How it works
From the first phone call to a house that works, and what happens at each stage. No step here is a surprise charge.
Tell us about the home
A phone call or a form is enough. What matters at this point is the size of the place, whether it is occupied, and what is annoying you.
Site survey
We look at the switch boxes, check whether there is a neutral wire, see where the router sits and how the signal reaches the far rooms. This is where a realistic plan comes from.
A written proposal
What goes where, which products, what it costs, and what we are deliberately leaving out. You should be able to take this to anyone else for comparison.
Installation
Most retrofits take one to two days for a flat. We work room by room so the house stays usable.
Handover
We set up the app on your phones, show the household how it works, and leave you the documentation — including the logins, which are yours.
Afterwards
Things change: new appliances, new routines, a new router. We stay reachable for that.
What the survey actually looks at
This is the part that decides whether the plan is realistic, and it is why we do not quote from a floor plan alone.
- The switch boxes. Whether there is a neutral wire, and whether there is depth behind the plate for a module. This one finding can change the whole approach.
- Where the router sits and how far the signal actually reaches, measured rather than assumed.
- The door. Thickness, existing lock type and handing, if a smart lock is in scope.
- Curtain tracks. Whether there is a power point near the track, or whether one has to be brought.
- The distribution board, if energy monitoring or any new circuit is involved.
What we need from you
- Access to the flat for the survey, roughly an hour.
- An idea of which rooms matter most. You do not need a device list.
- Your Wi-Fi password at installation, or a guest network we can put devices on.
- One person from the household at handover who will actually use the system. If only one phone gets set up, the system stops being used.
If you are building or renovating, talk to us before the electrician finishes. Neutral wires at the switch boxes, a conduit to each curtain track and a wired point for the hub cost very little at that stage and are expensive to add later.
Three ways to do this
We are the middle one. It is worth knowing when the other two are the better answer for you.
Do it yourself
Buy retail smart bulbs and plugs, set them up with the maker's app.
GOOD
- Cheapest to start
- No waiting for anyone
- Easy to expand a bit at a time
LESS GOOD
- Several apps that do not talk to each other
- Wall switches stop working with smart bulbs
- Nobody to call when it stops
A planned retrofit
Modules behind existing switches, one system, installed and handed over.
GOOD
- One app for the whole house
- Normal switches keep working
- Someone is accountable for it working
LESS GOOD
- Costs more than DIY
- Needs a day or two of access to the house
A high-end control system
Proprietary systems specified by an architect or AV consultant.
GOOD
- Very capable
- Handles large properties and complex AV well
LESS GOOD
- Several times the cost
- Usually tied to one dealer for changes
- Overkill for a flat
Six things that catch people out
Buying the devices before checking the wiring
Many smart switch modules need a neutral wire at the switch box. Plenty of older Indian wiring does not have one. This is the single most common reason a box of devices sits unused.
Smart bulbs behind ordinary switches
If someone turns the wall switch off, the bulb is dead — no app, no voice, no schedule. It catches every household out at least once.
Everything on Wi-Fi
Thirty Wi-Fi devices on a home router is how you end up with a network that drops. Zigbee and similar protocols exist for exactly this reason.
One brand's app per device type
Four apps for four kinds of device is how most self-built systems end up, and it is why they stop getting used.
No plan for the internet going down
A system that needs the cloud to turn a light on is a system that fails during an outage. Local control should be the default, with the cloud as a bonus.
Nobody showed the household how it works
If only one person in the house can operate it, it will be switched back to manual within a month.
Questions about the process
Then you have found it before spending money, which is the entire point. The common one is no neutral wire at the switch boxes. We tell you what it means, what the options cost, and you decide. If the honest answer is that your home is a bad candidate for what you had in mind, we will say that too.
No. We work room by room so the place stays usable, and we can split the work across days if it is easier for the household.