Smart Gadgets are becoming extremely popular. Here in the city of Toronto and most probably in all of North America, smart doorbells, smart smoke detectors, smart cameras, and many other gadgets are in the first aisle when you enter Home Depot. As wireless technology gets improved, many of these devices are easy to configure. But does that necessarily bring down your costs in the long run?
Do it yourself if:
1)    You are tech-savvy, and you want to play around with a new device. You do not necessarily need the equipment to be your primary means of solving a problem. For instance, if you want to wire a Nest Pro doorbell, and if something goes wrong, you have the backup plan of people knocking at your door on, you are on the safe side! Chances are you follow the instructions and never have a problem with your doorbell. What about a security system or security camera, though? Well, I guess you should take the risk of your security system working sometimes and not working at other times. The bad news is that the situations are not always black and white. You may think that your security system is working flawlessly, but if you do not use the correct resistors, etc. the chance of intrusion goes significantly high.
2)    If you have a condo and you use your Lutron Caseta only to turn your bedroom’s light off easier. Don’t forget that you need a licensed electrician actually to install the device for you.
3)    If you are a licensed electrician but you have never worked with low voltage automation devices. The chances are that you can learn a few tricks and add these features to your menu!
Do NOT do it yourself if:
1)    You need a whole ecosystem of devices working in harmony together. You need an authorized dealer of Control 4 or Crestron or even other brands to make sure you are in good hands. A fully smart home does not consist of different devices from different brands. It’s a whole lot more complicated than that. What you need is a design, before any hardware or software.
2)    You are not a licensed electrician and want to work with high voltage switches/dimmers/central lighting etc.
3)    You need technical support later on! Because a properly configured smart home is much easier for a professional integrator to fix it than one that is not programmed correctly or not installed correctly. Surprisingly, the cost of installation that you thought you would save in the beginning will be much more if a professional company is troubleshooting your system.
4)    You do not have a good background in computer networks. The backbone of every smart home is a well designed and configured network. It might seem easy, but you do not want your home automation system and your Internet to be on the same network for many reasons, including security.
Painting a house is easy, right? Most of us have done in the past. It’s cool to take care of one wall in a condo. If you want to build a new house, you don’t want to paint it yourself; you want professionals to do it!