Project: Smart Home Setup for a Resale Condo in Simei

Type: 3-Bedder Condo

Size: ~1,300sqft

Location: Simei, East Singapore

Wiring: ✓ Neutral

A family of five in Simei was renovating their resale 3-bedroom condo and had a clear vision: a home that works together instead of a bunch of separate apps, proper security at the front door, and lighting that each family member could make their own.

They brought us in early, during the renovation planning phase, so we could coordinate with their electrician and interior designer. Like any renovation, there were hiccups along the way, but we worked through them together with the family and made sure everything turned out right.

We started with a full neutral wire setup across the unit, which gives you stable smart switches that also double as Zigbee repeaters for the mesh network. With that in place, the family can also track energy usage for their lights through Home Assistant. Then we set up Home Assistant as the central hub, bringing the door lock, bedroom lights, aircon, and everything else into one local, private system. Nothing goes to the cloud, and the home stays smart even when the internet is down.

One thing we picked up from this project: not all home routers let you assign static IPs to your devices. That matters for smart homes because some appliances, especially aircon units, can lose connection with Home Assistant if their IP changes. It's worth checking what your ISP's router can and can't do before you start, so there are no surprises later. This is something we now flag to every client during planning.

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What We Set Up

1. Smart Doorbell with Loitering Protection

The family wanted proper security at the front door, especially with everyone coming and going at different hours. We installed a smart doorbell camera integrated with Home Assistant.

• Person Detection: The doorbell distinguishes between general corridor motion and actual people. If someone hangs around the entrance for more than 30 seconds without ringing the bell, the family gets a loitering alert on their phones.
• Doorbell Notifications: When someone presses the doorbell, Home Assistant grabs a snapshot from the camera and sends it straight to the family's phones. They can see exactly who's at the door without getting up.
• Smart Lock: Paired with the doorbell, so no one needs to fumble with keys. The family can see who's at the door and let them in remotely if needed.

2. Aircon Control

The family wanted all their aircon units in one place, so we integrated them into Home Assistant. They can now control everything from the dashboard or set up their own automations for it. No more leaving the aircon running in an empty room because someone forgot to turn it off before heading out.

3. RGB Lighting and Room Ambience

We installed RGB lights throughout the house, and the family really made these their own. Each of them has set up their own colour schemes and scenes for their rooms, turning their spaces into something that feels personal.

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The Result

This family made a smart call by planning for smart home integration during their renovation instead of trying to retrofit it later. The neutral wiring means the Zigbee mesh is solid across the whole unit, and the energy monitoring gives them visibility into what's actually drawing power.

But our favourite part is what happened after we finished. Their son had already heard of Home Assistant before we came in, but never had a proper setup to work with. Once everything was running, he jumped straight into customising, building his own automations and scenes, setting up his room switches to trigger different things, and putting together a "Guest Mode" scene that the whole family now uses when visitors come over.

The family didn't just use what we set up. They kept building on it. Personalised room scenes, new automations we didn't plan for. They made the system theirs, and that's the best outcome a project like this can have.