Welcome the Tech With Brett How to Build a Smart Home Guide. This guide will take you step by step in building a smart home that works for you! Every smart home and need is different, so yours will be unique to you. I am confident that no matter how small your smart home starts, you will be able to grow it into something that will be helpful for you.

Whether you have a few smart home products or are starting completely from absolutely nothing, this guide will help you know where to start and put your on the right path so you purchase the right devices first time.

First, let’s talk about the structure of the smart home. Now there are many types of fully integrated smart home systems that you could purchase for your home but these options tend to be very costly and may not offer all the products you want to use in the future. They could also not be compatible with the products you already have. The smart home we are going to build is able to be fully maintained and operated by you.

1. Home Internet and Wireless Router

We need to start from the top by choosing a reliant Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a WiFi system that can support enough to have a great experience.

Finding a router that works for you.

Once you have a wireless network in your home with sufficient internet speeds we can now move onto the part where we start choosing how we want to run our smart home.

2. Your Smart Assistant

The quickest way to put your smart home together is to start using one of the readily available smart home platforms that are already built into many smartphones or smart speakers. Here is a break down of popular voice assistants.

Amazon Alexa: The first major voice assistant in a smart speaker, the Amazon Echo. Alexa can now be found in hundreds of devices and can control thousands of different products. You can also choose the name you address Alexa devices by such as, “Alexa” “Computer” “Amazon” or “Echo”. This can all be done in the Amazon Alexa app available on Android and iOS.

Bixby

Cortana

Google Assistant

Siri

3. Smart Home Hubs

Echo Show 2nd Gen

Samsung SmartThings

Apple HomePod / Apple TV / iPad

Hubitat

4. Smart Home Components

Smart Outlets

Smart Light Bulbs

Smart Switches

Motion Sensors

Now that you finally have a few products in your home this is where the fun really begins. Automations allow you to have certain smart devices automatically adjust depending on time of day, location and movement. A few specific examples are shades closing at sunset, lights turning on when you arrive home or even lights turning on when someone as at