Smart Home
Installation New Southgate

The £250 starting price covers a basic smart home setup — typically:

• 1 smart switch or 1 smart relay installation, OR
• 2–3 smart bulb installations + voice assistant pairing, OR
• 1 smart thermostat install (Nest, Hive, Tado) configured to your heating system

Everything else is quoted after a free site survey. Typical project ranges:

• Single-room smart lighting (Hue / Govee, 4–6 bulbs + voice control): scoped per room
• Whole-house lighting retrofit (Shelly or Aqara relays behind every switch — keep your existing fittings): scoped per circuit
• Full smart-home integration (lighting + heating + locks + cameras unified in Home Assistant): scoped per project

What changes the quote: number of switches, neutral-wire availability, ceiling rose access for relays, hub or local-server requirements, ecosystem (Alexa / Google / HomeKit / Home Assistant), and integration complexity.

Why hire a qualified electrician vs. an Instagram ‘smart home installer’: we’re NICEIC-registered electricians first, smart-home specialists second. We don’t just configure your app — we make sure the lighting circuits are safe, back boxes are deep enough for relays, heating controls are wired to current regulations, and relay terminations are rated for the load. The smart bit is the easy bit; the wiring is what makes the install safe and lasting.

One trip, fixed quote, no daily-rate creep.

Four paths, each with trade-offs:

Smart bulbs (Hue, Govee, LIFX, Wiz) — easiest, cheapest entry point. Replace your existing bulbs with WiFi/Zigbee bulbs, control via app or voice. Limitation: if you turn off the wall switch, the bulb has no power and goes dumb (see Q8 for fix).

Smart switches (replace the wall switch entirely) — proper smart control, works whether someone touches the switch or not. Limitation: UK houses often don’t have a neutral wire at the switch, which most smart switches need (see Q3).

Smart plugs (smart sockets / WiFi plugs) — for table lamps, kettles, fans, anything plugged in. Easy, no wiring needed.

Smart relays — Shelly + Aqara — our most-recommended retrofit. Tiny relays installed in the back box behind your existing switch. Your original switch still works AND the light becomes smart-controllable. Preserves period-property fittings, designer switch plates, expensive existing lights. Aqara has no-neutral options too.

Our default for whole-house: Shelly or Aqara relays for switches you want to keep + Hue or Govee bulbs where you want colour or effects.

Common UK old-house problem. British lighting circuits typically wire the switch with a permanent live + switched live only — the neutral lives at the ceiling rose, not the switch. Most smart switches need neutral to power their electronics.

Three solutions we use:

1. Smart relay in the ceiling rose (preferred for period property) — Shelly or Aqara relay tucked into the rose where neutral is present. Original switch and light fitting completely preserved. The switch becomes a control surface for the smart system without being smart itself
2. No-neutral smart switches — Aqara and a few specific Shelly models work without neutral by trickling tiny current through the bulb. Caveat: doesn’t work with all LED bulbs (some flicker or glow when off) so we test on-site
3. Pull a neutral to the switch box — only worth doing during a wider rewire or kitchen refit. We don’t recommend chasing brick just for this

Best path for most older New Southgate homes: option 1 — relay at the ceiling rose. This approach can retain the switch plates and avoid wider decoration where the ceiling rose, enclosure and wiring provide suitable access.

Honest version: cross-platform support varies by device, Matter support and integration, so we confirm the products you want to combine before choosing the main control platform.

Amazon Alexa (Echo) — most third-party device support, casual-friendly, cheap. Best for ‘I want to plug things in and forget’.

Google Home (Nest) — better voice recognition, smart phone tie-in. Good for Android households.

Apple HomeKit — best privacy and security, premium build quality. Limited device range, more expensive. Best for Apple-heavy households.

Home Assistant (HA) — what we install for serious smart-home customers. Open-source platform whose core runs locally on your network and supports a wide range of confirmed integrations: Hue, Govee, Shelly, Aqara, Nest, Hive, Tado, Sonos, your CCTV, your thermostats — available through one dashboard where the confirmed integrations support the required functions. Privacy-respecting. We’re Home Assistant experts — see Q11.

Default recommendation: Alexa or Google for casual users, Home Assistant for anyone who wants real control, privacy, or to mix multiple brands.

Smart heating can reduce unnecessary heating where schedules, zoning or occupancy control improve on the previous setup, but the result varies with the property, system, settings and earlier usage. Published manufacturer and study figures provide context rather than a guaranteed saving for an individual home.

