Take a look at the Monoprice 10761 6-zone controller. It interfaces nicely with Home Assistant using a USB-serial cable (make sure to get the FTDI chip usb-serial). The controls come up nicely in the interface, and there’s plenty of inputs on the back for you to plug into.
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@rogersmj, with this blinds setup, will you be able to tell what position the blinds are in at a given time? Or will you only be able to control the open/close without knowing if they are open or closed?
I emailed HTD about this. They said their systems are controllable via RS-232 commands. They said they are happy to provide the plans to anyone that wants to integrate it. That’s WAY over my head. Any takers? 
I do plan to install lawn irrigation. I’m not sure how often I’ll use it, or if I’ll automate it to run a lot, I just like the idea of never dragging hoses out to the yard again to water the yard. I originally had looked at using OpenSprinkler. I think someone created a way for OpenSprinkler to talk to HA. But, I suppose you are right, I could just use HA to run it. 
HA does a great job of controlling it via a NodeMCU and some relays and you can make the interface look ok too. I love being able to control it from my phone whilst in the garden
Can you set automations in HA to run the irrigation based on historic or predicted rainfall? That’s one of the features I like on Open Sprinkler. Basically, I want to automate my sprinkler to make my yard look “good” but not “great”. I don’t want to be the guy with the greenest yard and the highest water bill. I just want it to maintain the yard to an average state. From what I understand, you can somewhat dial that in with Open Sprinkler.
I’m a HA noob.
Aesthetics:
is key for the WAF and honestly is nicest.
Covers:
Noone has discussed power for automated blinds, curtains and windows?
Internal wiring would be ideal, but I don’t understand how…into the light switches? Just plugging in 12V power adaptors all over the windows with cabling sounds nasty to me.
Data:
I have and agree with Cat6e to every room, not sure why 2 though?
Management:
Proxmox hypervisor is best, I think better than esxi, which I’ve only looked at a bit.
Shower:
expensive I think, but digital would be ideal, I see useful data and savings from this.
Switches:
HA switches seem good…the displays where you design your own buttons?
Not sure on the global home solution though for uniformity/aesthetics. Could be overkill for each switch. However, I would like a switch that can manage fans/light dimming/light colours which I haven’t found available on the market yet…maybe the ha switch thingy?
Toilet:
Washlets are next level (just need the auto lid opener). Perhaps auto turn off at power would save.
I see a future where they sample number 1 or 2 daily, providing a lifetime of health data (aha, on this day this sickness began)
Yes, my code looks at the weather forecast and will not water if:
- the actual rainfall in the last 24hrs is above my set limit
- the percentage chance of rain later today is above my set limit
- the amount of rain predicted to fall today is above my set limit.
I have those limits adjustable via input_numbers and also have an override function if I choose to ignore the rain forecast for whatever reason.
Here in Australia we are limited to which days of the week (and time of day) that we can water which is assigned to us based on our street number. So I can only water on those days if I choose, or cancel the watering all together if there is rain. During winter we aren’t allowed to water at all.
There is some code on this forum by Klogg which goes further to dynamically adjust the watering duration based on weather. Very technical and well done but I didn’t bother getting too carried away with mine
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I’m building as well and have given thought on how things will be implemented, to be a) WAF friendly and 2) aesthetically pleasing.
- Lights switches and Powerpoints.
I’ll be using Fibaro Dimmers and Switches installed in behind the switches. The benefits are that the switches and lights will still work if the system is down, the switches look standard and it can all be controlled by my Home-Assistant host. They just cost a lot, they’re about $110 AUD each at the moment.
- Blinds/Covers
I’ll be using blinds with li-on battery motors in most areas. 240v blinds are easily concealed as they use small tails into dedicated 240v connections (not lights). Still looking at options to determine which versions best integrate into HA.
- Management
I moved on from having HA in a VM basically because of the z-wave and conbee ii (zigbee) USB sticks I want to use to control those types of devices. I bought a HP Elitedesk 800 G1 mini at auction. It’ll be located with the rest of my equipment that is hosted in a rack (and will be located in a central location of the house).
- Network
For all things that have an ethernet port I have a cat-6 point installed for. Everything else will be WiFi which I am more than comfortable with.
- Control.
I have a couple of iPad Pros that I don’t really use, so these will be wall mounted in a couple of strategic locations (probably entry hall, and the bedroom hall or maybe main living area) with a suitable wall mount. These will be powered by PoE.
The family all have their own devices (phones or tablets) and can also control from there.
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In the event of cable failure, you’ll be glad you have a backup cable. When the wife wants to completely re-arrange a room, you’ll be glad you pulled cables to all the walls/corners in the room.
I’m going to run a bunch of low voltage wire from my control room to the windows. I’ll house the power adaptors for the windows in the control room.
