Smart home
I'm a programmer, and we run our house on Loxone, extended with Home Assistant. Our home assistant has all the paperwork for the house, so we don't have to dig through papers, spreadsheets and emails. I'm happy to look at yours too.
When I can help
- You have a smart home, but your devices talk to each other like neighbours over a fence
- You don't have a smart home yet, but you'd like one and want to talk through the options
- You are building or renovating: we'll go through what's worth preparing now so nobody has to cut into finished walls later
- You don't want to automate the whole house, but you'd like to automate at least the paperwork around it: warranties, insurance, servicing
- You want your own home server (homelab) and your data at home, not "somewhere in the cloud"
- You want a home AI assistant that answers from your own records, not off the top of its head
Examples
InputIn one room I want to clean, elsewhere I want to wind down in the evening.
OutputThe Cleaning scene sets the room to full brightness and white light. The evening mode for the whole house makes every light that turns on glow at just 40 % and warm yellow.
InputWe're leaving the house and don't want to check everything.
OutputOne button by the door arms the alarm in 30 seconds and switches on away mode, which among other things turns off the hot water circulation. If a window is still open, a notification arrives and, more importantly, the hall light blinks, because you usually notice the notification too late. Coming back, the fingerprint reader on the door turns the alarm and away mode off again.
InputIn summer our new-build house struggled with high humidity, and it was properly hot too.
OutputThe ventilation has a summer mode: when it's humid indoors and full power will bring the humidity down, it runs at full power. When it would instead bring in more humid air from outside, it doesn't go to full power, not even in boost mode.
InputFinding a warranty card or a contract meant digging through drawers and folders.
OutputDocuments live in our home document manager, and the assistant finds them in seconds.
AssistantThe heat pump service was due today. Did it happen? Do we have a report? If so, send it to me, along with the invoice for the work. Is there anything I should note that isn't in the report? Unless you say otherwise, I'll remind you in 11 months to book the next service.
AssistantToday's agenda: book the ventilation unit service. There's a draft ready in your email, check it and send it.
It could book the service on its own, but for now we want to have the last word.
YouAnalyse the heat pump over the last month.
AssistantThe heat pump is fine; I found no faults in the last 30 days and it heats efficiently. The savings are elsewhere: the night program heats to 22 °C while the day setting is only 21 °C, and the hot water circulation still runs about 1.5 hours a day. Fixing both, and trying to heat in the afternoon instead, could save roughly CZK 1,000–2,000 a year. I haven't changed anything.
What you need
- Nothing special. You don't need Loxone, Home Assistant or your own server.
- Where the assistant runs and where it sends data are two different questions. It can run on your computer or on a separate home computer. But if it uses AI in the cloud, it sends part of the data there. If you don't want anything to leave the house, it needs its own AI model on more powerful home hardware. We'll pick what fits your needs.
- You control what the assistant sees. Don't want it in your email? It gets its own mailbox and you forward only what it should see. Don't want to give it your whole Google Drive? It gets its own account and you share just the folders you choose.
How I work
- First I understand what you need, then I suggest a solution that fits you. Not the one that's coolest right now.
- Automations should save time, and you should barely notice them. They shouldn't add worries or drive you mad.
- If AI is to run the house in any way or help with the paperwork, it needs clear rules and limits so you can rely on it.
What runs at our place
- Loxone as the base: lights, blinds, ventilation with heat recovery, the heat pump and security
- Home Assistant for the rest: appliances, cameras and more complex automations on top of Loxone
- A homelab with a few home services that save us subscriptions to the big platforms, such as a password manager and a document manager
- The central brain of the house: all the paperwork in one place, neatly organised
- A home assistant that can work with any of these, depending on what we allow it
- The latest addition: a 3D model of the whole house. The AI model Astra redrew it from the house plans with the help of the free Blender, adds furniture from current photos, and we use it to fine-tune changes to the rooms.
Not a fit
- Electrical installation. I'm a programmer and solution architect, not an electrician.
Get in touch
Is something at home not working the way you'd like, or are you only just thinking about a smart home? Tell me what you're dealing with, and we'll see whether and how I can help.
- Email: dulajosef@gmail.com
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/josef-dula-530505b3