Build a home in a real estate hot button like Dallas-Fort Worth or Austin and there is a good chance that you can have home automation features built-in from the ground up. More importantly, today’s smart home builders are no longer having to rely on multiple server racks and miles of cables to offer full-home control. Wireless has changed the game.
Wireless is exciting in and of itself. But it gets better. A small number of builders are now using wireless systems that not only dispense with server racks and cables, but also offer compatibility with just about any smart home product on the market. They are installing the unified home automation systems we have all been dreaming about for years.
Smart homes with unified home automation technology are set to become the next big thing in new home construction. Builders like Dallas-Fort Worth’s Plantation Homes are designing and constructing smart homes without luxury price tags. These are smart homes for the rest of us.
Buyers Want Smart Tech
It is no accident that builders are looking at unified home automation systems. They know that buyers want smart tech – whether they live in Fort Worth or elsewhere. According to a Coldwell Banker study that surveyed 1,250 U.S. adults with access to broadband at home, smart home tech is now a home buyer expectation. It is also a multi-generational expectation.
Here are the percentages among a few demographic groups who say they want smart home technology:
- Baby Boomers – 50%
- Gen Xers – 52%
- Parents – 59%
- Millennials – 61%.
The millennial demographic is arguably the most important here. Baby boomers are starting to retire, downsize, and sell their homes. Gen Xers have largely settled into their forever homes. Millennials are the ones buying right now. They are the ones building, too.
We Want It to ‘Just Work’
The demographics bring us to the idea of unified home automation. A unified home automation system is one that offers compatibility with just about any smart home device. Install it and you can add everything from light fixtures to plugs and home appliances. You do not need separate software and different hubs because a unified system is universally compatible.
Unified systems have been the stuff of dreams for a long time. They are also a necessity in this day and age. With so many manufacturers producing their own smart home devices, there are bound to be compatibility issues. And according to Vivint, compatibility is a legitimate concern in the currently segmented market.
Vivint describes home automation as integrating “smart devices within a home, allowing for automatic or remote control of different devices and settings.” Though it is quite a mouthful, the idea is that home automation allows you to control a variety of components in your home with your phone.
In light of that definition, today’s home buyers want home automation that just works. They do not want to have five different apps residing on their smartphones. They do not want some devices accessible remotely while others can only be accessed inside the home. Most importantly, they want to be able to add new devices that just work out of the box.
An Exciting Future for Smart Homes
Unified smart home systems are not yet the norm. But they are out there. And now that the cat has been let out of the bag, there is no stopping it. Expect to see more unified smart home systems popping up in new home construction throughout Texas and beyond. Unified smart tech is the wave of the future. It is the future of smart homes.