Where smart heating actually pays off:

• Smart radiator valves (smart TRVs) — Tado, Drayton Wiser, Honeywell evohome — let you set different temperatures per room. Real money-saver if your house has rooms you barely use. Stop heating the spare bedroom to 21°C all day
• Zone control / multi-room thermostats — heat the bedrooms in the morning, living areas in the evening, nothing during work hours. potential savings depend on the previous controls, zoning and how the rooms are used
• Geofencing (heating adjusts when the household leaves or returns) — useful where it prevents avoidable heating, with the result dependent on occupancy and settings

Brand picker: Nest for combi-boiler households, Hive or Tado for hot-water + heating control, Drayton Wiser for budget zone control, Honeywell evohome for premium full-zone setup. We install all of them and integrate them into Home Assistant if you want unified dashboards.

For most homeowners, no — modern brands handle this for you. Quick rundown anyway:

• WiFi — uses your home network. Easy but every device adds load to your router
• Zigbee — low-power mesh used by Hue, Aqara, IKEA, SmartThings. Needs a hub (Hue Bridge, SmartThings Hub, Home Assistant with Zigbee dongle)
• Z-Wave — older mesh, less common in 2026
• Bluetooth — short-range, mostly for device pairing
• Thread — modern low-power mesh, used by HomePod Mini, Nest Hub
• Matter — the new universal standard. Not a protocol itself but a ‘common language’ letting Hue, Apple, Google, Amazon devices all work together. Matter products use a supported IP transport such as Thread, WiFi or Ethernet, depending on the product

What this means for you: if you’re starting fresh, consider Matter-compatible products where their exact features and ecosystem support meet the brief. We default-install Zigbee for Hue + Aqara, WiFi for Shelly + Govee, all unified through Home Assistant if you go that route.

A hub is a small box that talks to your smart devices and your WiFi/voice assistant. Whether you need one depends on the protocol your devices use:

• WiFi-only smart devices (Govee bulbs, Shelly relays, smart plugs, Nest thermostat) — no hub needed. They connect directly to your home WiFi
• Zigbee or Thread devices (Hue, Aqara, IKEA Tradfri) — yes, you need a hub to bridge them to your network

The main hubs:

• Hue Bridge — small white box, only handles Hue (and Zigbee accessories paired to it). Required for Hue
• Aqara Hub — handles Aqara devices, optional Apple HomeKit bridge
• Nest Hub / HomePod Mini — voice assistant + Thread border router
• Samsung SmartThings — supported hubs and features vary by current model and region, so compatibility is checked before specification
• Home Assistant — runs on a Raspberry Pi, mini-PC, or NUC. Can coordinate many supported integrations, although some products still require their own bridge or cloud service. Talks Zigbee (with a USB stick), WiFi, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, integrates voice assistants, runs locally — see Q11

Our default: if you’ve got 1–2 brands, brand hub. If you’ve got 3+ brands or want privacy, Home Assistant.

Universal smart-bulb pain. When the switch is off, the bulb has no power, so the app or voice can’t reach it. Three fixes, in order of how we install them:

1. Smart relay behind the switch (Shelly or Aqara) — our most-recommended fix. The relay sits in the back box; the original switch becomes a ‘smart switch’ that always keeps the bulb powered. You can flip the switch to toggle the bulb manually OR control it via app/voice. Best of both worlds, no decoration changes.
2. Replace the switch with a smart switch button (Hue Tap, Aqara Mini Switch) — looks like a normal switch but tells the smart bulb to turn off via wireless command, never cuts power. Works well but needs a smart bulb
3. Switch lock or cover — a physical sticker that prevents anyone touching the switch. We rarely use this — looks ugly, family will hate you

For New Southgate customers with existing Hue or Govee bulbs, Shelly relay retrofit is the cleanest fix — final price quoted after we see the back box depth and neutral availability.

Local behaviour during an internet outage depends on the selected devices and integrations. We plan essential manual control and explain which automations, apps or remote features rely on the router, internet or a manufacturer cloud service.

How we ensure local-only operation:

• Smart relays (Shelly + Aqara) — the physical wall switch is configured to retain local control where the selected device and installation support it. Internet down? Switch still works. App control returns when internet returns
• Smart bulbs (Hue on the Hue Bridge) — Bridge talks to bulbs over Zigbee, no cloud needed for basic on/off and scenes
• Smart heating (Nest, Hive, Tado) — programmed schedules and current temperature targets keep running on the thermostat hardware. Only voice/app changes pause until internet returns
• Home Assistant — the core runs locally on suitable hardware inside the property. Local-capable integrations and automations can continue without the internet, while cloud-dependent devices, remote access and external services may not.

What stops working without internet: voice control where the configured assistant depends on its cloud service, remote access from outside the house, and pure cloud-only brands (Govee WiFi-only app control). Suitable physical controls are retained and tested where the selected device and wiring arrangement support them.

Our default install — Hue Bridge + Shelly/Aqara relays + Home Assistant — is designed so the agreed local controls do not depend solely on an internet connection. We test and explain how the wall switches operate, including what happens if the hub or internet connection is unavailable.

