The honest answer: most Sydney smart home installations land between $8,000 and $35,000, depending on the size of the home, the systems involved, and whether you want it integrated with Apple Home. Below is the breakdown most installers won't give you up-front.

Entry tier — apartments and townhouses ($8,000–$12,000)

For a 2–3 bedroom apartment with WiFi, a few smart switches, two or three cameras, and an Apple Home setup, you should expect to pay around $8,000–$12,000 installed.

That price typically covers:

• Enterprise-grade WiFi (UniFi or equivalent) — 2 access points
• 4–6 smart switches and dimmers
• 2–3 UniFi G5 cameras with onboard recording
• Apple Home or Google Home configuration
• iPad wall-mount control point (optional)
• Site survey, cabling, mounting, and 6 months of post-install support

Mid tier — typical detached homes ($15,000–$20,000)

For a 3–4 bedroom detached home, expect $15,000–$20,000. This is where ROBOT's Plug n Play Pro sits ($14,990). It adds:

• A rack-mounted UniFi gateway + 24-port PoE switch (the foundation of a reliable smart home)
• 3 ceiling-mounted WiFi 6 access points for whole-home coverage
• 6 cameras with 4TB of onboard recording
• 10 smart light switches (Clipsal Wiser)
• UniFi Face ID intercom at the front door
• An iPad wall-mount running Apple Home as a control hub

Premium tier — larger homes with C-Bus and AV ($24,000–$35,000+)

For homes with C-Bus lighting, motorised blinds, integrated AV, multi-zone audio, and Apple Home integration across the lot, $24,000–$35,000+ is realistic. The bulk of the cost is labour for the integration work — making everything talk to Apple Home through a single app — and the cabling complexity (multi-storey, heritage walls, etc).

What drives the price up

1. In-wall cabling through finished walls — adds significantly to labour
2. C-Bus systems — integrating legacy C-Bus with Apple Home requires bridge hardware and careful programming
3. Switchboard upgrades — required in many older Sydney homes
4. Multi-storey + heritage properties — restrictions on routing
5. Apple Home certification — choosing hardware that's natively Apple Home compatible vs cheaper alternatives

What you should never pay for

• Ongoing software subscriptions — premium smart home systems should be one-time purchases. If your installer suggests $50/month for "remote access" or "automation", walk away
• Vendor lock-in — if your system only works with one app from one company, you're locked in. Apple Home + UniFi is the open standard
• "From $X" pricing without a site visit — every install is different; a proper installer will visit your home before quoting

The pre-configured alternative

ROBOT's Plug n Play Pro at $14,990 is a fixed-price pre-configured smart home. We assemble, program, and test the entire system in our Sydney lab before it arrives at your door — your electrician then plugs it in. Installation labour is quoted separately based on your home, but the hardware and programming cost is locked.

If you want to talk through what your home needs, book a free consultation and we'll walk through the options with you in person.