PDL Wiser Smart Home

PDL Wiser Smart Home elevates a luxurious new build

Contemporary design and modern living are at the heart of a luxurious new build in Taupō. The two-storey, three-bedroom property by Design Builders combines premium materials with high-end fittings and furnishings and smart home technology to create a home built for today’s lifestyles.

Extensive lighting design, a high-tech media room and an EV smart charger are key features in the new show home. Matt and Jess Corlieson of Design Builders Taupō chose the PDL Wiser smart home system to give them easy control on their smart devices.

Smart home tech made simple

PDL Wiser is an easy-to-use smart home system that pairs electrical features around your home with an app for control from wherever you are. You can adjust each feature individually or link them for curated ‘Moments’.

With Wiser, you can streamline daily life and add enjoyment to how you live in your home. Whether that’s opening the garage door for a courier delivery after you’ve left for work, or creating the perfect dinner mood with a single screen tap that turns off the kitchen lights and dims the dining room lights to just the right level.

Wiser doesn’t require any special wiring and is scalable, so products can be added over time. Wiser has its own range that includes blind controllers, and sensors for doors and windows, as well as temperature and humidity. Anything wired into a Wiser Connected Switch can also link to the system (like towel rails) and Wiser can link with devices like garage doors, electric gates and pool pumps for added efficiency and control.

Detailed lighting

In the Taupō home, Wiser links easily with the striking Solis™ Collection light switches and power points, making it simple to schedule or adjust the detailed lighting. Lighting plays a particularly important role in the property’s design with statement lights, LED light strips, lamps and dimmable overhead lighting all used to accentuate the home’s design features.

Motion sensors activate lighting in the master walk-in wardrobe and in the scullery. LED light strips set under cabinetry add a soft glow of warmth and make the areas more inviting. They are also used under each staircase tread in the entrance hall for safer passage and to make it more of a feature.

For added peace of mind, surge protection is built into the switchboard to help safeguard the home’s appliances and electronic equipment from lightning strikes, power surges, and voltage spikes.

Live life your way

Matt and Jess understand that their clients want to get the most out of life in their new homes and recommend Wiser as a way to streamline daily living. “With the evolution of each build it’s about understanding our customers and asking the right questions about how they want to live in the home. And then Wiser can be tailored to suit that,” says Matt.

He says that Wiser brings an ease to everyday life. “It’s the ability to control everything from anywhere in the world, really. You can set different modes for your home. You can be on holiday and have lights turning on and off while you’re away.

“We’ve also got some cool voice automation features in the media room with Wiser. We can walk in and say ‘Alexa, Movie Mode’ and the blind comes down, the lamp turns off, and the lights change. Everything adjusts to the way you’ve set it and the way you like it.”

Energy-saving EV convenience with Schneider Charge

A Schneider Charge station on the driveway provides convenient EV charging at home without disrupting power supply availability. It also links with the Wiser app so EV charging can be scheduled in off-peak times for power savings and energy management.

Matt says that EV chargers are becoming much more common as well. “That is the way forward for a lot of families. EVs are here to stay, so it needs to be a consideration when you’re building a home."

Plan for electric home design

Creating a home where everything works just the way you want it means that electric home design — where you plan how each area of your home will work electrically — has to be one of the first considerations. Matt and Jess Corlieson involve their electrician Bevan Martin Electrical right from the beginning of each project so that customers can achieve a home that works for their lifestyle.

“When you’re building new, you don’t yet know how your home is going to function,” points out Jess. “So it’s thinking about where you want the light switch when you walk into the bathroom, or whether young children need a nightlight that comes on outside their bedroom if they get up? A great electrical plan is key to everything.”

As part of the process, clients take part in a Visionspec consultation with PDL in conjunction with their electrician. “That initial electrical design with the customer is very important,” says Matt. “It’s where PDL can help a customer to decide on the electrical products that need to go into the home and make sure that we’re capturing the correct specs from day one.”

This is also when any special features like inset LED strips or statement lights — like those in the show home’s entrance and living area — can be discussed and planned out, to save any retrofitting.