Tips & Advice

January 16, 2024

Smart home solutions to make your life easier

Name: Curran
Brand: Curran
Rating: 5.0 (146 reviews)

Homeowners looking for ‘touchless’ solutions to routine domestic tasks have made smart homes popular. Professional technicians can now tailor a system for your home and garden that resolves common problems like protecting your house in an emergency and helping you stay in your home longer as you get older.

No longer a futuristic vision, smart home technology offers everyday practical solutions. Smart homes offer many advantages to householders who work long hours, or are frequently away, and can really assist those who have greater needs, such as the elderly.

Curran’s qualified technicians can equip your home and garden with the basic technology and will customise smart home programs so they provide the practical solutions you want.

Smart Home automation

Smart homes take advantage of automated controls, phones or voice commands to switch devices on and off.

According to Choice magazine, “In 2015, the average Australian household had nine connected devices. It was 17 in 2018, and by 2022 it’s expected to reach 37.”

Benefits of Smart Home Setup

Who benefits from having a smart home? All kinds of households enjoy the benefits of a smart home setup, but consider the special advantages it offers those who aren’t necessarily tech savvy.

Smart home technology has great advantages for:

Seniors, particularly those who are too frail to carry out many domestic jobs
People with a disability who have mobility issues that can make everyday tasks difficult
Homeowners who are often away from home, such as those who frequently travel for work
Property owners who provide rental accommodation, such as holiday lets.

Smart Home Automation Services

The good news is that homeowners don’t have to be young tech wizards obsessed with installing the latest devices to reap the benefits of smart home technology. Our professional electricians can install a smart home system for you.

A professional electrician with smart home installation experience will save you many hours of your time which would be spent setting it up yourself with off-the-shelf devices. With a visit from our team you can avoid the inefficiencies of poorly connected set-ups or struggling with issues like security risks or regulations concerning privacy protection.

Some of the basics for a smart home are:

Wi-fi signal
Hub connected to modem or router
A mobile phone for phone-based smart home apps.

Smart home automation services from a professional electrician can include:

Rewiring the house to accommodate a new smart home electrical system
Retrofitting solutions such as smart switches and smart outlets
Installing whole home controls

Services may also focus on particular features, such as:

Installations to operate security cameras
Lighting control
Multi-room audio
Garage doors
Automatic blinds
Heating and cooling.

Why choose Curran Electricians?

Curran Electricians are experienced providers of smart home services. Our Australian family owned business has been operating for more than 30 years. Curran services have a great reputation as we combine excellent workmanship with high customer service standards.

Our licensed electricians will take on the electrical installations needed for your smart home, provide knowledgeable solutions, and use safe working methods to complete a quality, cost-effective job.

Curran is also part of the larger Curran team providing plumbing and HVAC services, so we have working knowledge of lighting, garden irrigation systems or home cooling appliances that you could be linked to smart devices.

Contact us today to find out more about our Smart Home Services for your house and garden, and learn how we can make your daily routines smarter and more enjoyable.

What are some popular smart home and garden solutions?

Smart lights turn on and off, dim and change colour to simulate an occupied house
Security cameras at front door with live feeds can update owners when they are away
Appliances that ping your phone, such as a washing machine when it ends its cycle, so you can time your domestic jobs schedule
Smart irrigation devices that water your garden regularly when you are at work, asleep or on vacation; or remotely operated rooftop sprinklers
Gadgets that track energy and water usage and automatically optimise water volume and frequency based on weather forecasts. Some can work as an early alert system, for example, identifying irregularities of water flow in your plumbing system.

What are some nifty new smart home features?

Advanced smart homes technology includes:

New release TVs have a microphone in the remote control.
Smart mirrors/windows
Smart blinds already available overseas
Smart irrigation controllers with WIFI connectivity that maintain and adjust garden watering from your phone.

What are some very useful applications of smart home technology?

Bushfire emergencies:

For example, in October 2023 there were News reports that a NSW South Coast resident was able to use a mobile phone to remotely activate rooftop sprinklers at a festival site as bushfires approached the area. The sprinklers were able to protect the venue.

Care of seniors and people with a disability:

Note that if you have your own smartphone or tablet and internet connection – to control your new Smart Home devices – you may be able to access a service that is funded by the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP), Home Care Packages (HCP), and Short Term Restorative Care (STRC) program.

