Smart home technology is constantly evolving, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to plan for the future. A bit of foresight can help you make better choices that pay off in the long run.
Here are a few things I’ve come to realize as I’ve built my own simple smart home.
Start with Home Assistant
Home Assistant is a free and open-source smart home platform that has some serious benefits over closed platforms from Google, Amazon, Samsung, and Apple. Unfortunately, too many people arrive at the realization that Home Assistant is the way to go after they’ve invested time and money into a different ecosystem.
If you’re just starting out or are looking to “renovate” your smart home setup, switching to Home Assistant is one of the best things you can do. The platform runs entirely offline, so you can work around cloud availability issues and home internet downtime. It also brings together thousands of devices from a massive range of ecosystems.
You can add devices from different ecosystems and build automations that allow them to function together. These automations can be simple or incredibly complex. You can incorporate external services, like online weather forecasts. Community development means that support is always growing, and it’s a tinkerer’s dream for anyone who wants to flesh out their own ideas.
Home Assistant is only as complex as you want to make it. I use mine as the bedrock of a smart home system, with Apple Home running as a bridge alongside it for simple control and remote access. You can run Home Assistant on almost anything, even in a virtual machine or in a Docker container.
Already got an existing smart home system? Don’t worry. Migrating to Home Assistant from Google or Amazon (among others) is relatively easy. You can even use your existing cloud-dependent plugs and bulbs while you make the switch.
Pick a mesh network and stick to it
With your move to Home Assistant secured, it’s time to think about wireless communication. I like to avoid Wi-Fi in my smart home where possible, which means I use a different type of wireless network for my plugs, lights, and sensors. This works in Home Assistant via a USB adapter.
I went all-in on Zigbee since devices are cheap and plentiful. Other options include Thread (which IKEA is transitioning to in 2026) and Z-Wave. You can add Zigbee or Thread with a ZBT-1 radio, or use a ZWA-2 radio for Z-Wave (among others). Thread is similar to Zigbee in terms of technology, though there are far fewer devices available (with support ramping up). Z-Wave is great for longer-range applications.
Once you’ve picked a protocol, stick to it as you flesh out your smart home. I’ve got a whole range of Zigbee sensors and plugs, and my next big purchase will be some Zigbee fan controllers and light switches. Since I already have the radio, I can buy whatever I need without worrying about congesting my Wi-Fi network.
There’s no reason you can add multiple technologies to your Home Assistant server if you’re willing to pay for the additional hardware. That’s what I plan to do when I run out of Zigbee options or find a Thread device that I absolutely must have.
Choose hardware that scales
Your smart home is more than just a Home Assistant server and some plugs. One thing I’ve really appreciated since setting up Home Assistant on a used Mac mini is the ability to use my server for other things. Since Home Assistant is a lightweight solution, I have plenty of overhead.
This includes some homelab curiosity projects, like self-hosting the SearXNG Google Search alternative, setting up a Jellyfin server, and even having Kodi and Stremio ready to go as a media center. I avoided the pitfalls of running Home Assistant from an SD card by having plenty of fast, solid-state storage available, so I won’t be wanting for storage any time soon.
I’m intending to use the same server as a network video recorder to save and analyze camera footage locally when I get around to adding home security in the future. I’ve just set up a Pi-hole on the same server that runs within a Docker container, because I wanted greater control over content on my network without having to outsource it to a service like NextDNS.
Self-hosted cloud storage and a NAS are also on the agenda, and there’s no reason I can’t keep it all on the same machine.
Lay some Ethernet cable
Wireless is great, but it’s no Ethernet. Cables simply aren’t subject to the same issues that plague wireless technologies, like interference and congestion. You can also do a few really neat things with Ethernet cable, like power devices for a clean, all-in-one solution.
Laying Ethernet cable around your home will benefit you greatly in the long term when it comes to adding network devices. This is especially true if your house is large or sprawling, since you might want multiple access points for Wi-Fi, or multiple controllers for mesh networks.
Ethernet cable is also the best solution for network security cameras. Wi-Fi cameras are relatively cheap, but wireless networks can be flimsy, and video feeds require a fair bit of bandwidth. You want to be able to depend on a camera feed if the worst happens, after all. If you want to run a network video recorder to record your feed, choose Ethernet. If you want to connect your camera to the network and power it at the same time, get a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) injector and PoE-compatible cameras.
Go for Cat6a cable, which supports speeds of 10Gbps at 500MHz or better at distances of around 300 feet (100 meters ). Cat7 was never properly standardized, and Cat8 may have a higher bandwidth throughput but is limited to runs of around 100 feet (30 meters) or less.
Make some power plays
If you have the budget, consider making some considered upgrades to your house’s electrics. Unless your house is already bathed in the perfect number of outlets, adding more power points is rarely a bad idea. Add them anywhere you think you might need a device, even if you don’t have any concrete plans just yet. At worst, you have an extra place to plug in a lamp or the vacuum cleaner. Better still, consider adding smart outlets while you’re at it.
If you’re performing larger renovations, like ripping out kitchen cupboards or modifying a layout, consider adding conduits in the walls. Unlike cable, conduits are essentially housing that makes it easy to upgrade or swap out wires at a later date. Laying additional Ethernet, speaker, and other media cables is considerably easier with existing conduits.
Not all houses have both active and neutral wires where you might need them, like in light sockets or anywhere you might want to add a fan. Having these in place will greatly help you out when it’s time to swap in some smart light switches and fan controllers.
You might also want to add an energy monitor to your house’s switchboard, since you’ll be able to monitor usage and even work out accurate costings using Home Assistant’s dashboard. This is a relatively quick job that can save you money. This is especially true if you intend to install solar or a home battery system in the future.
Just remember to comply with regulations and safety practices when going this route. Electricians usually charge by the hour, so consider making a list of some “bang for your buck” priority tasks, setting a budget, and getting it done. One tip that’s served me well is to tack on a few simple but quick upgrades to larger jobs. In the past, I’ve had switches swapped out and neutral wires added, which didn’t push the bill up since it’s time I’d already paid for.
Wondering where to start your smart home journey? Try taking a few baby steps before you begin. Personally, I jumped in the deep end by spending a few hundred dollars at IKEA.