Going the DIY route for your smart home? Consider these 7 essentials first

Do-it-yourself smart home solutions might be tempting, especially to homeowners with an affinity for technology. But before you choose this option, you should be aware of the downsides. A reliable, functioning and secure smart-home system involves more expertise, maintenance and preventive steps than you might realize.

When wondering whether to DIY or not, here are seven essential cautions to consider.

If any of these leave you scratching your head, it’s best to ask a professional to help with your home automation project.

1. Interoperability and compatibility

How many functions do you plan to incorporate into your smart home? What current systems do you plan to integrate, such as a Apple or Google? If you’re not careful, you may discover that the different elements don’t play well together. It’s a common challenge because smart-home products aren’t standardized.

2. Ease of use (for everyone)

Will your smart home system be easy to use for everyone in the house — not just your techie friends and family members? Will it require many steps, settings and platforms or will it have one streamlined hub? If you need a different app or device for every function, your household (and your houseguests) could easily get frustrated. And if the features of a system are too difficult for everyone to use, you won’t get the value you paid for.

3. Wi-Fi speed and dependency

Smart thermostats, smart blinds, smart cameras and other devices could bring your WI-FI speed to a crawl. You’ll need to assess what your system will require and potentially secure more bandwidth. Similarly, you’ll want to ensure a stable connection, so you don’t get locked out (or in) if your WiFi goes down.

4. Old-fashioned backups

Do you know what you’ll do it there’s a power failure, WiFi failure or other glitch? Heaven forbid it’s below freezing and you can’t control your heat, for instance. When designed and set up properly, smart home systems should have a manual default mode for each function and device.

5. Risk of hacks and security breaches

You’ll need to make sure your devices are designed to minimize the chance of cyberattacks and security breachers. Not all products and devices encrypt information, release regular software updates or come with other safety protocols.

6. Data privacy

For each app, gizmo and piece of software you incorporate into your smart home system, there is the potential for a company to be collecting and storing your data. If you are uncomfortable with that, do you know how to spot this potential and prevent or mitigate it? Sometimes it’s as simple as adjusting the settings, but sometimes it’s not. Similarly, do you know how to protect your information if you move out of your home? You’ll need to make sure your smart system can be transferred securely to a new owner so they can turn on the lights while you can be worry-free.

7. Repairs, replacements and maintenance

The work isn’t over once your smart home system is up and running. Troubleshooting and maintenance will keep things humming and prevent surprises. A good maintenance program covers many items, from battery replacement (which can vary widely in frequency) to software updates (important for both functionality and security), to glitches and repairs (think sensor malfunctions or hub failures). And the more complex your system, the more items you’ll have on this checklist.