Tri Pointe adds smart-home platform to new-home offerings

Dive Brief:

Tri Pointe Group has introduced HomeSmart, a line of internet-connected home automation features designed to help occupants manage thermal comfort and security, the company announced.
The HomeSmart package gives homeowners control over temperature, lighting, doors and other home components using their smartphones or tablets. The homes also are pre-wired to accommodate a central wireless access point, providing a signal for both the smart-home features and everyday usage and streaming.
The new features join Tri Pointe’s LivingSmart program of five packages that help the builder market components such as healthy building materials, energy-efficient appliances and systems and practices to lower water consumption across its portfolio.

Dive Insight:

Study after study shows that homebuyers and homeowners, whether they’re millennials buying their first home or existing owners trading up, are increasingly seeking some level of connected smart-home features for their current or future homes.

In its 2016 Smart Home Marketplace Survey, Coldwell Banker found that 45% of Americans had smart-home technology or planned to get it in 2016. When it came to buying and selling homes, 54% of respondents that year said they would buy or install smart-home products if it would help them sell their home more quickly.

On the existing-home side, a 2016 Houzz smart-home trends study found that 45% of homeowners included or plan to include smart-home technology in a recent or upcoming remodel. Among the most popular smart features were those that enhance safety and security, followed by entertainment, temperature control and lighting.

And the demand is expected to increasingly encompass voice control: a 2017 report from Coldwell Banker found that 72% of Americans with smart home products want voice control — and 48% already have devices that offer such functionality. Millennials lead the way, with 58% having voice-control smart devices, followed by Gen Xers (50%) and baby boomers (26%).

Brookfield Residential is one builder banking on the trend, introducing homes in Northern Virginia outfitted with voice-enabled automation through Amazon Alexa.

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