Smart homes and their features have been seen in movies, TV shows, and commercials for years. But what exactly is a smart home? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a variety of answers. One may say it’s when you have devices like Alexa throughout the home. Others think it’s when all of your appliances are bluetooth connected. Sometimes people even imagine their homes doing everything for them with the sound of their voices or the touch of a button. It’s an interesting question with a lot of answers.

At Beacon Homes, we’re here to answer this question the best way we know how, which is by sharing a few of the smart home features and products that can ensure that you new home is safe and easy to maintain.

8 Key Features of Our Smart Homes

What is a smart home? A smart home is a home built with devices that can automate tasks or allow remote access through apps, remotes, switches, or voice commands. With our included smart features, you’ll be able to enjoy a more convenient, safer, and intelligent way of living. Here are some of the features that make Beacon Homes smarter.

1. WiFi Thermostat

A WiFi Thermostat connects to the internet and can be controlled by a connected device such as an app on your phone. You can set it to notify you of changes in your home’s temperature. For instance, if you’re on your way home and notice the temperature has dipped below 70 and you prefer it at 75, you can change the settings through your app. Or if you’re already home and it feels a bit warm, you can set a cooler temperature from anywhere in the home.

2. Smart Oven

Whether you’re an experienced cook or have gotten by on simple recipes, a smart oven is a great alternative to regular ovens. Smart ovens can be connected to your other smart devices or appliances. They offer programmable options, so you can set them to preheat from wherever you are. Our smart ovens also include pre-sets for certain meal types, making it easy to cook a meal to perfection every time. It will even remember your settings for future use.

3. Z-Wave Switches

Z-Wave switch technology allows full control of your home’s lights from within the home or anywhere else. It uses wireless radio frequency technology to connect smart devices to one another and complete the functions you want them to. With a remote, a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer, you can turn off or dim the lights anywhere in the home. It will also alert you when the function is completed for your peace of mind.

4. Smart Lock

Never worry about you or your family forgetting their keys again. Our smart lock system allows you to wirelessly unlock your front door using your smartphone or a key fob with an access code. You can also authorize third parties by creating unique codes for each user that can be changed at any time. Each use is monitored to be more secure and allows you to track logged uses.

5. Smart Doorbell

Even when you’re not home, it’s comforting and convenient to hear who is at the door. A smart doorbell is an internet-connected doorbell that notifies you when someone is at the door. Once the visitor presses the doorbell button or it senses a visitor approaching, it will allow you to communicate with them via microphone. It’s a safe way to confirm who is there when offering access to your home through your smart lock.

6. Smart Security

Another great way to ensure the safety of your home is through a smart security system. This includes not only the smart doorbell and lock mentioned above, but also the ability to see visitors or capture footage in case of intruders. This technology allows you to be alerted when there’s activity outside of your door or wherever it’s installed. It can be controlled with your smartphone and voice commands. It’s also able to connect with many other smart devices included in your home for overall security.

7. Smart Panel & App

It’s never been easier to control your smart home features. With a Smart Panel, you can control all of the functions of your smart home with just a few touches. Also, nearly all of our smart features can be controlled through a single app. No more downloading multiple apps for each feature! Create scenes that allow you to automate multiple functions for multiple systems at once. For example, you could create a “Welcome Home” scene that opens your garage door, lowers the thermostat, turns on the lights, and disarms the alarm when you arrive home. It even learns your behaviors to help the smart products work together.

This system also works with many other smart products and apps from major companies (Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, etc.) that can be added to your home later on.

8. USB Outlets

There are so many updates to smartphones, tablets, and other smart gadgets, it’s hard to keep track of all their necessary charging accessories. And how many times have you or a family member lost the USB block that connects your gadget to the charger? Luckily, Beacon homes have the option of USB outlets built in, so you can charge your devices in any room.

Smart Homes for Sale in OKC and Tulsa

If you’re living in Oklahoma but looking for a new home with all of these smart features, look no further than our Oklahoma City and Tulsa communities. Each community is surrounded by the cities deep rooted western and cowboy cultures mixed with a modern vibe. You’ll be able to enjoy plenty of amenities like museums, festivals, horse shows, live music, and more throughout the area. 

