Technology
What actually goes in the house
Every category below, what I'd specify, and roughly what the hardware costs before any of my time. Nothing here is a dealership — I hold none, so these are the things I'd put in my own house.
Two numbers matter on any quote and most firms blur them: what you pay for equipment, and what you pay for the person specifying and installing it. Below is the first. My fees are on the pricing section and they're separate, deliberately.
The control layer
Home hubs
Apple TV 4K, wired by Ethernet. Plural deliberately: HomePods act as hubs too, and a house with thick walls wants several so commands are answered locally instead of travelling the length of the building. Two Apple TVs and two HomePods in a three-bedroom house is normal. See which hub to use.
Smart switch retrofit
A module behind the switch you already have. The plate on the wall keeps working exactly as it does now, and the same circuit also appears in Apple Home, in scenes and on your phone. No chasing, no redecorating, nobody relearning a light switch — usually the right answer in a finished house.
Local server
A fanless mini PC — Intel N100 or N305, 16GB, 1TB NVMe — running Home Assistant in the plant room, on a line-interactive UPS, with a Thread and Zigbee coordinator so devices that aren't Wi-Fi join without a second bridge. Holds the logic, the history and the documentation. Never touches a cloud.
Keypads
Lutron or KNX keypads where a switch belongs. Engraved, not labelled. The wall must keep working when phones don't.
| Item | Typical hardware cost |
|---|---|
| Apple TV 4K home hub, each | €150 – €190 |
| Fanless mini PC, N100/N305, 16GB, 1TB NVMe | €300 – €550 |
| Line-interactive UPS, 1000–1500VA | €150 – €350 |
| Thread / Zigbee coordinator | €35 – €60 |
| Backup drive for configuration and recordings | €60 – €140 |
| KNX or Lutron keypad, per position | €180 – €450 |
| Smart module behind an existing switch, per switch | €60 – €120 |
Audio
HomePod
One in the kitchen earns its keep on voice alone — for the handful of things people ask for a dozen times a day, speaking is faster than walking to a screen.
In-ceiling speakers
Flush, paintable, invisible once the ceiling is finished. Sonos or a passive pair on a matrix amp — the choice depends on how many zones you want.
Terrace audio
Weatherproof outdoor speakers on their own zone. Mallorcan salt air is unkind; marine-grade housings are not optional here.
| Item | Typical hardware cost |
|---|---|
| HomePod, per room | €100 – €330 |
| In-ceiling speaker pair, installed quality | €400 – €1,600 |
| Outdoor terrace pair, marine grade | €700 – €2,400 |
| Multi-zone amplifier, 8 zones | €1,800 – €4,500 |
Where to spend and where not to. Spend on in-ceiling speakers and on the amplifier — both are effectively permanent once the ceiling closes. Don't spend on the streaming source; it's the cheapest thing to replace and the fastest to date.
Network and security
Access points
Ubiquiti UniFi, one per 80–120m², each on its own cable. The reason villa Wi-Fi fails is almost always here.
Cameras
PoE, wired, recording on site rather than in someone else's cloud. See cameras without the cloud.
Access control
Gate, intercom and door locks in the same interface, with access you can grant to a housekeeper and revoke the same afternoon.
| Item | Typical hardware cost |
|---|---|
| UniFi access point, per unit | €150 – €400 |
| Switch, PoE, 24-port | €350 – €900 |
| PoE camera, per unit | €180 – €600 |
| Local recorder with storage | €500 – €1,800 |
| Gate intercom with video | €600 – €2,200 |
Comfort
Shading
Motors for blinds, awnings and pergolas. Per-opening cost is high and villas have many openings — usually the largest single line in a budget.
Climate
Existing units keep working; an interface brings them into the system. Rarely does anything need replacing.
Wall-mounted iPad
The panel by the front door earns its place — it just shouldn't be a decade-old resistive screen running software nobody updates. An iPad in a flush wall mount, permanently powered and running Apple Home, is the same idea done properly, and it stays current.
| Item | Typical hardware cost |
|---|---|
| Blind or awning motor, per opening | €250 – €700 |
| Climate interface, per indoor unit | €90 – €260 |
| Underfloor actuator, per zone | €60 – €150 |
| iPad in a flush wall mount, powered, per position | €700 – €1,400 |
How this adds up
For a 400m² villa doing lighting, climate, network, shading and modest audio, hardware typically lands between €18,000 and €45,000, with my fee separate on top. For an apartment or a focused retrofit it's more like €2,000 to €8,000. Full context in what a smart home actually costs in Mallorca.
Hardware prices are indicative retail ranges as of August 2026 and move with the market. A survey produces a costed list against your actual house.
Start with a survey
Half a day at the house, €450 fixed. A written report on what you have, what's wrong with it and what putting it right would cost — yours to keep whether or not you use me.
Book a survey →Questions
Straight answers.
Do you mark up the hardware?
No. You're quoted a fee for design and installation, and equipment at cost through trade supply where I have it. I hold no dealership with any manufacturer, so there is no brand I earn more by specifying — which is the whole reason the two numbers are shown separately.
What are the best in-ceiling speakers for a villa?
For most rooms a good passive pair on a multi-zone amplifier gives better sound per euro than active alternatives, and survives a ceiling being closed over it. Budget €400 to €1,600 per pair installed. Outdoors, marine-grade housings are essential — ordinary units corrode fast in Mallorcan salt air.
Can I buy the equipment myself?
Yes, and some clients do. I'll give you the specification and you can source it. The only caution is that warranty and replacement then sit with you, and mismatched substitutions are the most common cause of a system that half works.
Do I need a wall tablet?
A wall panel is genuinely useful by the front door, in the kitchen and in the plant room — but it should be an iPad, not the proprietary panel most villas were given. The old ones are slow, run software the manufacturer abandoned years ago, and can't be updated. An iPad in a flush mount, permanently powered, running Apple Home, does the same job, gets better with each iOS release, and costs less than the panel it replaces. Swapping them is one of the most common things I do.