The Real Cost of Home Automation
A complete 3BHK system is about ₹5 lakh, an estimate rather than a quote. Here is how that splits room by room, and what each room actually includes.
A complete, high-quality home automation system for a modern 3BHK apartment in Mumbai typically costs around ₹5 lakh, roughly ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh per bedroom, ₹1.5 to ₹2 lakh for the living room. The full breakdown, room by room, is below.
One of the most frequent questions we get is simply “what is the cost?” And honestly, that question needs a reframing before it can be answered properly.
Most people picture a smart bulb here, a smart lock there: a list of gadgets with a price tag attached to each one. That's the mindset that robs you of the real joy of a smart home.
A smart home isn't a collection of devices. It's a system that quietly orchestrates your entire day: the moment you leave, the moment you get into bed, the 2 a.m. trip to the washroom.
The real question isn't “what does a smart switch cost?” It's “what does it cost to make daily life feel effortless, every day, for the next decade?”
Once you look at it that way, the cost of home automation stops reading like an expense and starts reading like an investment. So before the numbers, here's what you're actually buying.
What are you actually paying for?
The whole industry is hell-bent on selling more devices. We're committed to designing the experience instead: we call these moments. Here's the bedtime one. It's a single tap.
- Every light across the home switches off On tap
- Your curtains draw themselves shut On tap
- Indirect lighting fades out slowly 5 min
- The AC starts at 18°C, eases up to 24°C 1 hr
That isn't one device doing one job. That's your lighting, climate and curtain systems working together, all responding to a single command.
How does the same system run the morning?
Instead of curtains snapping open, they open gradually, 10% every minute across ten minutes, letting natural light flood the room slowly, with the AC switching off right as the process completes.
Multiply that across every routine in a day: watching a movie, running a bath, reading in bed. Once you count those, you can see why the cost of home automation needs a different frame entirely.
What does it cost to automate one room?
Here's where the real numbers come in. Take a typical 150 sq ft room in a Mumbai apartment: a fairly standard bedroom in a modern 3BHK. It usually has 5 to 7 lights, one AC, one fan, and a window or curtain span of roughly 4 to 5 ft.
This is what goes into that room as part of our home automation services, from first consultation through configuration and commissioning, with the physical wiring done by your own electrician. Adjust the quantities to match your own home.
- Smart lighting drivers Every light in the room, each circuit on its own driver
- Motorised curtains Motor and track for a 4 to 5 ft window
- Smart switches Bedside and entrance controls
- AC and fan controller One hidden control unit per room
- Smart hub The brain of the system, one per home, not per room
The hub runs a Zigbee mesh, which the Connectivity Standards Alliance describes as self-healing, with no single point of failure: every mains-powered device relays signals for the others, so one hub covers the whole flat.
We price these component by component, so you only pay for what you automate. The figures below are what a finished room and a finished home come to, with hardware, configuration and commissioning included. The physical wiring is done by your own electrician.
Is what a single fully automated room in a Mumbai apartment typically costs, all in, including hardware, configuration and commissioning.
What does a full 3BHK cost, room by room?
Not every room deserves the same investment. The rooms you actually live in get the most automation; the rooms you rarely use don't need it.
| Room or scope | What it includes | Typical spend |
|---|---|---|
| Master bedroom | Switch, hub, 6 light drivers, AC and fan control, 1 curtain set | ₹85,000 |
| Guest room | Switch, hub, 6 light drivers, AC and fan control | ₹60,000 |
| Living room | 3 switches, curtain set, hub, 10 light drivers, AC and fan control | ₹1,20,000 |
| Living or media room, full scope | More circuits, multiple ACs, media and scene keypads | ₹1,50,000 to ₹2,00,000 |
| Bedroom, lighting only | Cove driver, 4 to 6 spot drivers, 2 decorative, under-bed LED, motion sensor | ₹45,000 |
| Bathroom, lighting only | 2 drivers, retrofit switch, presence sensor | ₹18,000 |
| One motorised window | Motor, track, wall control, configuration and commissioning, 4 to 5 ft span | ₹17,000 to ₹25,000 |
| Complete 3BHK | Every room above that you actually live in, on one system | About ₹5 lakh |
Add it all up across a modern 3BHK Mumbai apartment and a complete, high-quality home automation system typically comes to around ₹5 lakh. Every home is different: layout, room count, and how much you want automated will shift the number. But ₹5 lakh is a realistic benchmark for a 3BHK smart home in Mumbai, done properly.
