Project: A Smoother, Smarter Daily Life in Upper Bukit Timah - Resale Condo

Type: 2-bedder Condo

Size: ~880sqft

Location: Upper Bukit Timah, Singapore

Wiring: ✗ No Neutral

This project was for a family of four in Upper Bukit Timah, husband and wife with twin primary-school girls. They wanted to convert an existing "dumb" home into a practical smart home without turning daily life into a technical project.

The brief was simple and clear. They wanted convenience, meaningful automations, and one control point for the whole home instead of jumping between different apps. In short, they wanted a home that works together.

The Challenge

The biggest constraint was existing infrastructure.

This condo has no-neutral wiring, so device selection and network stability had to be planned carefully. We also had to work with existing electrical work, understand how the previous two-way circuits were done, then terminate and reconfigure those points so they can be controlled properly in a smart setup.

With retrofit projects, this is where many setups become unreliable. If the electrical and control layer are not solved properly, automations may look good on day one but become inconsistent later.

Our Solution

We rebuilt the control layer around Home Assistant as the central system, so the family could manage everything from one dashboard.

Main parts of the setup:

• No-neutral smart switches, planned around the condo's existing wiring constraints
• In-house Starmex air-con control modules for integrated air-con control
• IR and RF blaster support where required for legacy control points
• Rain sensor and door sensors integrated into routines

Because this is a no-neutral environment, we designed the setup with careful device planning and network behavior in mind, based on the same principles in our neutral vs no-neutral wiring guide.

We also kept the architecture local-first where practical, so the home remains responsive and reliable, aligned with why local control matters in Singapore.

Key Features

• Rain-aware zipblind automation: If rain is detected, zipblinds close automatically.
• No-one-home shutdown: When everyone is out, non-essential loads are turned off.
• Evening return-home routine: Key lights and fans turn on to make arrival more comfortable.
• Unified control dashboard: The family gets one interface to control the full house.
• Retrofitted wiring logic for smart control: Existing two-way wiring points were converted for consistent smart behavior.

Results

After handover, the home felt much simpler to operate day to day.

• The family now uses one dashboard instead of juggling separate control apps.
• The main routines run automatically based on real household situations.
• The setup supports daily convenience while staying practical for a resale condo retrofit.

Most importantly, this project delivered what the homeowners asked for: a simpler life at home with less manual switching and less friction, while keeping control clear for everyone in the family.