Proptech stands for property technology, and your house is probably crammed full of it. Technology is becoming more and more applicable to everyday life. The development of the internet of things (IOI) has meant household appliances and machines work in total sync with the occupants. With the ordinary person being able to access top-of-the-line technology, what does the proptech look like in a billionaire’s home?
Electric Gate
Electric gates used to be purely for the rich and famous, but many Americans have installed them outside their homes over the last ten or so years. They’re popular for individual residences as well as gated communities. They’re more accessible because these days, as any gate can be made into a smart electric gate, you can control them from your phone.
Many billionaires use smart gates. Some are just regular gates that are operated by security, whereas others use forward-thinking prop tech and simply control their electric gate from their cell phone.
Electric gates in a billionaire’s home might be a little more extravagant. Still, they essentially do the same thing as every other electric gate: control access to the property and help keep those inside safe. Access control is of the utmost importance to a billionaire. Yet, as security is essential to most if not all Americans, electric gates are affordable for all. Nowadays, you can even give and revoke access using an electric gate app, making electric gate access management for homes and gated communities easy.
The Elon Musk Conundrum
You’d expect someone like Elon Musk to live in a mansion. However, the eccentric billionaire has said he’s living in a $50k rental near the Space X launch facility, a home with pretty much no prop tech at all. However, he’s also been rumored to have bought a mansion in Austin for $39m. You can only imagine the technology Elon will install at his permanent residence. An electric car supercharger is a must owing to his work with is other company, Tesla. Electric cars are the future of transport and as such, prop tech will continue to be designed to support them.
Electric car chargers are frequently becoming common place in homes. Some are based in the garage, whereas others are attached to the wall. They can easily be spooled out and plugged into the relevant car. Like electric gates, electric car charges use mainline electricity. Where this will push your bill up, it’ll still be cheaper than buying gas. There are only around 46,000 charging stations across America, meaning most charge their cars at home. There are whisperings that there will soon be a requirement for all new homes to come as standard with a electric car charger.
Elon might not have gone public with his permanent home and as such his prop tech can’t be assessed, but he’s probably responsible for the surge in electric car charging ports being installed in homes across America due to his relentless push for electric vehicle dominance.
Driveway Sensor Lights
Pretty simple, really: they’re just sensors that trip a light. It makes driving on the driveway a lot safer. Billionaires usually need them because, of course, their driveways are pretty long. They can generally start at the electric gate and end in the garage or parking spot. They can be programmed only to work after a specific time too, so you’re not wasting electricity with the lights needlessly coming to life in the daytime.
They’re also good as a light touch security measure. Remember, Americans ranked their neighborhood security as 78 out of 100. Of course, billionaires might not have a neighborhood…just a house in the middle of nowhere. As such, security is always a little beefed up. They don’t have neighborly security schemes to rely on. If you have a large driveway, you might find these sensor lights both useful from a safety and security perspective.
Household Privacy
Inside the home, there may be specific areas the homeowners don’t want members of their family to go. Plus, billionaires often employ a wide range of people to help them who often have free-range access to the house. Using fingerprint security can allow cleaners or cooks access to the home in general, but not certain areas like bedrooms or studies. Fingerprint scanners aren’t new prop tech, but they’re an easy security measure to use that partitions off certain parts of the home without carrying around a silly amount of keys. In addition, they may use other biometric security devices like a face recognition device, similar to the one that’s probably on your cell phone.
Some systems might even use the cell phone itself as a key to open a door from one room to the next. It works much like the cellular electric gate access system. All you need is your phone, and the door will open.
Some might prefer keys, because you don’t have to worry about keeping a key charged. However, most of these internal locks usually have a phone failsafe like a passcode so even if you end up without your phone, you can still gain entry to those secure areas of your home.
Jeff Bezos Unstoppable Home Expansion
Jeff Bezos has been the richest man on earth, and probably will be again in the future. This Billionaire’s prop tech is ever changing. His portfolio of homes is naturally huge. His ex wife said she wasn’t happy with the constant expanding of his home…a home you can bet is full of prop tech. Jeff’s company built one of the first smart home appliances…Amazon’s Alexa. You can bet Jeff benefits from the next generation of alexa before anyone else. Jeff has previously stated the best home smart tech is the front door. The recently created Amazon Key allows you to control front door access from your home. Much like how Nimbio allows you to control your property’s electric gate from an app.
Access has always been an important factor and many might not trust the front door of their home being controllable by Amazon. Still, it shows how Jess Bezos envisions the smart home and historically, Jeff Bezos’ innovations have become widely accepted and utilized not just by Americans, but by those all over the globe.
Jeff doesn’t seem to just use certain elements of prop tech in his ever sprawling mansions, but his company are at the forefront of developing new kinds of prop tech too. Amazon Key, when mixed with an gate entry system would ensure a heightened level of security and access control for home owners.
