Smart locks like this one will come standard in future Quadrant Homes projects. (Quadrant Homes Photo)

It wasn’t long ago that smart home technology — such as connected lighting and thermostats — was a luxury only available to big spenders, but declining costs and increased demand have led at least one homebuilder to make the tech a standard part of its homes.

Quadrant Homes, a Bellevue, Wash., homebuilder that builds projects throughout the Seattle area said this week that it is including a slate of smart tech gadgets in all of its future communities. Pre-sale buyers in existing Quadrant projects have the option of adding these features, which Quadrant calls the Home Technology Package.

A Nest thermostat in a Quadrant project. (Quadrant Homes Photo)

Some of the standardized tech options include Ring motion-detecting doorbells, Nest thermostats, programmable lighting from Caséta Wireless and others. There is also an option to add even more smart features at an extra cost, such as a Sonos audio system, Lutron automated window shades, and live fireplaces.

“Seattle is an innovative city, and every day in this market we see buyers who want the convenience of a connected home,” Ken Krivanec, president of Quadrant Homes, said in a statement. “We decided to make that convenience standard in every new community, so from their first day in the home, buyers can connect with the most popular home automation features.”

Due in part to the proliferation of technology, smart home gadgets have become a lot cheaper to purchase and integrate. The emergence of smartphones as central hubs of control for these devices has also made them more accessible to less tech savvy crowds.

The competitive market of voice-activated digital assistants has also done wonders for the smart home market. Controlling everything from lights to temperature to music via an Amazon Echo or Google Home adds another element of convenience to the process.

“This package is great for buyers of all technical knowledge levels,” said Krivanec. “Many of these solutions are plug and play, and those buyers who want even more home tech can expand the system themselves, or work with our third-party providers to automate and connect their home to their heart’s content.”

Quadrant’s current projects run the gamut in terms of both price and locations. On the low end is a project called Harbor Hill — which is part of a master-planned community in Gig Harbor, Wash. that includes a new YMCA, numerous home developments and several retail hubs — with prices starting in the low $400,000s. On the high end, Quadrant is working on projects in Microsoft’s hometown of Redmond with the lowest prices starting over $1 million. All of these future communities will have the Home Technology Package Standards.

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