There’s even more to enjoy within the communities. If you’re looking for room to roam, Elwood Crossing, Fox Lair Estates, and Rush Creek are the places to be, with half to 1+ acre lots available. Want to live a fun and highly active lifestyle? Find your perfect home at Frazier Meadows, The Grove, Morgan Creek or Woodland Park with their swimming pools, outdoor pickleball courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, fitness centers, and walking paths. Whatever kind of lifestyle you want, Beacon Homes has the perfect place for you. We even have several homes ready and waiting for you to enjoy!

You deserve a home that treats you right and is connected with all of the most convenient, safe, and smart technology built in. Browse through our floor plans and model homes for a peek of what your new home could be. And when you’re ready, we’re ready to help you! Connect with our new home specialist to get started.

It can be a lot of work to maintain a totally energy-efficient home on your own. Especially in the summer when the heat gets too intense. An excellent way to make sure you and your family stay comfortable throughout the hot season is with an energy-efficient home and tips to keep it running smoothly. But how do you keep everyone feeling cozy in the heat without racking up sky-high energy bills?

For those living in an older home, air can escape from the unlikeliest of places. You may have to conduct a pricey energy audit to know what to look for. Not to mention the time and expense of insulating, sealing, caulking, and replacing materials and products, plus something to treat the air loss. What a job!

Luckily, when you buy a home from Beacon Homes, energy efficiency is built right into the construction process, lowering your home’s maintenance and energy costs for many years. Here’s how we do it:

Highly Efficient A/C Unit & Heat

Up to half of a home’s energy is used for heating and cooling interior spaces. Today’s energy-efficient furnaces provide maximum heat with minimum gas usage by electronically monitoring the thermostat to ensure precise temperature control. Having the right sized HVAC system for your house is also critically important to maintain even temperatures room-to-room and control humidity levels.

Air Loss Prevention

Your HVAC system works hard to warm and cool your home. The number one thing you can do to lower your energy bills is to prevent that air from escaping so that it doesn’t have to work even harder. While effectively sealing air leaks around floors, walls, ceilings, windows, doors, fireplaces, and outlets (yes, outlets!) is a given, the right insulation and the window glass will help trap air and keep it right where you need it.

• Effective Insulation Solutions: Homes in Oklahoma need to be able to withstand high temperatures in the summertime, which regularly reach the mid-80s to low 90s. For maximum comfort, 2×6 exterior wall construction allows for fiberglass batt insulation to fill a wider space without breaks or gaps, resulting in less air leakage. In ceilings, blown-in fiberglass insulation with an R-value of R-38 prevents warm air from escaping.

• Qualified Low-E Windows & Sliding Glass Doors: Inefficient windows are notorious for ushering your hard-won heat right out of your house (or allowing heat in). During the winter, low-emissivity coatings on glass windows and doors reflect the home’s interior heat and bounce it right back into the spaces where you need it the most. In warmer months, these windows reflect exterior heat from the sun, keeping the inside of your home cooler while still letting in lots of natural light. 

Get A Smart Thermostat

Smart, programmable thermostats improve heating and cooling system efficiency by learning how long it takes your system to reach your desired temperature and activating the system earlier, so your home is exactly how warm or cool you want it to be, at the precise moment you want it. Smart thermostats that allow for multiple programming settings — like auto-adjusting on the weekends or when you are not home as often — will save you both money and the hassle of remembering. 

Reverse Your Ceiling Fans Rotation

In rooms with ceilings of normal height, fans can keep you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. This can potentially lower your energy bills. In the warm months, keep them spinning counterclockwise to push cool air from the top of the room down to floor level. At the first sign of cool weather, reverse the direction your ceiling fans turn — so that they are spinning clockwise to pull cool air upward and push down the warmer air that naturally rises to the ceiling. Just be sure the blades are spinning at the lowest possible setting.

Want a more cost-effective, energy-efficient home for you and your family? Consider one of our many options in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas. It’s time to be more comfortable this summer. Contact us to get started on the search for a home built with utility bill-saving features. We’re glad to help!

When we build our Beacon homes, we put health and well-being at the forefront, because we know that they are key to a happier and more fulfilling life. We’ve made thoughtful and eco-friendly choices that give our homes cleaner air, and make them more durable, comfortable, and energy efficient. Finally, you can say goodbye to dust, mold, and other pollutants — and hello to 24/7 peace of mind. Sit back, relax, and take a deep breath!

