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The New Millenium Smart Homes |
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Costs Newly Constructed Home The cost of a smart home can widely vary depending upon what the consumer desires, new or existing home, and the size of the home. Normally many of the homes that are "smart homes" are usually three to ten thousand square feet. With this type of square footage the homeowner spends from $10,000 to $50,000 for all of the electronics. Alarm systems on average range from $1,000 to $3,000 with a recurring monthly monitoring service. The telephone/intercom system is also priced from $1,000 to $3,000 depending upon the size of the house, number of phones, etc. Since the onset of the smart home concept consumers have been spending on average from 3 to 6 percent of the building cost. The larger and more complex the home the greater the percentage. A complete set of documentation that would allow the consumer or the electrician to install the system should cost from $.30 to $.50 square foot. Overall, there is no limit on what cost could be if the consumer had the desires of a king and the money to match. Currently the most high tech and one of the few communities of smart homes are being built in Massachusetts and are selling for over a million dollars. To cut costs many homeowners can do their own installation, with or without the help of an electrician. Existing Homes The cost of making an existing home smart is based on the preferences of the homeowner. They can decide whether they want to have the re-wiring package or the plug in devices that link to a control unit like the X-10. There are many suppliers that will sell homeowners just about any automation feature that is available on the market.
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