FAQs

– Do I need WIFI and internet to have Smart Home installation?

You will need WIFI and a hub connected to a modem or router.

– How many Smart Home devices are included in the installation?

You can choose the number of devices you include, based on your household needs and priorities

– How much to install a smart home?

Costs will be determined by the number of devices included and level of complexity. If you aren’t sure we can recommend a smart home package with basic or advanced inclusions.

– What if my WIFI signal is not strong enough?

If your WIFI signal isn’t strong enough it could be time to upgrade your current equipment so it will cope better with a large volume of devices. To support faster speeds you may also need to shop around for a faster plan from your internet service provider.

Without a strong enough signal your smart home won’t function, so it is important to start out with modern up-to-date routers and modems.

Other tips for a strong signal include:

Check your router placement and keep it clear of obstructions and with antenna pointed upwards. Locate the router near to where you use the WIFI, without a wall in between. Avoid running major appliances in close proximity.
Buy a range extender for your WIFI to avoid having ‘dead zones’ in the house
Buy a long range smart router
Update your router firmware periodically
Reset your router
If neighbours are freeloading with your WIFI, change passwords and use a program to identify the users of your network.

Same day service

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Serving The Community For 35 Years

Serving Wollongong, Shoalhaven, Illawarra and Sutherland Shire.

Award Winning Family Owned Business

We have earned countless awards of excellence from within our industry and from highly respected consumer groups.

Rated 4.9 Stars

Rated 4.9 Stars with 350+ reviews, Curran is a name you can trust.

What Our Customers Say

Testimonials from our satisfied customers

Highly Rated

4.9

Out of 5

★★★★★ 4.9/5

Overall rating of 549
1st-party reviews

Excellent customer service- Josh went to great lengths to assist my mum who is vision impaired. Great job Josh!!

Very impressed with the fast service! Josh and Nathan highly efficient and are both fantastic ambassadors for Curran! Thanks again, great job!

What a great company! Our plumbing problem was fixed in less than 24 hours by a super friendly plumber, backed up by an extraordinarily professional team of managers and admins. Based on this first experience with Curran, we didn't hesitate to sign up to their partnership plan, confident in the knowledge that we now have a reliable team of plumbers, electricians and other service technicians when we need them. Highly recommended!

Very professional service. Jake came to quote me for the job and was the plumber who eventually did my plumbing. A beautiful person who was both extremely polite and respectful as well as being very skilled and so helpful. He cleaned up after the job and made sure I was happy with everything he did. I will definitely use Curran’s for my future plumbing needs.

From time placed call last night to the time technician arrived was good service and kept informed. Early morning phone call to get more info and see how was the tap going under the sink . Will who attended our place very nice guy . As have had Currans plumbing in the past for jobs. Now they have more different things do in the business which is great Renewed our membership We were happy and didn't realise our tap was still covered when was installed in just over a year ago. Always hold upfront what job will cost

Josh was very informative and took the time to ensure I understood exactly what he was doing and what the options were. Lovely fella. Even offered to take the bins out

A very efficient service. Knowing what you pay upfront was great, it certainly eased my anxiety about receiving a blown out bill. The service was fantastic. Very polite, courteous and respectful of my time. No hesitation In using Curran again. Grist job. Julie S

Super responsive, prompt and professional. Very impressed.

Ryan was very friendly & helpful. Provided great customer service during the appointment for my quote.

Excellent service! Super helpful & informative! Allowing extra time to teach and explain each step of the works carried out. :)

Very good service. The plumber was polite and gave a good explanation of what the problem was with the blocked drain. I was very suprised with the low price. He got us out of a problem so we can continue to use our sink and dishwasher.

Jake checked out my drainage problem and was extremely helpful in providing some solutions. He was very knowledgeable and very informative. A lovely young man who was a pleasure to talk too . Highly recommend this local family owned business

Great service. Same day. Good advice. Explains everything really well

Billy and Sam were both friendly and supportive of the project. They managed to mitigate the problem with the drainage and completed the maintenance issue professionally. Billy installed the hot water system to my satisfaction and I was very impressed with the quality of the work and the cleanup work done. I would recommend Curran plumbing to my friends, neighbours and family. Thanks Billy and Sam for your services.

Really helpful, guys explained everything clearly and were very thorough.

Dylan and Jake provided great service. They were professional and respectful. Communications of the job at quote time and during the job cannot be faulted.

