Building a New Home in Adelaide? Here's How to Get Smart Home Right From the Start

If you're building a new home in Adelaide, you're in a rare and valuable position: the walls are open, the cable runs are cheap, and every smart home decision you make now costs a fraction of what it will cost to retrofit later. We work with builders and owner-builders across the Adelaide metro and Hills on new construction projects, and the homes we're proudest of are the ones where we were brought in at frame stage rather than after lockup. Here's how to approach it.

The Golden Window: Before the Walls Close

The economics of smart home infrastructure change dramatically once plasterboard goes up. Running a CAT6 cable during construction costs roughly $30–$60 per run. The same cable run post-construction — through finished ceilings, in-wall cavities, and around insulation — costs $150–$400 and may not be possible at all without cutting and patching. The same principle applies to conduit for future cable runs, speaker wire for in-ceiling audio, low-voltage cabling for motorised blinds, and structured cabling to a central network cabinet. The time to make these decisions is at frame stage, ideally with input from a smart home integrator before the plans are finalised.

What to Pre-Wire in Every New Adelaide Build

At minimum, we recommend every new home include: a dedicated network cabinet location (a deep double powerpoint cupboard near the main electrical board works in smaller homes; a proper 300mm-deep 6RU rack space in larger homes); CAT6 cabling to every bedroom, the main living area, kitchen, and outdoor entertaining area; conduit from the network cabinet to the TV wall in the lounge and main bedroom; speaker wire to in-ceiling speaker positions in the kitchen, living area, alfresco, and master bedroom; and a low-voltage conduit run to each external window for future motorised blind motors. None of this pre-wiring commits you to specific products — it just keeps options open at a fraction of future cost.

Lighting: The Case for Smart Switches Over Smart Bulbs

In a new build, smart switches are almost always the right choice over smart bulbs. They work with any light fitting, they're controlled from the wall as normal, and they're invisible once installed. The key decision at construction stage is whether to wire for single-gang or double-gang smart switches (some brands need a neutral wire, which newer construction should include as standard), and whether to group circuits in a way that makes automation logical. A common mistake in new builds is having the builder wire the alfresco, garden, and garage lights all on a single circuit — making it impossible to automate them independently. A 30-minute conversation with your electrician and smart home installer before rough-in resolves these issues at zero cost.

Climate Control: Zone Planning Before the Ducting Goes In

Ducted reverse-cycle air conditioning is standard in most Adelaide new builds, and the zoning decisions are made when the ducting is installed. Smart zoning — independently controlled airflow to each zone via motorised dampers — is straightforward to add during construction and expensive to retrofit. We work with HVAC contractors to specify zone boundaries that make automation sense: bedrooms as a single zone, main living as another, alfresco and utility spaces separately. Combined with a smart thermostat and occupancy sensors, a well-zoned system in an Adelaide new build typically delivers 30–40% lower running costs than a single-zone system running the whole home.

Security and Access: Plan the Infrastructure, Choose Devices Later

For security cameras, the key construction decision is conduit runs from the network cabinet to camera mounting positions — typically the four external corners of the building, the garage, and the front door. Running cable through finished soffits later is painful; conduit during construction is trivial. For smart locks, the main consideration is door prep: most smart locks fit standard Australian deadlock prep, but some premium locks require specific door thickness or reinforcement that's easier to address at door installation. For video doorbells, a hardwired doorbell circuit at the front entry means you can use any wired doorbell in future rather than relying on battery-powered alternatives.

Home Theatre and AV: The Difference Between Good and Great

A dedicated home theatre room — or even just a well-prepared main living area — benefits enormously from construction-stage planning. HDMI conduit from the TV wall to the AV cabinet location; a recessed projector mount with power and HDMI pre-wired; in-ceiling speaker positions for Dolby Atmos rear and height channels; a clean power circuit for AV equipment separate from general lighting circuits. The difference between a lounge room that supports a genuinely great AV setup and one that requires a tangle of surface-mounted cable is almost entirely a construction-stage decision. In larger homes with a dedicated media room, this planning should happen at design stage before the build begins.

Working With Your Builder and Trades

The most successful new build smart home projects involve the integrator early — ideally before the building contract is signed, so that structured cabling and conduit can be included in the electrical scope rather than added as variations later. We work with volume builders, project builders, and custom builders across Adelaide and the Hills, and the conversation is usually straightforward: we provide a pre-wire specification, the builder's electrician installs it, and we return at lockup or handover to install devices, program automation, and commission the system. If your builder isn't familiar with smart home pre-wiring, we're happy to brief them directly.

Getting Started

If you're building in Adelaide and want to make smart decisions before the walls go up, the best time to talk to us is now — not at lockup, and certainly not after handover. A free consultation takes 30–45 minutes and gives you a clear pre-wire specification you can hand to your builder. Most of the infrastructure decisions cost very little to add during construction. The same decisions made at renovation or retrofit stage cost five to ten times more.