iTechGeeks Smart Home

What we do

Eight areas of the house that are worth automating, what each one actually does, and where each one is awkward. You do not need all of them.

Lighting

Switch, dim and group lights from a phone, a wall switch or a schedule.

Doors and locks

Open with a code, a fingerprint or a phone, and see who came and went.

Cameras and doorbells

See the gate, the main door and the common areas, live or afterwards.

Fans and air conditioning

Control ACs and fans by schedule, by temperature or from your phone.

Curtains and blinds

Motorised tracks that open on a schedule or with everything else in a scene.

Sensors

Motion, door, water leak and smoke — the parts that make automation automatic.

Audio and TV

Speakers in more than one room, and the TV joining the scenes.

Energy

See what is actually drawing power, and switch off what should not be.

Lighting

Switch, dim and group lights from a phone, a wall switch or a schedule.

The most common place to start, because it is the thing you touch most often. Lighting can be automated two ways: smart bulbs, which are simple but stop working if someone turns the wall switch off, or smart switches and dimmers behind the existing plate, which keep the normal switch working and are the better choice in most Indian homes.

Worth knowing

  • Keeps the ordinary wall switch working, so guests are not stuck
  • Scenes: one tap for "dinner", "going out", "movie"
  • Dimming needs a driver that supports it — worth checking before buying lights
  • Works without rewiring in most homes if there is a neutral wire at the switch box

Doors and locks

Open with a code, a fingerprint or a phone, and see who came and went.

A smart lock replaces the existing mortise or rim lock. The useful part is less about convenience than about not handing out keys: a maid, a relative or a delivery can have a code that works at set times and can be withdrawn without changing the lock.

Worth knowing

  • Keep a physical key override — batteries do run out
  • Check the door thickness and the existing lock type before ordering
  • Separate codes per person, so one can be removed without affecting others
  • A log of openings is more useful day to day than remote unlocking

Cameras and doorbells

See the gate, the main door and the common areas, live or afterwards.

A video doorbell answers the question most households actually have — who is at the door — and a couple of cameras cover the approach. The two decisions that matter are where the recording is kept and who can reach it.

Worth knowing

  • Local recording keeps footage on your own storage, with no monthly fee
  • Cloud recording is easier and means your footage sits on someone else's server
  • Night performance varies far more between models than the spec sheet suggests
  • Placement matters more than resolution — a well-placed 2MP beats a badly aimed 4MP

Fans and air conditioning

Control ACs and fans by schedule, by temperature or from your phone.

Most ACs and fans are controlled by infrared remote, which means they can be automated without touching the appliance — a small IR bridge in the room learns the remote. Where you want it properly integrated, a wired controller gives feedback about the actual state rather than guessing.

Worth knowing

  • An IR bridge is non-invasive and cannot tell whether the AC is actually on
  • Wired control gives real feedback and needs an electrician
  • Scheduling the AC off at 3am is where most of the saving actually comes from
  • Fan regulators need a module rated for fan loads, not a plain dimmer

Curtains and blinds

Motorised tracks that open on a schedule or with everything else in a scene.

Motorised curtains are the one item that is genuinely much easier before the interiors are finished, because the track and the power point need to be planned. Retrofitting is possible but usually means visible trunking or a battery motor that needs charging.

Worth knowing

  • Decide before the false ceiling goes in, if you possibly can
  • A power point at the track end is what makes this simple
  • Battery motors avoid wiring and need recharging every few months
  • Weight and track length decide the motor — measure before specifying

Sensors

Motion, door, water leak and smoke — the parts that make automation automatic.

Sensors are what separate a remote control from an actual automation. They are inexpensive, battery powered and the thing most people add second, after they have lived with the first installation for a while.

Worth knowing

  • A water leak sensor under the sink and behind the washing machine is the cheapest insurance in the house
  • Motion sensors in passages and bathrooms are where automation stops feeling like a gadget
  • Door sensors tell you the main door was opened, without a camera
  • Batteries last one to two years and should report their level

Audio and TV

Speakers in more than one room, and the TV joining the scenes.

Multi-room audio and TV control are usually added later rather than first. They are worth planning for early only in one respect: speaker cabling, which is nearly free before the ceiling closes and awkward afterwards.

Worth knowing

  • Run speaker cable during interiors even if you buy the speakers later
  • Voice assistants are convenient and always involve a microphone in the room
  • TV control over IR is simple; over network is more reliable where supported

Energy

See what is actually drawing power, and switch off what should not be.

Measuring consumption is less exciting than the rest and tends to pay for itself. An energy meter at the board, or metering built into the switch modules, shows where the units actually go — which is rarely where people assume.

Worth knowing

  • Metering at the distribution board gives the whole picture at once
  • Per-socket metering is useful for a handful of specific appliances
  • Most of the saving comes from switching things off on a schedule, not from the measuring

Where most homes should start

If you are starting from nothing, lighting in the rooms you use most, plus a video doorbell, gets you about seventy per cent of the day-to-day benefit for a fraction of a full installation. Everything else is worth adding once you have lived with those two and know what you actually reach for.

The one thing worth doing out of order is the wiring check. If your switch boxes have no neutral wire, that shapes every decision after it, and it is a five-minute thing to establish.

Rough scope

How much of this would your home need?

A 2 BHK, starting small

    Get this quoted properly

    Questions about these

    Lighting in the two or three rooms you actually use, and a video doorbell. That combination gets most of the daily benefit. Resist the urge to do the whole house at once — you will discover in a month that some of what you planned you never touch.

    Yes. Voice sits on top of the system rather than being the system, which is the right way round. If the assistant or the internet is unavailable, the switches and schedules carry on.

    Not sure where to start?

    Tell us what is annoying you about the house as it is. That is usually a better starting point than a product list, and it costs nothing to ask.

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