Home Automation Comes of Age

Home automation has made great strides in recent years, with wireless technologies enabling users to monitor and control more functions remotely. Yet many builders are including only the most basic elements of automation as standard features in the houses they build, leery that fast-changing technologies can’t yet seamlessly automate all of a given home’s devices and systems at a mass-market price.

“Offering 10 different solutions in one house would be costly,” said Dan Bridleman, a senior vice president at builder KB Home , which started offering limited automation in its homes in 2013. “Ultimately, you need one low-cost solution that integrates all of it.”

Many builders acknowledge that buyers expect new homes to include modern features, and that full-home automation eventually will be included in that expectation. A survey last year of 4,556 U.S. Internet users by technology research firm Forrester Research Inc. found that 18% were using at least one automation feature in their homes.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/home-automation-comes-of-age-1424193505

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