When people hear "smart home installer" they picture Control4, Savant or Crestron: closed systems sold through dealers. When they hear "Home Assistant" they picture a hobbyist with a Raspberry Pi. We are a professional integrator and every ILS system runs on Home Assistant. Here is why.
It runs in your house
Home Assistant runs on a small server in your comms cabinet. Automations, scenes, presence logic, camera feeds, all local. When the internet drops, the house keeps working. When a company changes its terms or shuts a service down, nothing in your home changes. Google, Amazon and Apple systems all lean on the cloud for the interesting parts. That is fine for a couple of smart bulbs. It is not fine for the lights, locks and heating in a home you plan to live in for twenty years.
It talks to everything
Home Assistant integrates with more than 2,000 device brands and standards: KNX, Shelly, UniFi cameras, Reolink, Daikin and Mitsubishi air conditioners, Sonos, Somfy blinds, Tesla and Zappi chargers, solar inverters, the lot. Closed systems talk to what their dealer channel sells. When you want to add something new in five years, an open platform means you buy the best device for the job, not the one on the approved list.
No dealer lock-in
With Control4 or Savant, only a certified dealer can change your system, and the software is licensed to the dealer, not to you. If that dealer closes or you fall out, you start again. A Home Assistant system belongs to you. Any competent integrator, or you yourself, can take it over. We think that is how it should be, and it keeps us honest: we have to keep earning the support work.
No subscriptions
The platform is free and open source. There is no monthly licence to keep your lights on. The only recurring cost in an ILS system is optional: remote access through a secure tunnel if you want it, and our support plan if you want us on call.
Where it needs a professional
Home Assistant out of the box is powerful and, honestly, a lot of work to do properly. Where a professional earns their keep:
- Hardware selection. Which relays, sensors, cameras and displays actually work well together, and which look good on YouTube and fail in a real house.
- Network design. A separate network for smart devices, enough access points for the floor plan, and a firewall between your smart home and your laptops. See our security architecture page for how we do it.
- Presence logic. Making lights feel automatic instead of surprising. This is where most DIY systems annoy the family into turning it all off.
- Reliability. Proper server hardware, backups, battery backup on the server and network, and update discipline so an upgrade never takes the house down.
- The boring bit. Labelling, documentation, handover, and a system the next electrician can understand.
What you get
One app for everything. Wall displays where you want them. Scenes that fit how you live: morning, away, evening, movie, sleep. Cameras you own the footage of. Energy monitoring so you can see what the pool pump costs. And a system you can extend, hand over, or take with you.
If you want to see it working, book a free consult on the contact page. If you are comparing us with a dealer system, the services page lays out exactly what is included.
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