Homebuilders Meritage and Brookfield Residential are ushering in a new era of homes to several communities throughout Southern California. In collaboration with IT companies and home product firms, these developers are bringing more user-friendly smart homes to the market, offering residents more control over the amount of energy and water used throughout their homes.

Everett at Five Knolls / Courtesy of Meritage

Meritage is currently building smart homes in its Everett at Five Knolls community in Santa Clarita and in the master-plan neighborhood in Rancho Mission Viejo. Their basic smart home package focuses on home/family convenience and security, and it includes Wi-Fi connected door locks, doorbells with video cameras, garage doors, light switches, thermostats, and sprinkler systems.

The Canadian developer Brookfield Residential has added Apple HomeKits to its Delano community located at Eastwood Village in Irvine.The smart home platform uses Apple’s operating system so that everyday uses such as lights, locks, and thermostats can be adjusted using an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. Brookfield plans on bringing their smart kits to the Escaya residential community in Chula Vista, the Rancho Tesoro contemporary home collection in San Marcos, and the Rosedale master-planned residences in Azusa.

In a few years, California will put forward its new “net zero” energy-saving requirement, meaning new homes would need to create as much power as they use. However, with the help of smart systems, homeowners can now become more energy efficient.