Alexa, Help Me Move In – New Homes Offer Alexa Integration

Ford is now building cars with Amazon Alexa integration. Huawei is doing the same with its smart phones. And now, developers are building homes with Amazon Alexa ready to assist you when you move in. Brookfield Residential Properties recently debuted a model home with the Smart Home powered by Amazon Alexa in Bristow, Virginia. The developer is also planning to have the feature available in its homes being built across the region.

Building a “Future-Proof” Home

The home comes equipped with a basic smart package that includes Alexa, light dimmers, thermostats, doorbells and cameras. Buyers can upgrade the package if they would like additional features. “Locking doors, turning off lights, lowering blinds, turning on appliances, of course all the audio/visual type of interaction. Potential homeowners have really seen the value of how we will live moving forward,” Gregg Hughes, Brookfield vice president of sales and marketing, told local station WTOP.

Brookfield collaborated with Amazon to design the voice-enabled automation for its homes and to ensure a “future-proof” design so the house can be updated as new capabilities become available. Another good sign for the smart home’s future is that for developers, wiring a house for Alexa integration only incrementally increases the overall cost – a strong selling point for both developers and future home buyers. “From a cost standpoint, it really is just wiring the home a little bit differently and making sure we have some wireless access points throughout the house to better hook up devices in the future,” Hughes said.