If you’ve started looking into this, you’ve probably noticed that “home automation” and “smart home” get used as if they mean the same thing. They don’t, and the difference is the single most useful thing to understand before spending any money.
Home automation vs a smart home
A smart home is a collection of connected devices. A smart bulb here, a smart thermostat there, a video doorbell by the front door. Each one works, each one has an app, and each one is independent of the others. What you’ve bought is remote control — the ability to do from your phone what you could previously do from the wall.
Home automation is what happens when those systems are joined up and given rules. The heating knows which rooms are occupied. The lights know what time it is and how bright it already is outside. The blinds know the sun is about to hit the south-facing window. Nobody presses anything, because the house has already acted.
The practical test is this: if your house needs you to open an app for it to do the right thing, it isn’t automated. It’s remote-controlled.
What it actually controls
In a fully integrated system, these all run on one platform and can reference each other:
- Lighting — dimming, scenes, colour, presence detection on corridors and bathrooms, daylight-linked colour temperature
- Heating and climate — per-room temperature targets, setback when rooms are empty, weather compensation on flow temperature
- Blinds and shading — sun-position tracking to stop rooms overheating, blackout, wind override on external shading
- Multiroom audio — zones you can group or separate, music that pauses for the doorbell
- Home cinema — screen, sound and lighting operating as one scene
- Security and access — keyless entry, expiring guest codes, cameras, alarm integration
- Energy — solar self-consumption, EV charge scheduling, circuit-level monitoring
The value isn’t in any one of these. It’s in the connections between them — the fact that “movie mode” can dim the lights, close the blinds, mute the doorbell chime and stop the music in the next room, because all four systems are on the same controller.
What it costs in the UK
Honest ranges, ex-VAT, for professionally installed and programmed systems:
| Scope | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| A single automated room (garden room, cinema, bar) | £3,995 – £9,995 |
| Whole-house retrofit, 3–4 bed property | £15,000 – £25,000 |
| New build / major renovation, specified at M&E stage | £18,000 – £45,000 |
New build is cheaper than retrofit for the same result, because the cabling goes in before plaster. If you are building or renovating and think you might want automation later, the cheapest thing you will ever do is run the cable now and decide later.
The subscription question
This is worth checking carefully before you commit to any platform. Some systems charge monthly — per camera for cloud recording, per user for app access, or a flat platform fee. Over a ten-year ownership period those charges routinely exceed the original hardware cost.
Locally-run systems don’t have this. The logic lives on a controller in your house, the app is free for the household, and there’s no third party who can change the terms later. It also means the house keeps working if the manufacturer has an outage — or goes out of business, which has happened to more than one consumer smart-home brand.
Can it be retrofitted?
Usually, yes. Cable routes through existing ceiling voids and wall cavities, and most houses can be done without replastering. Expect roughly 30–40% more labour than the equivalent new build, and expect the difficult areas to be solid ground floors with no void above.
The honest exception is lighting. Lighting control is the one system where the wiring genuinely matters, and it’s also the one that delivers the most day-to-day difference. If you’re going to retrofit anything, retrofit that first.
Where to start
If you’re weighing this up, the useful next step isn’t more research — it’s someone looking at your actual property, because the answer depends almost entirely on your building’s construction and what you want out of it.
We cover Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Mansfield, Chesterfield and Lincoln. The site visit is free, the quote is fixed in writing within five working days, and if we think a full system isn’t right for you we’ll say so on the day.
Jack Jones
Director, Westgate Property Solutions · Loxone Silver Partner