Healthy Home Features

Fresh Air Systems. No matter what you’re doing at home, you deserve to be in the best company — and by that we mean the healthiest, cleanest air, of course. Poor ventilation allows mold, mildew, and VOCs to accumulate, which is why every Beacon home is designed with fresh air systems that deliver filtered clean air via MERV filters, fresh air intake, and UV light. This system reduces dust, odors, and indoor contaminants for improved indoor air quality, giving you the healthiest, cleanest air possible.

House Wrap System. The air and water barriers of a house wrap system help make our homes more durable, comfortable, and energy efficient. They also extend building life by resisting moisture and air, and reduce the risk of condensation damage, wood rot, and mold growth. Down the line, you can rest assured that your home is just as healthy as the day you moved in.

Schluter® Shower System. Tiles and grout joints are not naturally waterproof. They must be installed with a system that manages moisture and prevents mold growth. The Schluter® Shower System is a fully bonded, watertight component for tiled showers. It lessens the risk of water and vapor penetration, from drains to shower benches to pipe seals.

Direct Vent Fireplace. The direct vent fireplace in your home is vented directly to the outside, drawing fresh air in and expelling gasses out. It allows radiant heat to pass into the room without robbing it of oxygen or the heated air it is providing, while also keeping it free of fumes and combustible materials such as embers or ash. Go ahead and enjoy the coziness of your fireplace without a worry.

Low-VOC Paint. Some paints may emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can serve as an irritant to people with certain allergies. Our homes feature low-VOC paints that help improve indoor air quality. This way, you’re always surrounded by four walls that prioritize your health just as much as you do.

Whereas older homes may lack the features that provide healthy, clean indoor air, our brand new, efficient homes are specifically designed to let you breathe easier than ever before. Every moment you experience at home is enhanced by healthy air — which means complete comfort and peace of mind.

For more information about the healthy features available in our new homes in Oklahoma, please contact us at 405-358-8615. We can’t wait to get started!

Spring is finally here, which gives us a break from the winter heating bills. But the weather is warming up as we approach the summer months. Air conditioners are a must in the Oklahoma City area. The energy efficiency features in your home will contribute significantly to the cost of cooling your home. If you’re not already familiar with the RESNET standard for energy efficiency, you should understand what the HERS Index means for your utility bills.

RESNET—Residential Energy Services Network—is an independent, non-profit organization that focuses on energy efficiency standards in the home. This group established the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) to provide a consistent means to measure the energy efficiency of a home. The HERS inspection is conducted by a certified, third-party professional who thoroughly examines the home, from the foundation to the roof.

The HERS Index Score is based on a numbered scale. The lower the number, the higher the efficiency. A typical new home built in the past few years has a 100 rating. An older home scores a 130. This means that the resale home is 30% less efficient than the average new home.

According to RESNET, a score of 80 is good but has room for improvement—even though this measurement reflects a home that is 20% more energy efficient than average new homes and 50% better than a typical resale home. Beacon Homes achieves a HERS rating of 58, so our homes are 42% more energy efficient than a typical new home, and 72% better than a resale. That savings contributes to your energy savings and home value!

Factors to your HERS Index Score

The HERS Rater carefully evaluates a home, looking at critical areas that impact the energy efficiency:

• All exterior walls (both above and below grade)
• Floors over unconditioned spaces (like garages or cellars)
• Ceilings and roofs
• Attics, foundations and crawlspaces
• Windows and doors, vents and ductwork
• HVAC system, water heating system, and thermostat
• Air leakage of the home
• Leakage in the heating and cooling distribution system

Each measurement affects the overall rating. Your home is rated against homes of a similar size, style, and shape, for an “apples to apples” comparison.

The soaring cost of energy

In 2001, homeowners in the U.S. spent an average of 12% of their after-tax income on energy costs. By 2012, that figure jumped to 21%. Nearly one-fourth of your income goes to pay your utility bills!

So, it pays to invest in an energy-efficient home—whether you retrofit your current home or buy a new home that has built-in energy savings.

EnergySmart builders

A builder that is committed to designing and building homes that meet energy efficiency standards can earn an Energy Smart Builder designation from RESNET. These builders have their new homes inspected and measured according to the HERS Index. Beacon Homes is an Energy Smart Builder serving the greater Oklahoma City region. We invite you to look at our available new homes,floor plans, and new home communities. Contact us to see how much energy efficiency you can achieve in your new home.