Larnaca townhouse

The owners had lived in the house for eleven years and had stopped noticing how much of it they were operating by hand. Four separate remotes for the blinds. An immersion heater on a timer nobody could reprogram. A gate intercom that only worked from the hallway.

What they asked for wasn’t a smart home. It was, in their words, "one less thing to think about in the evening".

The house was occupied throughout, with two children at school age, so there was no week where we could take the power down and work freely. Solid walls and a 1990s consumer unit meant limited routes for new cable.

We worked room by room, evenings and school hours, and kept the house live every night.

The consumer unit was replaced and a new control panel built alongside it, sized with room to grow. Lighting circuits were brought back to the panel where the existing routes allowed, and wireless was used where they didn’t.

Shading was the quickest win and went in first — four remotes became one schedule plus a keypad by the door. Climate followed, then the gate and door station.

Every keypad went where the old switch already was, so the family didn’t have to learn new positions in the dark.

The house wakes at the hour they actually get up, warms the two rooms they use first, and lifts the blinds on the shaded side only. In the evening it does the reverse without being asked.

Reported outcome: [PLACEHOLDER — energy or hours-saved figure once measured].