Ultimate Guide to Starting and Growing a Smart Home!

Summary

This video provides a foundational guide to building a smart home, with principles highly applicable to STRs. The speaker outlines three key goals: the system should be invisible, guest-friendly ("spouse approved"), and reliable for the long term. He explains that the best way to achieve this is through sensor-based automations on a centralized, local-control platform like Home Assistant, rather than relying on clunky voice commands or a mishmash of separate apps. He advises starting with simple automations and using non-cloud-dependent devices (like Zigbee) to ensure your smart rental remains functional even if the internet goes down.