Smarthome - I don’t need one ... or do I?

Hello everyone,

maybe don’t take this thread too seriously – but I’m curious to see where the discussion goes.

I have a single-family house with 1.5 floors coming up, private + commercial about 150 m² just for myself.
When the plan started to take shape, it was clear to me – Flo of course does smart home, tech-savvy, used to work in IT back in the day and obviously connects everything, everything automatic, you need that these days.
And you would be stupid not to install smart home functions in a new build in 2022 (whether you need it or not).

So, then I looked into it and especially the costs.
20,000 + normal electricity (whether KNX or Loxone) are no joke,
so let’s first see what a smart home can do and if I even want it.

Ventilation control – NO (I don’t have that)
Shutter control – NO (I don’t have to be able to do that from anywhere in the world)
Window open / close – NO (because the motor for the window is already too expensive)
Alarm system – NO (I don’t have that)
Intercom system – YES, but will be covered by the TKS provider and since I’m alone the app is enough for me.
Weather sensors – NO
Mailbox – YES, that would be cool if you basically have a display at the entrance and a sensor in the mailbox, then you don’t have to always unlock.
Surveillance cameras – YES, but will be covered by the camera provider.
Heat pump/photovoltaics/underfloor heating monitoring/control – YES, would be quite cool, but does that justify the money?
Switchable sockets – YES, that would be the first thing I would really like to have.
Light control – NO when it comes to scenarios. YES for motion detectors and different brightness for day and night.

So I came to the conclusion that there is no smart home after all and I’ll just wire everything conventionally.
In the hallway, bathroom, utility room, guest toilet, pantry there will be motion detectors, but they won’t adjust the light intensity – I can’t do more than that.

So, now say something about it, as I said I’ve already pretty much given up on the topic.
If anyone has an intermediate solution at hand, I would still be very grateful.

Best regards
Flo

So you have my yes. However, it won't be long before the posts about the house that adapts to the resident, comfort gains, efficiency improvements, synergy effects, etc. come ;)

So I find the following very practical:

[*]Light control, blinds and roller shutter control for the whole house at central control points (bedroom, front door before leaving). [*]Simple integration of presence and motion detectors for light control (not exaggerated) [*]Automatically dimmed light in the evening/night hours [*]Window status (factory-installed reed contact per window 45€)

None of it is a must, you can get the functions somehow else, but as an IT specialist who can configure it myself, I look forward to further applications. Rain + window open: Telegram to the phone, garage door/driveway gate can be opened from the house switches, etc. It didn’t cost me 20,000€ more either, most electricians were glad when I said I would configure it myself. I would be annoyed if I hadn’t done it and would have given up the lift-and-slide door rather than KNX,

So you have my yes. However, it will not be long before the posts from the house that adapts to the occupant, comfort gains, efficiency improvements, synergy effects, etc. will come ;)

I fully agree with all of that because it really is an added value. But I, and hopefully others, will not let ourselves be provoked here. I already wrote in the door lock topic that it is a pity to always be looked at askance. The forum members you mentioned have rarely if ever done the same when someone does not want all that. However, I would like to ask the OP one thing: What does the topic have to do with external control? That would be the last thing I want. Why should I actively want to control my roller shutters from the outside? I'm not even there when I am outside... *scratches head*

When the plan began to take shape, it was clear to me - Flo naturally takes care of smart home, tech-savvy, formerly an IT guy, and of course connects everything, everything automatic, you need that nowadays.

Nonsense. As an IT guy, I don’t do any of that either. On the one hand, isolated networking (= everything controllable only inside the house and not accessible from outside) only brings half the advantage. I can see open windows, control the heating, etc. On the other hand, everything connected to the Internet sooner or later gets hacked. In the last 3 months at the office, we had neither heating control nor working light switches because the electrical company botched the job and dithered in fixing it.
And in the end, most of it is actually just play. That doesn’t have to be wrong, some people go to the garden, some go program the house, others fly their drone through the landscape. But I see little gain in comfort with all these topics and quite a bit of work if something doesn’t work and bigger investments to realize everything.

So you have my yes.

What does that mean? YES to smart home or YES to non-smart home?

As I already said in the opening text, I don’t want to provoke or annoy anyone here.
I just wanted to bring it up again, and maybe someone will write a line or two that will convince me after all.
It’s just that I’ve also watched a few YouTube videos with house tours, both extravagant and normal,
and even there I could only conclude: "Hmm, do I need that in everyday life – probably not?"

I mean, if someone here now said to me "Presence detectors for light control + time-dependent light control can also be regulated autonomously," that would already be something. I’m gradually realizing that maybe you have to open up a bit, and I also understand
that in a house where there are no switches in 4 out of 8 rooms, you don’t need any there either.
On the other hand, I’m also someone who definitely wants "old" rocker switches. No push buttons, no 8-fold assignment.

EDIT: And just laying a control cable into every room doesn’t help either,
because then you’d have to break open the room from there to lay it to an actuator.