Knowledge base
During a renovation the walls are open anyway — which makes it by far the cheapest moment to prepare your home for smart-home technology. The systems themselves can still be chosen or extended later; the conduits, cables and the space in the fuse box cannot. This guide lists the decisions best taken before the plastering starts.
§01
The cost of cabling is rarely in the cable itself, but in the chasing, drilling and repair work around it. During a renovation that work is happening anyway: laying an extra conduit or cable takes little effort. Adding the same cable years later means breaking, repairing and repainting all over again — or settling for a wireless compromise.
§02
For fixed functions — lighting, roller shutters and screens, heating — wired control is the most robust choice: no batteries, less interference and stable for years. Wireless components in turn are fine for extensions and for spots a cable can no longer reach.
In practice it usually ends up hybrid. Decide per function, not on principle: what is fixed in the home deserves a cable; what comes later can be wireless.
§03
A few preparations cost little effort during a renovation and keep every option open: a neutral conductor at every switch point (many smart switching modules require one), empty conduits to the windows for roller shutters or screens, network cable to the TV corner, the desk and the spots where an access point will go, and a central place for a small network cabinet.
Also reserve space in the fuse box: modular smart-home and metering components take up DIN-rail space. Providing an extra row now costs almost nothing; replacing a too-small cabinet later does.
§04
Lay the infrastructure so the control layer stays replaceable. Open standards such as KNX, Zigbee and Thread/Matter and platforms such as Home Assistant keep you independent of a single manufacturer; a closed system ties your home to one vendor. Whatever you choose: the cabling should be system-neutral, so the control system remains a decision — not a given.
§05
You don't have to automate everything at once. The order that works: lay the full infrastructure during the renovation, start with the basics — lighting, shutters, heating — and extend at your own pace afterwards. That spreads the budget without ever having to break open walls again.
§06
We align the smart-home plan with the electrical renovation itself: one circuit layout, one fuse-box design and diagrams in which both tracks are consistent. You end up with an installation that passes inspection today and is ready tomorrow for the components you choose — with documentation a future installer will understand too.
