Service category
Smart Home and Home Integration, Gold Coast
Local-first home integration on the Gold Coast, built across three connected services that work as one system. Home Assistant runs as the brain on a controller in your house. Peplink dual-WAN networking keeps it connected when one internet path drops. Shelly Matter relays sit behind your existing wall switches to add lighting and climate control without rewiring. The three services share one engineering approach: open standards, local processing, and infrastructure you fully own.
Which service fits your situation
Smart-home integration projects don't always start with the same component. Some clients need network failover before anything else makes sense. Some have working internet but want lighting and climate sorted. Some are ready for the full Home Assistant brain from day one. Use the decision aid below to figure out where you actually fit.
Start with Home Assistant Integration if:
You want one platform for the whole house: lighting, climate, security, energy, automation logic, all under one local-controlled brain. You've considered Control4 or Savant and the cloud dependency or ongoing dealer fees made you uncomfortable. You're building or renovating and want infrastructure that doesn't lock you into a single vendor. Or you've already got a few smart devices in different apps and you want them brought together.
Start with Network Failover if:
Your immediate problem is internet reliability. You work from home and a half-day NBN outage costs you missed meetings. Your security cameras and smart-home gear depend on internet to be useful, and they keep dropping out during weather events. You're on a Gold Coast waterfront where NBN reliability is patchy. The smart-home work can come later. Getting the network right first is usually the right order.
Start with Smart Lighting and Climate if:
The daily friction is in the lights and aircon, not the wider system. You've got too many wall switches to remember which one does what. The 24-hour climate timer doesn't match how the house is actually used. Family members keep leaving lights on in unused rooms. You've tried smart bulbs and they kept losing connection. The retrofit relay approach (smart layer behind your existing switches, switches still work normally) sounds like what you've been trying to find.
Most full integration projects end up including all three services eventually. The order matters mostly for cash-flow and disruption: doing the network first means the lighting work has stable infrastructure to land on. Doing Home Assistant first means everything else integrates as it's added. The audit covers the question of order alongside the question of scope.
The same engineering approach across all three
The three services aren't three separate products. They're three faces of the same engineering principles. The principles matter because they're what distinguishes the work from the volume smart-home installers and the Control4 dealers.
Local-first processing
Every smart-home install runs on a local controller in your house, not on a cloud server. Lighting scenes, climate routines, automation logic, presence detection: all of it runs locally. When the internet drops, the house keeps working. When a vendor pivots their business or shuts down, your hardware doesn't stop functioning. The cloud is a feature you can add (remote access via VPN, voice assistants, cross-site monitoring), not a dependency you can't remove.
Open standards over proprietary ecosystems
Matter, Thread, Zigbee, MQTT, Modbus, NMEA 2000. Standardised protocols supported across multiple vendors and platforms, with no single party controlling whether your devices keep working. Compare to Control4, Savant, Crestron, or Lutron RA: proprietary stacks where you're locked in for the life of the install. Open standards mean the infrastructure you put in today still works with hardware released in 2035.
Physical fail-safe
Every install respects the principle that the smart layer should add capability without removing the dumb fallback. Wall switches still control lights even if the relay dies. Climate systems still respond to their original controllers if the integration drops. Network has redundant paths if one connection fails. The Iron (the physical electrical infrastructure) keeps working when the Air (the smart layer) doesn't.
You own the system, not us
Documented handover at every install: credentials, configuration files, network diagram, equipment inventory, automation logic in plain language. Any other Home Assistant installer can pick up the system if you want to change providers. We don't charge ongoing dealer fees and the system isn't tied to any subscription you have to renew. Ownership stays with you.
From audit to commissioned system
Every smart-home project follows roughly the same shape. The specifics vary by scope, but the structure is consistent.
1. System Audit
Two to three hours on site, $450, written design document within five business days. The audit covers existing electrical, network, devices, use cases, and physical install constraints. Output is a fixed-price install quote and a clear recommendation on which sub-services apply and in what order. Audit fee credits 50 percent against installation when you proceed within 90 days.
2. Design and quote review
Most clients want a follow-up call after reading the report, usually 30 to 45 minutes covering questions, scope adjustments, and prioritisation. Adjustments to the quote happen here. Once scope is locked, the quote is fixed and valid for thirty days.
3. Install scheduling
Most Zone 1 integration installs scheduled within four to six weeks of quote acceptance. Installs run in two to five day blocks depending on scope, typically split across evenings and weekends to avoid full-day household disruption.
4. Phased install
Larger projects break into phases: controller and core network first, then device integrations, then automation logic, then handover. Each phase ends with the system in a usable state. The project never leaves you with a half-working installation between phases.
5. Handover and training
Two-hour training session covering daily use, the mobile app, scenes and automations, and what to do when something acts up. You receive the system documentation pack. The first three months after handover are covered by labour warranty.
6. Ongoing
Most clients self-manage the system after handover, calling us back at standard hourly rates only when they want to add devices or change automation logic. Some clients prefer a more hands-on relationship and book follow-up work proactively. Both are fine. There's no required ongoing relationship.
What we're not
Plenty of other ways to do smart-home work exist. We're not the right choice for every situation. Three honest comparisons:
Versus Control4, Savant, or Crestron
Those platforms deliver a polished, dealer-managed experience with high upfront cost, ongoing dealer fees, and tight vendor lock-in. They're the right answer for clients who genuinely want someone else managing the system long-term and don't mind cloud dependency. They're the wrong answer for clients who care about ownership, cloud independence, or long-term cost. The audit covers this trade-off honestly.
Versus consumer DIY (Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa)
Consumer voice platforms are good at single-vendor scenarios: a few smart bulbs, a smart speaker, a thermostat. They struggle at integration depth, cross-system automation, and reliability under fault conditions. If your needs fit a consumer setup, you don't need us. Buy the smart bulbs and pair them yourself. If your needs go beyond what a consumer setup can deliver, that's where we earn our keep.
Versus a sparky who's good with computers
Some general electricians take on smart-home work as a side line. The hardware install part usually goes fine. The integration, configuration, automation logic, and ongoing maintenance is where the gap shows up. Not every electrician runs Home Assistant on their own house. The clients we end up serving best are usually the ones who've tried the cheaper path first and found it didn't deliver what they needed.
Common questions across the smart-home category
▸ Why local-first instead of cloud-dependent?
▸ What if the system breaks while you're not available?
▸ Can I add to the system myself later?
▸ How does the cost compare to Control4 or Savant?
▸ Can the work be done in stages?
▸ What if I'm renting?
▸ Do I need fast internet for this to work?
▸ What about voice assistants?
Book a System Audit
Smart-home work starts with the audit. Two to three hours on site walking through the house, the network, and your routines. Written report within five business days. Most enquiries get a response within four business hours.