SA's electric vehicle market nearly doubled in the first quarter of this year. 544 cars sold in three months, up 97% on the same quarter last year. Autotrader logged a 220% spike in EV searches between March 2025 and March 2026. People are buying in, or at least thinking hard about it. Here's what I keep thinking about: most of those cars are going home to a house that has no idea what to do with them. Plugging an EV into a standard wall socket works. Sort of. It's slow, it i

I had a client call me last month. Someone who’d bought a house with a DIY smart home already in it. By the time he called me, half of it didn’t work. This is the conversation I have more than any other.

Most clients never ask about the software. That's fair — you hired someone to handle it. But the tool that sits at the center of every KNX installation just received a significant update, and a few of the changes are worth understanding because they affect how your project gets built and what happens after handover. ETS6.4 was released in March 2026. If you've had a KNX installation done in the past few years, this is the software that was used to program it. Every device on

Most people think lighting design is about how a room looks. It does matter. But there's a layer underneath the aesthetics that almost nobody talks about when they're speccing a new home, and it has a direct effect on how well you sleep, how quickly you wake up, and how much energy you have through the day. Your body doesn't just respond to light as something you see. It responds to it as a time signal. What your brain does with light In 2001, researchers discovered a third t

Thinking about KNX automation but worried about the cost? Here's what clients actually save on energy, security, and long-term ownership, with real numbers.

Most homes let the winter sun go to waste. A KNX automation system opens north-facing blinds when solar gain is useful, closes them before heat escapes, and tilts slats in summer to keep daylight without overheating. It runs locally, needs no cloud, and starts at the design stage.

Apple is about to make a serious move in the smart home space. Ahead of WWDC 2026, credible leaks point to a HomeKit hub with a display, an Apple camera, and a Face ID doorbell. If your home runs on KNX, you're already positioned to connect — no rip-and-replace required.

I get it. The Takealot listing looks compelling. A four-pack of smart plugs for R400, a Wi-Fi light switch for R180, and an app that promises to turn your house into something from a tech magazine. I've had clients show me this stuff before. "Wayne, why would I spend what you're quoting when I can just buy this?" It's a fair question. And the honest answer is that you probably can get away with it — for a while. The problem is what happens after "a while." The cloud problem n

KNX IoT brings IPv6 and Thread connectivity to the standard that’s been running smart buildings for 35 years. Here’s a plain-language breakdown of what it adds, what it doesn’t replace, and why it matters if you’re building now.

There's a shift happening in how people think about home automation. Not a subtle one. A few years ago, if you wanted a smart home, you got gadgets. Hubs on the counter. Screens on every wall. Different apps for your lights, your gates, your blinds, your security. The more devices, the more capable your home felt. That was the pitch. It's wearing thin. The clients I speak with now, the ones building or renovating at the top end of the market, don't want visible technology. Th

DALI is the industry standard for intelligent lighting control — open, flexible, and more affordable than most expect. We break down how it works, the critical difference between broadcast and addressed control, and why Hager's DALI range is a reliable foundation for any installation.

Understanding the real difference — before you regret either decision You've seen the ads. A slick app, a glowing light strip, voice commands that actually work. The dream of a smart home has never felt more within reach — or more confusing. So here's the real question: do you buy a few gadgets and figure it out yourself, or do you call in the pros? Short answer: it depends on what kind of smart home you actually want. The DIY Lane: Retrofit & Rock DIY home automation shines

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