Smart Home Automation & Control in Queenstown
Lighting, heating, blinds, power and security, all working together instead of living in five different apps. We design it around how you actually use your home, then install it properly, wired in by registered electricians who work in Queenstown homes every day.
What Homeowners Ask Us For
No two homes want the same thing. Some people come to us because the lights are never right. Some are watching a winter power bill climb and want to know where it is going. Some own a holiday home two hours away and want to see it is warm, dry and locked before guests arrive. Here is where most Queenstown projects start.
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Smart lighting that suits the room and the time of day
- Heating that is warm when you get home, and off when the house is empty
- Real visibility over what is using your power
- Blinds and curtains that run themselves, for warmth and privacy
- Security, alerts and remote access from anywhere
A smart home should feel effortless
The best smart homes are the ones you stop noticing. Lights that come on at the right level when you walk in with your arms full or heating that has already run before you get back from a day on the mountain. Blinds that close before the afternoon sun turns the living room into a glasshouse. A home that quietly looks after itself whether you are in it or not.
We are electricians first. Every device we install is specified for the load it is switching, sits behind your existing switches and sockets, and is signed off to New Zealand standards, Totally Dependable.
Smart Lighting
Set the mood without touching a switch.
Scenes that trigger when a door opens, dim automatically through the evening, or run to a schedule while you are away. Outdoor and driveway lighting that comes on at sunset instead of whenever someone remembers. All of it fits behind your existing switches, so there is no rewiring and no patched gib.
Smart Heating/Cooling
Warm when you get home, off when the house is empty.
Queenstown asks a lot of a home, cold winters and increasingly hot summers. Heat pumps, underfloor heating and hot water on a schedule that matches your week, so you are not heating an empty house all day or coming home to a cold one. If you have solar, we can shift hot water and underfloor to run when your panels are producing rather than when the grid is most expensive.
Energy Monitoring
See exactly what is drawing power, in real time, circuit by circuit.
Most homeowners find something surprising in the first week, an old towel rail, a pool pump, a hot water cylinder running at the wrong time. It also flags faults early, so a failing element shows up as a strange reading rather than a nasty bill.
Smart Blinds & Curtains
Open with the sunrise, close for privacy at night, or drop automatically when the sun hits the western windows.
In a Queenstown home with a lot of glass, that is a real difference in comfort and in what your heating has to do. Motorised blinds also make an empty house look lived in.
Security & Access
Door and window sensors that can trigger lights, sirens or a notification to your phone.
We also commonly install water leak sensors under the laundry and hot water cylinder. Add presence simulation so the house looks occupied while you are away, and remote access so you can check on it from anywhere. It all sits alongside cameras and alarms you already have.
Holiday Homes & Rentals
If your property is on Airbnb or Bookabach, or sits empty between visits, you get remote visibility and automatic overrides.
Confirm the heating is on before guests arrive, drop it back after checkout, get an alert if the temperature falls toward freezing, and stop a full house from tripping the board on a busy long weekend.
Upgrade your home with Shelly
We install Shelly, one of the fastest growing smart home brands in the world, and we chose it because it suits New Zealand homes. It retrofits into houses that were never wired for automation, it does not lock you into a subscription, and it keeps working when the internet does not.
- Retrofit friendly - Fits behind your existing switches and sockets, so no rewiring and no wall damage
- No hub required - Connects straight to your Wi-Fi, so there is no expensive controller sitting in a cupboard
- Works offline - Your scenes and schedules run locally, so the house keeps working when the internet drops
- Plays nicely with others - Works with Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit, and with the switches you already have
- Start small, expand over time - One room, one problem, then add to it whenever you are ready
Proven in Queenstown
We have installed smart home systems across Queenstown, Arrowtown, Frankton and the Wakatipu Basin, in new builds, renovations and holiday homes. Two recent examples:
A whole home, running as one
- Our largest smart home project to date: 28 devices controlling lighting, dimming and blinds across an entire house, including 15 automated blinds with handheld remotes. Every room can be run from a wall switch, a remote or a phone, and the whole house can be set for evening, away or guests in a single tap.
A $1,500 fix instead of a $10,000+ one
- A five bedroom home kept tripping the whole house whenever guests stayed. The obvious answer was a mains upgrade costing tens of thousands. Instead, we installed a single energy meter and relay that now pauses the underfloor heating automatically whenever demand spikes, then brings it back once the load drops. The family never notices it happen. Total cost: under $1,500.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to rewire my house?
Almost never. Most Shelly devices fit into the space behind your existing switches and sockets, so we work with the wiring you already have and your walls stay untouched. If you are building new or doing a full renovation, tell us early and we will design it in from the start, which is always cheaper than adding it later.
What happens if my internet goes down?
Everything in the house keeps working. Your scenes, schedules and automations run locally on the devices themselves, so lights, heating and blinds carry on as normal. The only thing you lose is remote access from outside the house, and that comes back the moment your connection does. Your switches always work as switches, so nobody in the house is ever stuck.
Can I add more later?
Yes, and most people do. Start with one room or one problem, live with it, then expand when it suits you. Because there is no hub and no controller to outgrow, adding a second stage a year later is straightforward, and you are not paying twice for the same infrastructure.
Will it work with what I already have?
In most cases, yes. Shelly works with Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit, and can sit alongside existing cameras, alarms, heat pumps and solar systems. Send us a list of what is already installed and we will tell you honestly what will integrate and what will not.
Is it secure?
It runs on your own network rather than depending on someone else's cloud, and we set it up with proper credentials and firmware from day one. We will also walk you through who in the household has access to what.
What does it cost?
Depends entirely on scope. Book a free assessment and we'll give you a proper number, not a guess.
Certified Shelly Installer
Laser Electrical Queenstown is a Certified Shelly Installer (Silver)
Laser Electrical Queenstown is a Certified Shelly Installer (Silver), one of the first in New Zealand to reach this accreditation. It means our team is trained and assessed on the product, not just familiar with it. Behind that sits Laser Electrical, the Totally Dependable guarantee, and a local team that has been wiring Queenstown homes for years.
Talk to the team about your home
Tell us what is frustrating you, or what you would like your home to do. We will come and take a look, talk through the options in plain English and put a proper number in front of you. No obligation, and no pressure to do the whole house at once.