How much does a smart home installation cost?
Short answer: between a few hundred dollars for a one-room Apple Home and around $10,000 for a fully-automated single-family house. The longer answer — and how to budget without a surprise quote — is below.
The two costs nobody separates: hardware vs. labor
Every smart home install is really two budgets stacked on top of each other. Hardware is the gear — bulbs, locks, cameras, hubs, Wi-Fi. Labor is the planning, wiring, naming, automating, and the boring part where someone makes Siri actually understand "goodnight."
Most "smart home costs $X" articles only quote hardware, which is why the numbers feel wrong once you start. A $35 smart bulb still needs a hub, a network it trusts, and a person to set up the automation that makes it worth the $35.
Cost by home size (2026, King County)
These are real ranges we see installing Apple Home across Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, Kirkland, and the rest of King County. Hardware is what you'd spend at retail; labor is a professional, flat-rate install — not a "request a quote" ceiling.
$500 – $1,500 total
- Hardware: $300 – $900 (hub, a few bulbs, one lock, a camera)
- Labor: from $399 flat (HarborKit Starter package)
- Typical scope: front door, living room lights, one Apple TV hub
$1,500 – $4,000 total
- Hardware: $900 – $2,500 (lighting on 2 floors, locks, thermostat, 2 cameras)
- Labor: flat-rate package, $399 – $1,200 depending on scope
- Typical scope: full lighting plan, garage, doorbell, mesh Wi-Fi
$3,000 – $10,000+ total
- Hardware: $2,000 – $7,500 (whole-home lighting, locks, shades, HomeKit Secure Video, climate)
- Labor: flat-rate multi-visit package
- Typical scope: every room automated, Thread/Matter backbone, IoT-grade Wi-Fi
Where the money actually goes
- Lighting (35–50% of hardware): bulbs, switches, dimmers. Switches cost more up front but age better than bulbs.
- Network (10–20%): the part everyone skips. A smart home on a rented ISP router is the #1 reason people "hate" smart homes.
- Locks, cameras, doorbells (15–25%): the features guests notice. HomeKit Secure Video keeps recurring fees out of the budget.
- Hubs & bridges (5–10%): an Apple TV or HomePod does most of the work; a Thread border router future-proofs the rest.
- Labor (15–25% of total): planning, install, automations, and a written walkthrough so the rest of the household can actually use it.
"Request a quote" vs. flat-rate
Most smart home installers won't publish a number. Their pricing starts at "let's schedule a call," then a salesperson scopes your project against your budget — not the other way around. It works for $50,000 luxury AV. It does not work when you just want the porch light to come on at sunset.
HarborKit runs the opposite playbook. The intro call is free, the in-home consult is $149 flat (credited back to a project of $750+), and the install packages start at $399. You can plan a real budget before you ever talk to a salesperson — because there isn't one.
DIY vs. professional install: when each makes sense
DIY is great when the scope is one room, one ecosystem, and you already own a recent Apple TV or HomePod. A weekend of YouTube and you'll have lights and a lock running.
Hire someone when the scope crosses rooms, ecosystems (HomeKit + Matter + Hue + Lutron + Ring), or floors — or when the Wi-Fi is the bottleneck. The labor line is almost always cheaper than the second round of returns.
Want a real number for your house?
Start with a free 15-minute intro call. We'll tell you which bracket above your home falls into — and what we'd actually install first.
Smart home installation & Apple HomeKit setup in King County, WA
Pairing, scenes, automations, and the network plumbing that makes it all stay online.
Pricing — HarborKit Smart Homes HomeKit packages
Free intro call, $149 in-home consult, and flat-rate Apple Home packages from $399.
Smart home installation near me — King County, WA
Local in-home installer serving Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, Kirkland, and nearby cities.