet with an air duct for a/c to keep cool. Run all cat 6 lines to this point.

-Pre-wire for surround sound/outdoor speakers and run them back to the media closet. You can always get Bluetooth but I try to have as few wireless signals as possible.

-Outlets outside under your eaves for Christmas lights and have all those outlets and outdoor outlets on a single switch.

-If you think a tankless water heater is anywhere in your future, ask about pre-wiring since it will be cheaper now.

-If you have built-ins in your living room, just put outlets on every shelf level and in the cabinets.

-Ask about under cabinet outlets in your kitchen as opposed to in the walls. It gives the area are cleaner look.

-I have a touch faucet in the kitchen and love it.

-Make sure they pre-wire for the Ring doorbell.

-Outlet and cable up high on the back patio for mounting a tv.

I will probably do the switches instead of the light bulbs. I have a tankless water heater being installed but it's gas. Not sure what that has to do with smart home, thought.

Why wouldn't I connect most of this stuff to zigbee as opposed to connect through cat6 since I'm not trying to be too robust?

Assuming I did go cat6, I assume the doorbell and thermostat would be connected to it?

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Not sure what that has to do with smart home, thought.

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Nothing, I just started naming random things to think about.

It’s best to hardline what you can. It is more stable. Some things you can’t or it isn’t feasible.

I know if at least one Ring doorbell that connects using Ethernet. I haven’t seen a thermostat that uses cat6 but I am sure they are out there. It all depends on the model you get so just look way in advance for what you want.

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Figure out where you want a robot vacuum to live

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She lives in the master bedroom with me

If I were you, I would have Ethernet outlets in every room. It is much more reliable than WiFi. I had my current home built three years ago without the Ethernet cable run. Eatel was able to convert some of my telephone outlets into Ethernet at a very reasonable cost. WiFi is a great invention, but there is a loss of signal compared to hardwiring.

I just finished building and have been happy with my results. These are some things that we did and have been happy with, although not all are for home automaton.

I ran at least one 3/4” smurf tube i ordered from Home Depot to everywhere I thought I would need a tv. I also ran it to a couple places outside in case I needed to get anything in or out and also to a location in the kitchen. I already used one of these to run fiber into the attic. I also ran at least one 1/2” tube to every bedroom and a couple other locations. I didn’t want to pull a bunch of cable I would never use so I did tubing so I could add something in the future. It’s already come in useful and running tubing was really easy compared to pulling wiring, although I did do plenty of that.

Someone mentioned about putting an ac register to the media closet. I originally had this in the plan and the builder ended up putting a fan that constantly runs and pulls air into the return air. The benefit of this is you are not blowing hot air in there during the winter and it is also circulating air when the unit is off. I am planning to add a thermostat like you use on attic ventilation fans so it only runs above a certain temperature. One problem I did have is the installed a bath vent fan. It’s really loud and probably not rated for continuous use so I was not happy with it. I plan on cutting the duct in the attic and adding a different fan. This should help with noise. I also angled the ceiling in my media closet and removed the firewall so I could easily pull cable down in the future.

I went with Lutron caseta instead of hue lights and have really been happy with them so far. I still have plans for hue lights but have not messed with that. I did add receptacles in most of my kitchen and bath cabinets for hue lights in the future. We ended up using one of them for a printer and in a cabinet was a perfect location for this. We have young kids so we also used motion sensor lights in the toilet areas and in the laundry. They are great.

I have a Liftmaster Garage Door that can be opened using my phone and that’s been nice.

I also have Schlage Smart locks and now that I have them working properly, they are great. I had some problems with them at first but it was mostly because I tried to set them up with codes before they were installed on the doors.

I installed a USB receptacle in all bedrooms and a few other places. Also, we added receptacles to a couple bathroom drawers (hair dryer, razor charging, etc.) and also did one in a kitchen drawer that we use for a charging station.

We have a Ring doorbell, but I also added smurf tubing to the corners and on to the porch for when I want to install cameras.

Yes to cat6 to every tv. How many is the hard question. That’s one of the benefits of the tubing though. If I didn’t run enough, I can always go back and add. If you are planning on running HDMI cables down the tubing, 3/4 may be too small. It will depend on the plug size on it and what else you are trying to get down. You can always run a second tube. I did this to my main tv. 3/4” is the largest you should put through a 2x4 top plate. Everything else you mentioned is WiFi. I didn’t do any plugs though. I didn’t mention it in my previous post, but I went with the Ecobee too.