The Good Life

Home automation

Control your home with just a click or the snap of your fingers with automation products and services from DEFT, Schneider and Puravankara

Picture this. You’ve had a long day at work, you get home and the moment you enter the lights go on. You don’t have to fumble around looking for the switch. The AC senses you and turns on with the right temperature. Your water has started heating in the bathroom, and by the time you are ready for a shower, the water will be the right amount of ‘warm’. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? A house that understands you and your needs with just a blink, a snap or a few voice commands. Well, DEFT, Scheider Electric and Puravankara are making these dreams a reality and bringing the future to your present.

Owned by Homeone Technologies, DEFT is making life easy, one click at a time, for the tech-savvy urban homebuyers. “We incorporate AI in home automation appliances, enabling them to think for you,” says Sudarshan Mitra, co-founder at Homeone Technologies. What he means is, your home will respond to every movement of yours, as per your command. In fact, it will adjust the lights and temperature when you sleep according to your preference. In fact, it will also keep your tea or coffee ready just before you wake up! 

By spending a minimum of  Rs.145,000, you could bag DEFT’s end-to-end home automation solution, which includes automated lighting and appliance control through a mobile app and voice control. “Home automation increases both kerb appeal and property value by delivering cost savings on bills and insurance, enabling greater convenience, safety and security and creating a modern, IoT-enabled home. We’ve automated homes of varying sizes. Our biggest project was an eight-room bungalow for  Rs.1.2 million,” says Mitra. Their software allows you to even remotely control your house, without the need to disrupt your existing wiring.

If you’d like to do business with an established industry veteran, Schneider Electric has an all-encompassing home automation solution, which is not just smarter but wiser. It interlinks the electrical, multi-media and telecommunication worlds with a single and user-friendly solution – enabling the customer to monitor, control and access their home beyond physical boundaries. Kasargod Srinivas Shanbhogue, VP-retail business, Schneider Electric India, says, “Simple voice commands such as ‘blinds up, radio on’ help waking everyone up in the morning and ‘lights dimmed, playlist on’ help entertain guests at get-togethers.” But to get it installed, say in your two-bedroom apartment, you may have to shell out a minimum of  Rs 300,000. It allows you to remotely control temperature, lighting, security and surveillance while also helping you save energy. 

Going a step further in the home automation space, Puravankara has tied up with Google in their new line of luxury homes called BluNex Life, to provide smart homes. These properties come with a pre-installed Google Home device. “This enables homebuyers to convert their living spaces into voice-enabled smart homes, giving the residents control over well-suited smart home appliances,” says Ashish R Puravankara, managing director, Puravankara. BluNex’s IoT-enabled services ensure data security and protection to the residents who are connected to multiple devices and internet, 24×7. Google home allows the user to control smart home devices by issuing simple commands like “Okay Google, turn on the lights”.  Puravankara also provides BluNex as an add-on feature in all their under-construction, new and upcoming projects. “The market price of the basic features is priced around  Rs 400,000-500,000. Depending on the customer requirements and features, costs may go up to  Rs 1-1.2 million,” says Ashish. At present, Puravankara is offering BluNex Life in two luxury projects — Somerset in Chennai and Zenium in Bengaluru, where prices for 2-5 BHK homes start at Rs 6.5 million and can go up to  Rs 45 million. 

So, no more arguing over whose turn it is to turn the lights off at night. Your home is at your service; all you have to do is command.