Edit: See "Revision #1" below

Well, I can't believe it. Our new home build has started, and I've been procrastinating on designing the automation portion. I'd like it all planned out prior to the electrical, so I have time but I'm feeling a bit paralyzed. Hoping to pick the brain trust. But let me know if there's a better venue for this.

Home: Small (~2000 sq ft) 2 story with lower garage, built into steep hill. Energy efficient, on a south-facing lot. All electric heat and AC; no gas hookups. Single-slope roof. South wall is nearly all window to capitalize on heat from the sun (Canada climate). Tiny (~600 sq ft), above-garage carriage home for the in-laws.

User Profile: Married couple in 40s. Fairly tech savvy - been farting around with home automation since the X10 days. Now, very lightly touching on the Google ecosystem. Android users. Coding enthusiast (amateur level). Also, dabble in 3D. Both work from home; we like working out of the living room. Met with a Control4 installer, but not too keen on that system.

I've designed the home over the last ~10 years, and have worked with an architect for permit-ready plans. I've also been working with a colleague on bringing the design into the Unreal Engine 4 (UE4). We've made some great progress; the UE build is pretty much done, just working on landscaping.

Before I jump into the home automation setup, grab my V1 of the lights & devices overlaid onto the floor plan:

V1 Lights & Devices Edit: V2 Lights & Devices

Then, if you want to check out a few snaps of the UE build to help visualize the space, check out this quick pinterest board I created. I forgot the images are best viewed portrait. I'll fix and add more.

Also, I'll edit this post with annotations as the plan gets refined, in case it comes in handy for someone else doing a custom home build. That is, if anyone is kind enough to help me refine this :\

For the components, as shown in the PDF, I'm thinking: * Lutron Caseta wall switches. Not the dimming version - just straight up on/off. * Regular ceiling fans w/light on a normal (non-smart) switch. Then, controlled by an RF bridge * RF bridge of choice seems to be Bond. * Google Home used, as we've really come to enjoy voice control. * Google Hub mounted for quick centralized access to lights and fans. * A central wifi router in the loft, with two extenders. Thinking Amplifi HD with two of their plug-in extenders. * One Nest Thermostat and Cam. A pair of Nest Hello & X Yale Lock. And a smattering of Nest Protect. * Smart TVs w/Google Assistant integration. * Motorized blinds. Thinking Hunter Douglas w/PowerView.

Some things I'm uncertain about: 1. Temperature sensors, and how I'll actually automate the motorized blinds given certain temperatures, luminosity, or time of day. I'm REALLY worried it will be too hot during Fall/Winter/Spring. 2. Motion sensors, and what I would even want to automate via motion or occupancy. Might be too small of a space, yea? 3. Programming the bathroom exhaust fans. Tentatively, I'm thinking of just routing them through a smart switch, and trying control like that. Rather than finding a smart-fan. Thoughts? 4. Not sure about the control for the split mini systems in the above garage carriage home. This is separate from the regular air handler & Nest in the main home. 5. I'm hoping the centralized wifi router will work along with the wifi extenders, all the way down to the garage. 6. Have not thought about what I'd do with the garage door. 7. Leaning toward LG appliances for eeeeverything. If that means anything.

So, what am I missing? What would you change? What would you caution about? Any friends with new home builds that have went through this already? :D

Revision #1

Okay, excellent suggestions! I've changed up the components considerably. I've also cleaned up a V2 of the pdf planner for anyone that wants to take a second look, or whoever stumbles on this post. Selected components are now listed inside the PDF.

The key takeaways are: * No mesh wifi. Instead, wired APs. Ubiquiti router/switch/APs. * Home Assistant (HA) on a RP3b as primary controller. * Lutron Serena blinds. But can't do 11ft. At least one blind switched to Triathlon (maybe all). * Changed fan switches to the new Lutron Caseta fan switches (PD-FSQN-WH). * Changed the 3-way & 4-way lights to a single switch pico remotes. * Lutron Pro bridge, with one dimmer/extender (hopefully covers whole home). * Still leaning toward Nest Thermostat, Cam, Protect, Hello, and lock.

I haven't planned and placed the sensors yet. I also tried to find a POE solution for some of these things - and may still yet, but I do like the idea of clustering a second controller as Google Home/Hub for the lights, blinds, cam, TV, lock, thermostat - for easy control by guests. But I'll do my best with an HA control panel first.

Any further enhancements? I doubt anyone will read this drivel - just jotting it down so it's written somewhere :P

If you are here, though, here's a video of an early UE4 test build of the home.