An honest buyer's guide
The best home automation company for your home is the one that passes five checks: it builds on an open standard, runs your home without the internet, employs its own technicians, stands behind its own hardware, and still picks up the phone in year three. This guide shows you how to test each one in a single call.
Best Home Automation Award winner, 3 years running · 1,200+ Mumbai homes
Most companies selling home automation in India fall into one of four groups. None of them is wrong, they suit different homes, and knowing which one is in front of you tells you what to ask next.
| Type | What they do | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-stack automation company | Designs, supplies, configures, commissions and supports one system. One point of accountability. | A whole home, or one room now and the rest later. | How much is genuinely in-house, and how much is resold under one invoice. |
| Single-product brand | Sells one category well, such as locks, curtains or switches, each with its own app. | One specific upgrade and nothing more. | Three brands means three apps and no shared scenes. |
| Wired system integrator | Specifies and programs a cabled system, decided at the electrical stage. | Villas and commercial builds planned before construction. | In a finished flat: chased walls, rewiring and repainting. |
| Electrician adding smart parts | Fits smart switches or bulbs alongside regular wiring work. | A low-cost trial in one or two rooms. | Nobody owns the system, the scenes or the support afterwards. |
For scale, published Indian integrator ranges put wired systems at ₹800 to ₹1,500 per sq ft and wireless systems at ₹200 to ₹600. These are market figures, not AHA's pricing.
Ask these on the first call. A good company answers each one in a sentence. Tap any card to see how we answer it ourselves.
Good answer: Zigbee 3.0, Matter or Thread, named plainly.
Red flag: “our own protocol”.
Good answer: scenes run on a hub inside your home.
Red flag: everything goes through a cloud app.
Good answer: the company's own trained staff.
Red flag: nobody can tell you who, or how they were trained.
Good answer: the company itself, or one accountable supplier.
Red flag: parts from several importers, and nobody owns a fault.
Good answer: a clear split, in writing.
Red flag: one vague line item called “installation”.
Good answer: most fixes are remote and fast.
Red flag: every issue needs a site visit.
Good answer: yes, and you can try it yourself.
Red flag: a wall of products and a brochure.
Good answer: yes, on the same system.
Red flag: expanding means rewiring or a second app.
Outside Mumbai
Less than you might think. Most of the value is in the design and the commissioning, and both can be done well from a distance. What has to be local is someone to mount and wire the hardware, and a support team that can reach you quickly.
Typical spend on real AHA projects, so you can tell a fair quote from an inflated one. Your own number depends on how many rooms and which systems you include.
Bedroom, lighting only
₹45,000
Master bedroom
₹85,000
Living room
₹1,20,000
Full 3BHK apartment
₹3 to 5 lakh
*Scope estimates from AHA projects, not product prices. For the full breakdown, read what home automation should cost.
Architects, founders and families who chose AHA. The current rating and every review live on our Google listing.
"Managing different vendors during construction can get complicated, but AHA made it feel simple. Their coordination with our electrician and contractor was seamless, and everything was delivered exactly as planned. It gave us a lot of confidence throughout the build."
"AHA really understood how we wanted to live in our home and translated that into the smallest details. Each room feels intentional and tailored to our routines. The team was also very hands-on and supportive throughout, which made the whole process feel collaborative rather than transactional."
"Everything feels intuitive, responsive, and thoughtfully designed around how we live."
"AHA made our home simpler, smarter, and effortless to live in. Every detail was thoughtfully designed around our lifestyle."
Both AHA experience centres are laid out as real sample flats rather than product walls. Walk in without an appointment, or book one if you would rather. Ask us to unplug the internet while you are there and watch what keeps running.
Santacruz West
Vrindavan 101, Meera Bagh Road, RBI Staff Quarters, Potohar Nagar, Santacruz West, Mumbai 400054. Two minutes from Linking Road.
Open daily · 11am - 7pm · Free parking
Get Directions
Lower Parel
Level 1, Ginger House, Raghuvanshi Mills, Senapati Bapat Marg, above BoConcept, Gandhi Nagar, Upper Worli, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013.
Open daily · 11am - 7pm · Free parking
Get DirectionsThere is no single answer, because the right company depends on your home and your timing. The tests do not change, though: an open standard rather than a private protocol, scenes processed on a hub inside the home, technicians the company actually employs, hardware it stands behind itself, and a written split between who installs the hardware and who commissions it. Any company that answers all five cleanly deserves a place on your shortlist.
As scope estimates rather than product prices, a bedroom typically runs ₹80,000 to ₹1,00,000, a living room around ₹1,20,000, and a full 3BHK apartment roughly ₹3 to ₹5 lakh. Lighting alone costs far less, around ₹45,000 for a bedroom. For a market check, published Indian ranges are ₹800 to ₹1,500 per sq ft for wired systems and ₹200 to ₹600 for wireless.
A dealer sells devices. A home automation company designs a system: what talks to what, where the hub sits, what each keypad does and what happens in a power cut, and then commissions it so it behaves that way. The practical test is whether one company is accountable for the whole house afterwards, or whether you end up with four apps and four support numbers.
Good ones do, because design and configuration are not physical work. AHA consults remotely and delivers through a partner network across India, while both experience centres are in Mumbai. Before you hire anyone at a distance, ask who does the mounting and wiring in your city, and what share of support is resolved without a site visit.
Only if they share an open standard. Devices certified on Zigbee 3.0, Matter or Thread can generally be brought onto one hub and used in the same scenes. Devices on a manufacturer's private protocol usually cannot, whatever the box says, which is why the standard matters more than any single product.
Not if the intelligence sits in a hub inside the home. Lighting, curtains, locks, sensors and scenes keep running on the local network. Voice assistants are the exception, since they are cloud services, so the wall keypads carry the house until the connection returns.
Not for the lights, with a wireless system. The driver goes inside the existing light fitting and the keypad replaces your switch plate, so the lights need no chasing, rewiring or repainting. The one wiring check is a neutral at each keypad's switch box, which your electrician runs if it is missing. That is the biggest practical difference between wired and wireless once a home is finished.