If you are comparing quotes from more than one company, our page on choosing a home automation company in Mumbai sets out what to ask each of them, and where you can see a working system before you decide.
Outside Mumbai the same comparison still applies, and how to choose a home automation company in India sets out what each answer tells you before the numbers arrive.
Is ₹5 lakh worth it?
Whether ₹5 lakh feels like a lot or a little depends entirely on how you measure it. Try this instead: that bedtime routine, the one that gets you into bed at your perfect temperature and lighting, is something you'll do every single night for the next 7 to 10 years. Assuming you never take a vacation (reminder to take a vacation!)
365 nights a year, times 7 years, is over 2,500 repetitions of one moment in your day, done right, automatically, every time.
Now add the morning routine, another 2,500 moments of waking up to natural light instead of an alarm. Then add movie nights, baths, late-night washroom trips, reading in bed, studying, every one of them a small, thoughtfully calibrated experience instead of going through the motions of doing each task manually.
We call these AHA moments and a well-designed home gives you more than 15,000 of them across every year you live in it. Over time you will discover new routines that you can build that are personalised to you. Coffee time? Hit a button on your bedside and your coffee machine starts up while you hit the loo. Sky is the limit really.
There is a harder number too. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency estimates that raising an AC's set temperature by one degree saves about 6 per cent of its electricity, and puts the comfortable range at 24 to 25°C, against the 20 or 21 most people set by hand. A bedtime scene that settles every AC at 24 is doing that arithmetic for you, every night, without anyone having to remember.
So what do you think this moment is worth? Its output is just pure joy, a little moment in the day that just works every time.
What do people ask us next?
How much does home automation cost for a 3BHK in Mumbai?
A complete, high-quality system typically comes to around ₹5 lakh. Bedrooms are ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh per room; a living or media room is ₹1.5 lakh to ₹2 lakh because it has more lights, often multiple ACs and fans, plus media integration. Guest rooms and low-use spaces can be minimised to control cost.
What does it cost to automate a single room?
₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh for a typical 150 sq ft bedroom, including hardware, configuration and commissioning. That covers the lighting drivers for every light in the room, motorised curtains on a 4 to 5 ft window, smart switches at the bedside and entrance, an AC and fan controller, and the home's hub. Pricing is component driven, so you only pay for what you automate.
How much more do smart switches cost than normal switches?
Smart switches cost only about 25 to 30% more than the standard switches you would fit anyway, but the jump in functionality and everyday experience is dramatic. This is usually the best-value line item in the whole system.
Do I need a hub, and is it one per room?
You need one, and it is one per home rather than one per room. None of this works in isolation. The hub coordinates lighting, curtains, climate and switches, and keeps everything running whether your internet is up or down. One hub runs your entire home, not one per room.
What's not included in the ₹5 lakh?
Every home is different, so layout, room count and how much you want automated will shift the number. Homeowners also typically opt for add-ons like sensors, aroma diffusers and network modems. These enhance the experience but sit outside the benchmark.
Is ₹5 lakh worth it?
It depends entirely on how you measure it. The bedtime routine alone repeats over 2,500 times across seven years, and the morning routine adds another 2,500. Counting movie nights, baths, late-night washroom trips, reading in bed and studying, a well-designed home gives you more than 15,000 of these moments every year.
For a fully automated 3BHK in Mumbai, built to last and future-ready, ₹5 lakh isn't the cost of gadgets. It's the cost of a way of living, with over 15,000 reasons to smile every year, for the next ten.
If you want to see what that actually feels like, both our experience centres are live smart homes. Come have a coffee. Walk-ins welcome, appointments also available, open 11am to 7pm (Santacruz West is closed on Tuesdays).
Book a free consultation →The three line items that move this budget most are lighting drivers, curtain motors and smart switches. Grand Welcome shows what they add up to, and our whole home automation page sets out what a complete system at this budget actually includes.
Two questions usually come before the budget: what home automation actually is, and who should build it, which changes the number more than any single product does. The architecture decision behind the biggest swing in this budget is covered in wired versus wireless. If you are about to take possession, our guide for new Mumbai homeowners covers the sequencing.
