When we moved in to our new home in Austin a few years ago, I was gung-ho on installing smart home devices everywhere. I never fully realized my vision, but I did manage to change the exterior locks. I discovered one was failing when I couldn’t remotely unlock it for an air conditioner repair tech. It was older than all the others, so I expected to have to buy a new one. I called the manufacturer anyway. Surprise! The issue was a mechanical failure covered by a lifetime warranty. Note to self: several years after selling this product, the manufacturer continues to incur costs to answer phone calls for support as well as to honor their warranty.
That lock was part of my smart home system. The costs to support that are even higher because, in my experience, these devices often requires endless troubleshooting. Personally, I tend to eventually give up. Example: I have another lock that’s supposed to connect to Apple Home, but never has. It worked with the manufacturer’s app, so eventually I just tucked my tail between my legs and stopped trying. That also happened with two other locks that never reliably connected to my smart home hub. Well, here we are. Last week I mustered up the courage to try again with the (remote) help of a smart-home-loving friend and a lot of patience. Over a few days, we ended up getting them all to connect! The thing is, if I had hired a professional to troubleshoot I would have probably spent over a thousand dollars on labor to possibly solve the problem (no thanks). Meanwhile, I still have an outdoor camera that doesn’t quite work right. Another note to self: while the items might be relatively inexpensive to buy, the support costs (in cash and time) can easily change the math.
Update, October 2026
I finally got frustrated enough with my home automation system that I let AI loose on it. I launched a Claude Code session and gave it access to my chrome with the hub’s control website logged in. I also gave it an all-powerful API key. I am not surprised at its fluency with all of the IT underpinnings, and nevertheless I am impressed by it. I am also feeling validated, as none of the problems that I have experienced were fixable with settings changes alone. In addition to trial and error, the AI still needed a meat proxy (yours truly) to push buttons in the physical world! In the process, I reached the limits of what Claude could accomplish. It had told me to give up. That’s when I switched to Codex, which covered a lot of the same ground but went further and managed to fix the last of my troubled switches.