Great, friendly, professional service. I was kept informed at every point, even receiving updated info on the Sunday of a long weekend, about my upcoming appointment. Thank you Andrew, Jake and Josh!

Great service and the young guy Isaac was very friendly and super informative.

Prompt reply to initial enquiry. Date and time to suit. Wonderful customer service from trades and helpful polite and skilled. Love the service partner plan

Lovely people to talk to and so helpful. A very professional service and the tradies are all very friendly I would highly recommend Curran to anyone who is looking for a fairly priced plumbing solution 😊

Great service. On time, explained everything thoroughly, very friendly and job done professionally. Highly recommend.

Prompt efficient service to our house in Jamberoo, happy to recommend.

Professional prompt and good workmanship!

I found staff excellent and helpful they explained everything clearly

Reliable and efficient - great service 😊

Curran plumbing were on time every time we were booked in, the young men that came to our house were efficient and very friendly. I would recommend them to anyone.

Arrived on time, fully explained what needed to be done then quoted up front. Completed the job and cleaned up afterwards. I will be using them again for future plumbing jobs.

Thank you Curran . Once again excellent customer service. Prompt notification of when the technicians would arrive and honest opinion on our options.

Excellent customer service and the quality of the work done is perfect. Very professional.

I have nothing but praise for the guys (Josh, Hunter & Bailey) that visited my house recently to undertake several electrical jobs and an air conditioner service. They were all very polite, professional & answered all of my questions. Also you can’t beat an interest free payment plan to help with the expense at this time of the year. Thank you

The team were on time, very professional and I was informed of all that was to be done before and during and then a summary at the end of the job. We were very impressed. Thank you also for replacing our old gas hot water system so quickly

Excellent professional service and work completed quickly and without any incidence. All work was carried out in a timely and expedient manner and workmen were very courteous

Good service by courteous efficient and helpful tradesmen!

Curran were out within an hour of my call. I was fully advised by the person on the end of the phone of their procedures and they communicated with me by text and email during my wait. The technician gave me 25 mins notice of his arrival. He advised me what he would be doing, the price, and when he was about to turn the power off. Fixed the problem in 20 mins. I was very impressed with their customer service.

Same day service a bonus. On time and presented well. Explained everything well. Very happy with the service. I have used them in the past and will continue to use and recommend.

I was very pleased & impressed with the quick service & politeness of this young men & also the way they cleaned up & put everything back the way it was ,I would definitely recommend Currans Plumbing to anyone.

I have no hesitation in recommending Curran's to anyone needing repairs or installations in their homes. Top service and attention to detail; tradesmen are all polite, courteous and respectful. At every stage of the job they checked before going ahead if problems were discovered. Great work Currans!

Excellent and friendly service by experienced personnel who knew exactly what to do, and do it well, and expeditiously. Very happy!

Shout out to the team at Curran's for the quick response and top-quality service!

Great service from Jake and CJ. Professional, punctual, efficient, great in communications the technical aspect of the job. Well done!

Explained the job. Professional and friendly. Great after sales service.

Guys did a great job in not so easy circumstances and short notice, very polite and professional. Answered any questions I had and kept us updated all the way. No problem recommending Curran for any plumbing work.

Levi was informative, did the job in a timely fashion and was a pleasure to have here.

These guys never disappoint.professional, courteous and transparent.I wish more tradies used this business model.

We had a blocked sewer. Communication with the organisation wad easy. I was kept informed about the job. Nathan was polite, well presented and had a great attitude. He explained what he would do and why. The job was done well, he explained what he did and what the result of his work was. He did a great job. Thanks

Very professional service would recommend highly

They were on time. They rung before coming as they said they would. They explained what they were doing before they started doing the work. They show me what they did and made sure everything was working efficiently before leaving.

I found the guys at Curran and Plumbing to be great, they were open really friendly and helpful. They did the job on time with no mess. I also found them to be honest. I thought I had to replace two lights in the bathroom however while installing the new ones we found another switch so I did not need them replaced after all and the quote was adjusted to reflect this.

I found the work that was completed was to an excellent quality. The workers were professional in their responses to questions and they were always on time.

Excellent work from Josh & Hunter. Very professional, polite & great work. Greatly appreciated. Thank you

very professional service and friendly, knowledgeable staff. tidy workers that kept the business clean as they were working throughout the job. highly recommend !

Very efficient and friendly service. I highly recommend these guys.

