When the blizzards blow and lake effect buries us in snow and ice, those of us who live in cottage country hunker down and wait for the plows. I look out at the white on white and wonder about those of you who have homes here but are somewhere else when the big storms hit. I wonder if you worry if everything is okay, has the power gone out, have doors blown open? I wonder about it because I know I could take that worry away by putting everything you need to know about your second home in the palm of your hand.
Homebuttons, serving the Southern Georgian Bay area, specializes in using electronics to enhance the security, comfort and enjoyment of a home. We use the Alarm.com platform to give you instant control and access to your home no matter where you are.
With Alarm.com, if anything serious had happened, like the electricity went out or the heat went off, the heat/freeze/smoke sensor would have already sent a notification to your phone. If someone or something had broken into the cottage you would have received a snapshot or two from the Image Sensor, a combined camera and motion sensor, and you could get more information from the Skybell camera or the camera overlooking the drive.
If no notifications have come you can still check the temperature any time on the smart thermostat, adjust it if you like, or peek in through the Image Sensor. If someone rings your Skybell video doorbell you can see them and talk to them on your phone. Let them in if you like by unlocking the front door or opening the garage door. After they have left you can make sure it’s all shut up tight.
Every Alarm.com system installed by Homebuttons is customized, as is everything we do. It can be set up to include schedules for lighting or heat as well as complete remote control from a phone or tablet. You can preprogram lighting scenes for moods like party, watching TV, etc. 
All these things mean less worry about the cottage or weekend home when a polar vortex sweeps in to close the roads and the wind chill drops the temperature to the minus thirties. They become even more valuable when you’re about to set out from the city for the long trek north for the weekend. While checking road conditions and weather radar on the computer you can check everything at the house at the same time. The camera at the front door shows that the driveway hasn’t been plowed so you call your contractor to clear it before you get there.
Activate the geo-fence trigger on the app and when you cross a virtual border on the way to the cottage it will prepare for your arrival by turning up the heat and turning on some lights.
After a couple of hours battling bad visibility in white outs and cross winds, tagging along behind snow plows, your weekend home awaits warm and safe, a shelter from the storm.
Founded in 2000, Alarm.com was the first company to merge an effective app with security devices and home automation. Homebuttons in Meaford has been an Alarm.com dealer since 2014,offering these systems as they continue to evolve. They have become more affordable with time and a breeze to use. A Homebuttons smart home with Alarm.com can be built up gradually adding devices over time to create a more sophisticated system, capable of automating heat, lights and plumbing. As you use the app you find new ways to make it work to suit your lifestyle. Keeping up with developments in a fast-changing world, Alarm.com can now interface with voice control systems like Amazon Echo and Google Home.
If you have a cottage or weekend home anywhere around the Southern Georgian Bay area, give me a call at 519-270-2797 to talk about how Homebuttons can add comfort and safety year round.