Choosing the right home automation system for a new build in Northern Ireland/Ireland depends on what you want to achieve with the installation.
Different systems offer different benefits, and whilst we have our preferred brands, these aren’t the only brands homeowners are considering when they’re thinking about installing smart tech.
In this two-part blog series, we’ll consider the pros and cons of a number of different smart home technology brands.
An abundance of choice tends to be overwhelming, leading to either decision paralysis or rushing the choice without considering if the decision is really right for you.
Professional smart home installers exist to remove the burden of choice from homeowners. We help you make the right decisions for your home technology, based on your needs now and in the future, making your life simpler from design through to installation and beyond.
Let’s start with the most basic smart home systems: the ones you can buy online.
Amazon/Apple Home Kit/Google Home/Samsung SmartThings
Amazon devices span audio with Alexa, doorbells with Ring, and security with Blink. They’re by far the most familiar systems to homeowners, and they do cover an impressive amount of ground when it comes to straight-to-consumer smart home tech. Automation by Amazon is primarily controlled by voice.
Google Home works primarily with voice control also. Each product is compatible to integrate with other Google devices, but the system doesn’t integrate third party devices well, and there are fewer product options compared to what Amazon offers.
Apple HomeKit is a great choice for people who want a security-focused smart system, as communication between devices is encrypted. As with Google and Amazon, you can control your smart system vocally, this time through Siri.
The system integrates across other Apple products, which offers greater consistency throughout a home than with other DIY systems. Integration with third party products can be trickier, but this can be a benefit given Apple’s security focus.
Samsung SmartThings, on the other hand, is a great choice for people who want their smart system to be compatible with devices that aren’t made by Samsung. Although this does make the system quite complex to set up. Some integrations require a SmartThings Hub, which means purchasing another piece of tech before the system works optimally.
The pros and cons of online smart home kits
Smart devices you can buy online are relatively easy to set up and use. Their limitations come when you want to automate your entire home. We would stray away from these systems for a new build. Attempting to automate your entire home with wireless devices bought online makes no sense in comparison to what you gain with a professionally installed system.
Bought-online smart tech solutions have limitations, and they aren’t slick or reliable. You’ll have to do a lot of tinkering to get your home automation exactly how you want it, which isn’t ideal when you’ve spent so long planning and executing the home of your dreams. Even the most well-designed wireless system relies on WiFi, and your WiFi is only as good as your network infrastructure (that’s a whole other topic that you can read about here).
Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung (amongst other brands available online) offer inexpensive, seemingly no-brainer solutions to home automation, but we’d say this low cost comes at a different price.
With devices you can purchase online and install yourself, your data is stored in a cloud-based server somewhere in the world. This means you technically don’t own your data, and it isn’t as secure as data that’s stored in your own home. Devices like Alexa don’t spy on you and listen to all your conversations (or so we’re told), but it’s not the device to go for if that’s a concern for you, particularly when it comes to children’s bedrooms.
If you want an inexpensive system, online DIY products could be for you, but keep in mind that you’ll need to maintain any systems you set up, and you’ll have to troubleshoot issues yourself. And if you want to manage your lighting, heating, and security with Amazon-accessible smart systems, you’ll likely need several different apps to control your devices. We call this ‘app acne’, and it all just gets a bit complicated.
With disjointed systems made up of different products and brands, you also run the risk of products being discontinued and needing to start again with your system. In October 2025, Google announced that it was ending its support for first and section generation Nest thermostats. Homeowners weren’t given much warning, and the move affected software and security updates.
We could talk all day about our thoughts on the Amazon Alexas of the world. There’s a time and place for these devices, and we don’t think it’s in new builds.
The potential to create truly great, genuinely cost and energy-saving solutions with other smart technology systems is ripe with new builds.That’s why we’d say that the systems above are the wrong choice for a new build, especially if you want a well-designed, elegant, and simple-to-use smart system.
More on that in part two, where we talk Loxone, Lutron, KNX, and more.