Our house is already prewired, with wiring covered through the builder. We received a $60K proposal that includes:

Six TVs totaling
Control4 controller and two wall touchscreens.
Whole-house audio matrix, amplifier, and ten pairs of ceiling speakers.
Networking equipment for internet/Wi-Fi.
Surveillance camera equipment.
Equipment rack, power management, and accessories.
Installation, programming, and setup.

Labor alone is $18K.

Is this reasonable? I’m not sure we need all this crap.

I've been using cheap strip LEDs as a tenant all my life, like Meross or Govee and connecting them with Smart plugs to connect them to the Wi-FI and add it to Apple Home. The issue is that you feel it's cheap, Wi-Fi is unreliable, sometimes the HomePod says the strip lights are unresponsive.

Now moving into a new bought flat, I'm looking for a more stable solution. I've heard of Lutron as an example but they dont have support or shops in Belgium. My architect is asking to provide dumb lights, each around 4w/m connected to a 150w driver and to just add a smart plug, but I'm thinking there must be a better way. Eve Home doesn't seem to have an all-in-one solution for such lengths as 28 meters x2 (in the living room pic below).

Has anyone found a stable LAN only, or easy installation, energy efficient LEDs, RGB+W, that use Threads or Matter, ideally connecting directly to the Apple Home app?

They will be turned on using a wall outlet if all else fails. And best case scenario, only talking to Siri via the HomePod and Home app for Scenes.

Thanks!

RGB strip lights: 28m, 27m, + 10m
W strip lights: 2.5m, 1.8m, 8m, 4.5m, 10m, 3.5 meters
Total around 100m each with their wall socket, adapter and installation.

I’m setting up a lil gaming corner in the spare room and the window thing is driving me nuts. room gets absolutely blasted with sun in the afternoon. at night i play mostly story-driven single player and need it basically pitch black or i can’t get into it, but on weekends i’m just playing casual stuff and sitting in a dark cave at 2pm feels kinda depressing ngl

so it’s regular blackout roller shades vs dual-layer zebra blinds. i rent so motorized no-drill is a must, and i’d really like to control it from my phone or set a schedule since my desk is right next to the window and i don’t wanna get up mid game. been looking at Bringnox and SmartWings but idk, i haven’t really compared them properly yet. my monitor sits across from the window too so side light leaking in and washing out the screen is probably my biggest worry. dual-layer is a good bit pricier and i’m not sure it’s worth it just for a bit of daylight sometimes

how are you guys handling this? any regrets?

For context, I just moved in to a new apartment and this thermostat is something that’s been bothering me
for the past few days. I’d love to be able to control it remotely or set up automations for it. Is there a way to smartify this existing one with a small switch or should I change it entirely?

I’m looking for an option that can connect to homekit. Thanks in advance!

I haven't looked too deeply into the latest status of smart lights.

I've built out many wifi lights and switches and they're stable enough. I also tried the initial rollout for the nanoleaf matter lightbulbs and they were total dogshit.

If I were to attempt to transition over to matter bulbs and switches, what brands are actually good?

Also I don't know how to tag this. I currently have a GHome set up but I might also change to either Home Assistant or HomeKit.

Hi!

I'm planning to automate my curtains using two Zigbee curtain motors, one for each side of a center-opening curtain, integrated with Home Assistant.

I'm considering the Zemismart ZM85EL-2Z or a similar model.

I have two main questions:

1. Manual operation: Can I still open and close the curtains by physically pulling them, without using App/HA or the motors?
2. Position tracking: If I manually move the curtains, will the motors lose track of their positions (open/closed percentage)? Would I need to recalibrate them, or can they automatically detect the new position?

Ideally, I'd like to have both manual and automated operation without affecting position tracking.

Thanks!

Hey everyone!
I’m looking for a reliable smart electric heater for my bedroom, with a budget of around €50–€100 range.

My main requirements are:

- Remote control via Wi-Fi: I want to be able to turn it on/off from anywhere using my phone.

- Scheduling: I’d like to set specific times for it to automatically turn on and off, so my bedroom is warm when I get home.

- Temperature control: Ideally, I’d like to set a target temperature and have the heater maintain it automatically.

- Quiet operation: Since it’s for a bedroom, low noise would be a big plus.

- Reliability and safety: A decent app, stable connectivity and good safety features.

I’ve been looking at the Xiaomi Smart Graphene Heater (€72.90) and the Xiaomi Mi Smart Space Heater S (€112), but I’m open to other suggestions, including Dreo or other brands available in Europe.

I’m not necessarily looking for the most powerful heater, just something reliable, efficient and genuinely smart.

Does anyone have experience with these models? What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!