When Shamil and Romina Chandaria built their 13,300sq ft family home in northwest London in 2003, they opted for what Shamil, 41, describes as a “Savile Row suit” of smart technology to be built into its very fabric.

The bespoke home network system cost more than £100,000, and was designed by SMC, a London-based smart technology installer (020 7819 1700, www.smc-uk.com), which worked with the couple’s architects, Munkenbeck and Marshall.

The home’s computer nerve centre and amplifiers are hidden under the stairs; if — and it has never happened — the system crashed, they would simply press the re-set button.

A Linn Knekt multi-room audio system delivers music (stored on a hard drive) and radio to every room; films and television (including digital and satellite) are also available everywhere.

A Lutron Homeworks system runs lighting, the pool cover, spa jets and garden water features. It also controls a sliding glass barrier, partly submerged in the family pool. At the touch of a button, this slides open and the indoor pool merges into an adjoining outdoor one.

An automatic cinema (a Meridian G Series) is the next “wow” factor. One button sets things off: blinds go down, a television screen lowers, lights dim and the room is transformed.

There are CCTV cameras, and if the bell at the gate rings, the various televisions switch on so the family can see who is there. If nobody is near a screen, an audio function allows the couple and their children, Nikhil, 10, Aliya, 8, and Krishn, 5, to speak to visitors from anywhere in the house.

Shamil, a financier, believes every home will be equipped with some sort of smart technology within the next decade. All going well, it should be “future proofed”: “You don’t have to buy new things, you can just programme the system differently”, he says.

“Having everything manual is a bit clunky these days,” he adds. “We are at the stage where you need six remotes just to watch television or a DVD.” In his house, of course, everything operates at the touch of a wall switch.

“It is seamless having all your technology tucked away and having all the house completely controlled from a single keypad wherever you are.”

It is the seemingly trivial things that reveal just how smooth life can be in a smart home.

Shamil, for example, works from a home office. “If the sun is strong and I am on the phone, I can put down the blind from the PC while still talking on the phone. I don’t have to say ‘Hold on a second’ while I do it manually.”

The family has no trouble operating the system, although the children are more technology- savvy than their parents.

“We may be a little overengineered in terms of the music we have on the hard drive, however. We can have 10 different pieces of music on in different areas of the house and for only two adults, that is overkill.”

The Chandarias say prices for smart home technology have dropped considerably since 2003.

“Now you can get the ‘off-the-peg suit’, which is much cheaper,” he says. “You should be able to do 90% of what we have done at 10% of the cost.” Still, with this kind of luxurious living, you get the feeling that he’s not at all bitter.

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