The contractors (both electrical and plumbing tradespeople) were personable and professional. It was great service, they arrived on time, checked each decision with me and worked hard. They were clean and tidy and treated my place respectfully.

Quick service and helpful staff both on the phone speaking to office staff and the young plumber who came to do the job

They assessed the job clearly, told us what was needed, and explained how they would work. They turned up on time, were polite, and did the work with a minimum of fuss.

Curran were able to come to me at short notice after a sewer disaster. They kept me informed of timing and Jake the plumber was clearly knowledgeable and passionate about his trade. He was efficient, thorough and happy to answer questions and tell me why and what he was doing offering a practical solution to our ageing property’s plumbing needs. Thank you. I’ll be in touch

Fast and efficient service with everything explained before the job was commenced. Professional and friendly which was very nice.

Very helpful people, happy to talk through what they were doing and why.

We use Curran's for any plumbing requirement we have. They communicate well and are conscious of the importance of everyone's time. I totally recommend their services.

My mother who's in her 80's needed her toilet fixed. Curran and Electrical did everything perfectly. Service was fast, plumber did a great job after informing me of the several options I had. He was also polite, well mannered and friendly, taking the time to ensure I understood everything he did. Service was perfect and I highly recommend Curran and Electrical

Curran recently installed a new pump on my rainwater tank. I am very pleased with their work and also that they were able to do it within a few days of getting their quote. I also appreciated that when the quote was done that a video was taken of what needed to be done, so that whoever did the work knew what needed to be done.

Had a new toilet installed and 6 taps replaced with ‘quarter turn’ taps to aid my arthritic fingers. Perfectly happy with the work and the very professional and friendly tradesmen. Gold stars to Luke, Josh and Jake

Jake arrived on time, we talked thru our issue and he checked out our storm water problem. He was easily able to pinpoint our blockage and put together 2 quote options to rectify the fault. Jake is a good representative for the business👍

Well done team. Great to finally meet a professional company. You guys responded quickly, found the problem, gave a respectable quote (unheard-of nowadays) and got the job done. This is the place to go if you have any electrical or plumbing needs. Thanks again Curran

Sam was excellent. He was on time, polite, and did a fantastic and thorough job. He gave us detailed options for the job and we appreciated his honest and professional opinion. We will 100% use Curran plumbing again.

Sam was bang on time and fixed our septic issue very quickly. He also sent a camera up the pipes to ensure everything else was fine before leaving. We've enjoyed our ongoing relationship with Curran after they did some major works for us last year and our membership is well worth it.

The people doing the work were friendly, professional and informative and the work was carried out in a timely manner. You should be proud of the plumbing and electrical people who completed this work

Currans supplied us with constant updating of the project and when completed arranged for an inspection of the completed works.

From the first phone call Curran plumbing services were professional, showed up on time for scheduled quote , then me updated when the job was going to be completed . On the day of install all of the staff were well trained , well spoken and installed my new instantaneous gas hot water system like they were installing it in their own home . The quality in detail to make sure I was satisfied didn’t go unnoticed. At the end of the day I feel like I have gained a plumber for life . 100% recommend.

Luke was a Complete Gentleman and he explained every detail to my wife and i!! On this basis we excepted his Quote on the Spot and told him to go ahead and install our Brand New Australian made Hot Water System!! It was all Done that afternoon with Expert Precision d we had Hot water by 4pm!! Absolutely Marvellous Well Done! Sid you should be Very Proud of the Workmanship that Luke Performed!!

From my first contact with your company to completion of the job was only a few days tree roots in the sewer pipes gone, big thanks to your team.

Hi it's Dave from Dapto for Block drain problem, Part of Sewer drain renewal and ground was leveled nice & looks good, kitchen drain came apart and was reconnected all services where friendly and good communication excellent work. Thank you

I found Josh from Curren Plumbing to be very honest and trustworthy in the work he carried out at my home. Josh communicated everything he was going to do and the results of these actions in a manner I was able to understand. I was happy with the work Josh did at my home.

Plumbing, Electrical, Heating & Air

Wollongong, Shoalhaven, Illawarra and Sutherland Shire

Tips & Advice

Smart home solutions to make your life easier

Same day service

Serving The Community For 35 Years

Award Winning Family Owned Business

Rated 4.9 Stars

What Our Customers Say

Testimonials from our satisfied customers

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