Yes — most things you can think of. What we install:

• Smart blinds and curtains — Aqara, IKEA Fyrtur, SwitchBot motorised. Open and close on schedule, voice command, or sunrise/sunset
• Smart locks — Yale, Nuki — keyless entry by code, fingerprint, app, or auto-unlock when your phone arrives
• Smart doorbells — Reolink, Eufy, Nest — see our CCTV FAQs for full doorbell coverage
• Smart garage doors — relay retrofit for existing motors (Shelly Uni or similar) or full new opener
• Smart sockets / plugs — for table lamps, fans, kettles, anything plug-in
• Smart sensors — door/window contacts, motion, temperature, leak detectors — Aqara is our default range
• Smart vacuums, air purifiers, robot mowers — appliance-side; we configure them on your network and integrate with your smart home dashboard

For full integration: Home Assistant can bring supported devices into one dashboard and coordinated automations — ‘when last person leaves home, lock door, arm cameras, turn off all lights, set heating to away’.

Yes — we’re Home Assistant experts and HA is what we recommend for serious smart-home customers. What you get:

• Local-only operation — runs on a Raspberry Pi, mini-PC, or NUC in your home. Home Assistant core runs locally; individual integrations, voice services, remote access and backups may still use cloud services if you enable them
• Multi-brand unified — Hue, Govee, Shelly, Aqara, Nest, Hive, Tado, Reolink CCTV, Sonos, Spotify, your TV, weather forecast, energy prices — all in one dashboard
• Powerful automations — ‘if door opens after 11pm AND no-one’s home, flash all lights red and ping my phone’; ‘30 min after sunset, close blinds and dim lights to 20%’; ‘when energy price is cheap, charge future high-load equipment; when expensive, run dishwasher’
• Open-source core — optional remote-access, voice or third-party cloud services may carry their own fees
• Voice control still works — HA integrates with Alexa, Google, HomeKit, or its own local voice assistant

What we install:

• Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 5 or mini-PC (you keep)
• Zigbee USB stick for Hue / Aqara / IKEA devices
• Network configuration so HA reaches all your kit
• Initial dashboard with your devices grouped by room
• Walk-through showing you how to add devices and automations yourself

Not for everyone — HA needs you to be comfortable tinkering. For ‘set and forget’, stick with Alexa or Google.

Depends on scope:

• Single-room install (smart bulbs + voice setup, or one switch + relay): under 2 hours, same-visit job
• Multi-room lighting retrofit (5–10 Shelly/Aqara relays): one full day
• Whole-house lighting + smart heating + sensors + Home Assistant setup: 2–3 days, often split over a weekend
• Full smart home (lighting + heating + security + locks + Home Assistant): scoped per project, usually 3–5 days with phases

During the install:

• We isolate each circuit at the consumer unit before working on it
• Switch plates come off, relays go in the back box, switch plates go back — normally without chasing walls where the existing boxes, roses and cable routes provide suitable access; any decoration risk is agreed first
• Ceiling roses opened only where relay placement requires it
• Each device tested, paired with hub or HA, named in app, integrated with voice assistant before we leave

Hand-over:

• Walk-through of every device, app setup on your phone
• Written list of what’s installed, where, on which circuit
• Quick guide for adding new devices yourself later

12-month install warranty: if anything we installed stops working within the first year, ring us and we’ll come back at no extra charge. After 12 months, our standard £100 callout applies. Most issues troubleshoot remotely first.

We install and configure Philips Hue, Govee, Shelly, Sonoff and Aqara products, including suitable bulbs, switches, relays and sensors. The right approach depends on the existing switch wiring, neutral availability, back-box depth, connected load and whether familiar manual control must remain. We check those details before recommending equipment rather than forcing every home into one brand.

Often, yes. Suitable Shelly, Sonoff or Aqara relays can be fitted behind an existing switch or at the light fitting, allowing the familiar wall control to remain. Selected no-neutral products also avoid running a new neutral to the switch. This can mean no replacement switch, no new cable runs and no full rewire, but we first check the available space, switching arrangement, lamp or load compatibility and circuit condition. Any bypass, deeper box or wiring alteration that is genuinely needed is agreed before work starts.

We install Nest, Hive, Tado, Drayton Wiser and Honeywell evohome. Before specifying a thermostat, receiver or smart radiator valve, we check the boiler or heat source, hot-water controls, existing programmer, valves and the rooms you want to control. Published figures give useful context: Google reports average Nest Learning Thermostat heating savings of 10–12%, while tado cites average heating-energy savings of 22% and up to 28% in studied conditions. These are manufacturer and study figures, not a guaranteed saving for every home; the result depends on the property, heating system, settings and previous usage.