Redundancy and options. For example, I’ll run one Cat6 to the south wall and one to the north wall in each room. I may even run two to each wall, making 4 per room. I plan to run 4 Cat6 cables to each TV, one for internet, one for a centrally located Blu-Ray player, one for future expansion, and one for backup. I’ll also run a coax to each TV with an attic antenna as a backup. Cat6 is cheap. Might as well over-do it while the walls are open.
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Is this to use the Ethernet cable as extended HDMI? If yes … I read elsewhere that this would need 2 sets of cables to get the bandwidth.
HDMI over IP … I see that it can be done at 4K … but it is expensive
Is there a cheaper way with just one Cat6 cable?
Edit:
Comparison of kit from “My Mate Vince”
TV wise I’d go with LG. I’ve a 2018 Samsung and it’s been a nightmare, particularly with recent firmware updates (no rollback).
Also there’s a proper HTML 5 browser with the LG which allows you to watch embedded videos/streams and I believe you can push notifications. I recommend at least 4 built in HDMI and in an ideal world, I would have Picture in Picture (PIP) which seems to be absent on a lot of TVS now. For example, I have my CCTV NVR input on HDMI 3. I would love to have an automation that would display the CCTV feed in the top right corner of the TV when the doorbell rings.
Open to anyone to has suggestions around this
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PS remember if you’re running HDMI over CAT 6, you’ll need 2 connections for each HDMI. So around your TV, I would recommend around 8 to go back to your comms cabinet.
Run power to your ceiling lights, you’ll be glad of them later.
Blinds battery powered are sufficient but have nearby plugs to charge them every 9 months or so.
Run a sufficient cable to the ceiling for solar if you don’t plan to install solar initially. Also a 30 amp (or so) cable to the side of the house in the event that you have an electric car in future.
Remember to install the CAT 6 in the ceiling for your Wireless Access points. Ubiquiti UniFi is a no brainer.
Server/NAS wise, I recommend a Synology NAS (or Xpenology if you plan to build your own)… changed my life. The OS is excellent and is one stop shop for your storage with apps that compete with Dropbox, Photo storage (access all your pics remotely as easy as using the photos app on your smarphone). But most importantly, it runs Docker and HA (including USB stick devices for Zigbee or ZWave)
Hope this information is of help!
Recommend 50A with 40A level 2 charger 
If you use Cat6 one wire will do. I plan to use this extender.
Even if I can’t get the absolute best 4K resolution for the Blu-Ray over a single Cat6, I’m fine with that. I’m going to have a theater area (not its own room, but projector with big screen) in my basement near the control room. I should be able to run HDMI from the receiver to the projector. If we want the absolute highest quality image we will just watch it there. I’ll probably run a few extra Cat6 cables to the major TVs and just leave them hanging in the wall in case I need them later.
I plan to build tablets as remote controls for each major TV area. I figure I can find a way to have the image pushed to the tablet much easier.
What’s the reason for this?
We will have a few windows in our great room that will be 19 feet off the floor. I plan to at least hard wire those. I might as well hardwire the rest.
I don’t think our homeowners association will allow solar panels, I’ll have to check. I do plan to run two “smurf tubes” from the control room (where the electrical panel will be) to each attic cavity. One for future high voltage lines and one for future low voltage runs. I don’t plan to have an electric car anytime soon, not really my thing. But I am planning to run some 30 amp wiring to my garage attic as well as a gas pipe. I may add a mini-split A/C with a heater or a gas heater to the garage. I’m also considering in-floor heat. Maybe a combination of all those.
I originally thought about hanging the UniFi APs on the ceiling like a smoke detector, but I;m not sure if that mill meet the WAF. We were touring new homes this summer and I noticed a home with UniFi that put the APs in the closets. Not sure what I want to do on that just yet.
I previously used this model from Startech because it didn’t require power and had IR extender… but I don’t think it will do 4K. You’ll need a separate unit for each HDMI Output:
https://www.newegg.com/startech-com-st121shd30/p/N82E16815158384
I meant to say ceiling windows! In case you want to motorize them or put in motorized blinds.
Please don’t put them in closets… that will significantly reduce the signal straight away. They’re very discreet on the ceiling and look good.
I recommend using a WIFI planning tool to ensure you have sufficient reception around the house. You can use the following software to import your house plans and measure WIFI signal around the house:
This tool will help you see what to purchase but won’t generate a heatmap. There’s one built into the Ubiquiti Unifi Contoller but you’ll need to install the software on a Ubiquiti Unifi CloudKey or A Raspberry Pi. Acutally, you can install it on windows too.
https://demo.ui.com/manage/site/office/maps/physical
Ubiquiti have a unifi demo online. Check it out at the link abouve.
Turn on Layers → Coverage to see the heatmap element of it
Hope this helps. Happy planning!
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Not sure where this is but in Arizona, USA the HOA cannot disallow solar panels
Everyone is saying to run cables, but I’d say to run conduit.
I suggested that as well, especially if you want to upgrade to fiber in the future as well as some pull string in them or mule tape.