The Complete Smart Home
The smart home has become a lot more commercially viable over the last few years. However, billionaires get to take things one step further. Take Mark Zuckerberg for example. He has designed his own home smart system called Jarvis, which comes with a uniquely designed program to control everything in his home. Even better, it’s voiced by Morgan Freeman. While smart homes are more accessible to everyone, it seems like billionaires can still uniquely design their prop tech so that they get exactly what they want and need. The complete smart home for billionaires usually consists of:
- Voice control
- Panels in each room
- Temperature control for each room
- Music playback on a zonal basis
- Smart electric gate access systems
- Window covering (see smart shading)
- Access to staff (cook, maid etc.) via smart system
- Plus, unique aspects required by the individual
It sounds like quite a lot, but as the years go on each element of prop tech is becoming more accessible to the average consumer. It all boils down to how much you want to invest. Some elements of smart tech provide enhanced security, while others provide convenience. Many families will be able to afford to do both, while some will pick and choose the elements of smart prop tech they can afford. As technology ages, older variants become more affordable, meaning they become accessible to those of all income brackets. In short, the future will likely ensure that every home is a complete smart home. Starting from the electric gate at the front of your property, right the way through to your smart sprinkler system in your yard.
Drop Down Projector
The kind where you press a button and the projector slips down from the ceiling to illuminate the wall opposite. Great for a home cinema. There are some pretty big cons to owning a projector. However, they work best when the wall they’re projecting on is quite large (much like at the movies), so if a billionaire has a large home cinema (let’s face it, they probably have), the projector will work.
They’ll also probably have these in multiple rooms, all controlled from wall-mounted panels or remote control. Projectors are pretty cool, but they can take up a chunk of ceiling space when they’re not being used. Drop down projectors eliminate the clutter while still providing quality entertainment. They’re often used in conjunction with smart shading, to really give the occupant that true cinema feeling.
Smart Shading
The sun can get annoying sometimes. It’ll make a room far too hot and get in your eyes when you’re trying to do work. Smart shading can put an end to that and is something billionaires might install in every room of their house. The shades can drop and raise at the click of a button or even a voice command. You can probably get these window coverings yourself for $1000 a pop, but in a billionaire’s mansion, that ads up quite quickly. In the sunnier states, they can make working in your home office bearable and relaxing in front of your T.V (projector?) a lot nicer.
The future might make smart shades completely redundant. Windows, at the click of a button, might be able to be made opaque and stop sunlight coming through. There are also those looking into making windows into solar panels. It’s already been done, but the next stage is in keeping the glass completely clear so that the windows can generate energy for the home. It might sound a little far-fetched, but it’s both cost effective and good for the plent.
Snow Tech
If a billionaire chooses snowier states rather than the sun-bathed West Coast, they might need some smart tech to keep the home safe and snow-free. For example, Oprah has a home that uses a radiant heat system that keeps her driveway snow free. Imagine not having to worry about shoveling snow every time you enter or leave through your electric smart gate. It’ll make a gate entry system a lot easier to use if it isn’t getting backed up by snow.
Of course, those in snowier and cold climates will already utilize prop tech to ensure they stay warm. There are many smart gadgets which can help people stay comfortable during the chilly seasons. A few examples include:
- A smart water leak protector for frozen pipes
- A smart, portable heater just incase household heating fails
- Smart humidifier to add moisture into the air (often lacking during winter)
- Smart Cameras to keep an eye on weather and snow build up
- Smart energy monitoring to ensure you aren’t wasting energy when you’re out of the house or only occupying a certain part of it
What you use in snowier times is totally up to you. One thing is for certain though: Prop tech has made it far easier for those who live in the colder parts of the world, and not just the billionaires.
Finding The Right Prop Tech
It’s so easy to become enamoured with property technology. You can even end up buying prop tech that you don’t actually need or won’t use too much. Try to buy something that you know will help you and your family. Take an electric gate for example. If you’re worried about access control and want a smart security option then it’s a no brainer. An electric gate cellular smart system can be used on both private and gated communities too. The right residential gate access control system can give a lot of people peace of mind. Whereas you could end up spending a fortune on a drop down projector that you never use. Find the right prop tech for the right situation. Just because a billionaire has it, doesn’t mean you’ll find use for it.
You Can Still Enjoy Prop Tech
Just because you can’t get a self-heating drive, or hire Morgan Freeman to voice your personal smart system, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy prop tech. Take smart gates, for example. You can make any gate a smart gate these days. You can open and close it with your cell as you leave and enter your property or gated community. It makes for an amazing gate security system because it’s so easy to give and revoke access to others using a simple app. It’s just an example, but you can see how prop tech is quite affordable to the average person nowadays especially if you’re buying a smart gate for a gated community.
You can read more about prop tech and electric gate technology on our blog. Check out our testimonials to see how electric smart gates have improved people’s lives. Our FAQ’s page can answer many queries you might have, but please contact us if you still have questions about our cellular access systems.
