How Much Does a Smarthome Cost?

Are you interested in turning your home into a smarthome? Do you know how much a smarthome costs? Smarthome cost can vary. Let’s look at some scenarios.

DIY smarthome cost

We will be discussing do-it-yourself (DIY) smarthome costs for most of this article. A DIY smarthome is built with smarthome tech you buy from Amazon, Best Buy or the like and install and configure yourself. Getting started with a smarthome is pretty easy, but the costs can mount up. Since various levels of smarthomes can do various things we’ll compare 4 scenarios:

• Barebones smarthome cost
• Cost for expanding your smarthome
• Full smarthome build costs
• Adding luxury smarthome items

For most DIY smarthomes, a good home network with good wifi throughout your home is a requirement. I’m not going to directly consider that cost, but depending on the size of your house you will need a wifi router with a strong signal, and possibly an access point or two or a mesh system. This can easily run you $300-$400, but in most cases you aren’t starting from scratch.

Barebones smarthome cost

A barebones smarthome house is one like I’ve described in my 5 Steps to Create a Smarthome article. This a home that allows you to use apps and voice to turn on and off a light and a switch, as well as having a voice assistant for weather, timers, news, music, etc. Barebones smarthome cost isn’t too much:

• Smart Bulb: $20 – $70 (e.g. LIFX, Geeni Prisma Smart Bulb)
• Smart Switch: $20 – $40 (e.g. Wemo, Kasa Smart Plug)
• Voice Assistant: $40- $150 (e.g. Google Mini, Amazon Echo Dot, Google Home)

Total cost for a bare bones smarthome: $80 to $260.

Costs for typical smarthome expansions

After you’ve started your smarthome, you’re going to get the bug to expand on its capabilities. Most people enjoy the conveniences and capabilities of smart lights and smart switches and start adding a few more. Smart locks are popular because people like the capability of remotely locking and unlocking their doors. They also like the comfort of knowing when their children come home, and being able to check and see if they locked their doors. Smart locks enable these capabilities.

The big step up some gravitate towards is purchasing a hub to run and automate their smarthome. Smarthome hubs, like the Samsung SmartThings, Hubitat or Vera, allow DIY smarthome builders to integrate and automate their various smart devices. They also can provide secure remote access for controlling and monitoring smarthome devices like your thermostats, lights, or security system. I use Home Assistant, a software hub, for my home. I wrote an article on how to pick a smarthome hub that might help you select the right one.

As you expand your smarthome you may incur the following costs:

• Smarthub: $0 – $150 (Use a software hub for free, Samsung SmartThings, Echo Plus, etc.)
• Smart Lock: $120 – $250 (e.g. Schlage, Yale, August, and other smart deadbolts)
• Smart Thermostat: $100 – $250 (e.g Ecobee, Nest)
• A few more smart bulbs and switches: $150 – $300

Additional cost for extending your smarthome: $370 to $950. Total costs so far: $450 to $1210.

Full smarthome build cost

Now you are full into your smarthome build. You want everything smart, all the room lights should be automated. You have a smart deadlock on your front door, how about on your garage door entrance? Speaking of which, you’d like your garage door opener to be smart too.

Your kids are loving voice commands and having Alexa tell them every answer. But having a voice assistant in one room is too limiting, let’s add a few more in key spots so we have voice command everywhere!

It sure would be great to know who is at the door and to know when packages are delivered. Let’s get smart doorbell!

The kids make messes on the floor all the time and never want to clean up. I don’t have maid service but a robot vacuum will keep my floors clean!

So many things you can add, but costs also add up:

• Additional lights and switches: $100-$300
• Robot Vacuum: $150 – $1100 (e.g Deebot N79S, iRobot, Neato)
• Garage Door Opener: $50 – $250 (e.g. Chamberlain, NEXX)
• Additional Smart Lock: $120-$250
• Additional Voice Assistants: $100-$200

Complete Smarthome Cost = Barebones ($80 to $260) + Expansion ($370 to $950) + Full Build ($520 to $2100): $970 to $3310

Icing on the cake costs

You’re loving your complete smarthome. But, despite all the money you’ve already spent and all the features you already have, you realize there is more you can build. Let’s take it to next level! you could add:

• Smart blinds throughout the house
• Connected weight/body composition scale
• Smart smoke detectors throughout your home
• Smart ceiling fans
• Leak sensors by the washing machine, water heater and in the basement
• Smart refrigerator
• Integrated A/V systems
• Alarm System
• Smart lawnmower
• Connected irrigation system
• Smart Display (e.g. Echo Show, Google Home Hub)

You can also have a much bigger home requiring more hubs, smart switches, and smart lights, which can cost you more. In truth, the upper limit to what you can spend on a DIY smarthome is very high. It all depends on what you want to do.

Your labor and time

A couple thousand dollars is no small investment, but it may end up being a small investment compared to the time you spend on your smarthome. When you are doing it yourself, you’ll spend hours researching the best devices, pricing, and compatibility. Then, after you’ve finally made your purchases, you’ll have to install and configure each device. You’ll do all the programming and automation, and all the fixing and troubleshooting. It can be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and give you a sense of accomplishment.

Professional smarthome cost

What if you want a smarthome, but you don’t want so spend all that labor and time. You could have your smarthome professionally setup by a Control 4, Savant, Crestron, or similar professional system dealer, but the costs are going to be much higher than the DIY costs. In addition to the equipment costs, you will pay for installation, configuration and most likely will need an maintenance contract because you won’t be able to make all the changes you want yourself. Professionals will need to come to your house to make many of the changes you can do yourself with DIY. That said, you save a ton of personal time and labor picking components, configuring and troubleshooting.

So how much does a professional smarthome cost? This is a very hard question to answer because professional installer prices vary greatly on equipment, installation, configuration, and options. You can easily get up into 10s of thousands of dollars, even into six figures.

Final Thoughts

If you are interested in a smarthome, it is important to consider the costs before diving in and to remember the cost of your personal time. Luckily, you don’t have to break the bank to get started, and you can gradually add items over time (which is a good things since it takes time to configure each device). A smarthome will be a labor of love. Deciding if it is worth the cost of equipment is easy. Deciding if it is worth your time and effort takes more thought.

If you want to learn more about smart homes, consider purchasing the my book, The Smart Home Manual. You’ll learn everything you need to know to plan and build your own smart home.

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