As the smart home trend is sweeping the nation, owning a smart home is on the bucket list of so many New Yorkers, but the trend hasn’t yet taken off.

The NYC housing market is complex with stringent building codes, housing regulations, high cost, and relatively low turnover.

Just the act of finding somewhere to call home in NYC can take years.

Once a homeowner finds the NYC apartment, townhome, or penthouse they’re going to stay in for the next several years, their dreams of turning it into a smart home continually face problems.

Problem 1: Building Regulations

NYC is one of the most heavily regulated housing markets, and that can make it hard to turn your home into a smart home.

Any smart home components you install have to meet fire and safety regulations and any construction for installation itself will also be regulated.

Because of the age of many NYC buildings, you may have to retrofit your smart home. You never truly know what’s behind the walls until you get behind the walls, even if you have been told the whole building was upgraded. How you deal with what’s behind the walls will be — you guessed it — regulated.

The last thing you want is to end up working with a smart home installer who doesn’t understand how to handle the building regulations and codes. Getting saddled with the wrong installer can cost you many thousands of dollars and create a giant headache for you and your family.

Solution: Make sure you hire a company who is familiar with NYC regulations. Don’t try to DIY it, and don’t try to hire your nephew’s best friend’s cousin who just started his first company.

Make sure you partner with a reputable smart home installer who can help you navigate the intricacies of the regulations. The last thing you want is to find out that you can’t have the smart home you planned after you begin the installation.

Problem 2: Cost

Smart home installations aren’t cheap. The bargain basement providers usually won’t give you the state-of-the-art experience you want for your home.

If all you want is an Alexa device and a Nest thermostat, that’s one thing.

But if you want a fully custom smart home, one where you can control everything from lighting to shades to temperature to audio with just a swipe on your phone, then it’s not going to be cheap. Especially in NYC, where smart home installers have to contend with variables such as stringent building regulations, impossible parking for unloading the equipment, and using the service elevator multiple times to get everything up to your apartment. Each of these variables can increase the cost of your installation.

Other factors to keep in mind are: what system do you want installed? How big is your apartment? What custom features do you want?

Solution: If you’re shopping for a new apartment in NYC, get a quote for your smart home installation. Take the quote with you when you meet with lenders. Adding the cost of the installation into your mortgage means you won’t have to compromise, and you can get the simple smart home installation of your dreams.

While this quote cannot be final until you’ve settled on an apartment (and until the build is done since there are variables), you will be armed with the right information to take the bank.

Your next steps: If you’re interested in turning your current — or future — apartment in NYC into a smart home, give us a call at (800) 878-9705  or tell us about your project. We will get you going in the right direction.