When a lot of people hear terms like 'smart home' they probably think 'expensive'. Up until more recently that's been the case, but modern hardware is making it simpler to link devices in your home together. Did you know, for instance, that new smart thermostats can interact with your Amazon Echo?
These thermostats use touch screens that allow you to control your home's temperature easily and digitally. Set schedules for certain temps or adjust on the fly, and of course, control all of those things with Alexa. If you're on the couch it's great to be able to tell Alexa to change the temp as needed, but you can take that control to your smartphone as well and handle it from anywhere.
The thermostat brands themselves have apps you can use, but of course Alexa is a smartphone app. If you own an Amazon Echo, you can already control your device remotely with the app. With this pairing of devices, you can control it all.
Some of the smart thermostat brands, like the EcoBee4, are Alexa-enabled (not just compatible). That means that you can talk directly to the thermostat as well, and it will use Alexa's functionality to make temperature changes as needed.
For the investment of the thermostat and professional installation, you've taken a big jump toward a house you can control without buttons. With the growing functionality of home smart systems like Alex or Google Home, adding smart lighting can widen the inter-connectivity.
If you're curious about how all this works and what's involved to set one up in your home, give us a call! We can send a tech to you to answer your questions and install it, and it's a great add-in for your next maintenance visit if you're an existing customer.