Phuket Property: Secure your home by phone

PHUKET: For many property owners in Phuket, security is a constant concern. If you are heading overseas or off-island for travel or business, there was previously no way to monitor your property while you were away.

To increase their home security and personal convenience, many people are now turning to the increasingly affordable home automation and security products that have entered the market in recent years.

These new products take advantage of our ever-increasing use of smartphones and tablets, by allowing home owners to monitor their property from anywhere in the world – you can even turn appliances and lights on/off at the touch of your finger.

The Phuket Gazette’s Mark Knowles spoke to Alarms Phuket Services owner Franck Chaudron about these home automation systems and the benefits they can provide to home owners.

Phuket Gazette: How long have you been in this business and what can you tell us about your home automation and security systems?

Franck Chaudron: It has been over three years since I created the company ‘Alarms Phuket Services’ and we specialize in the sale and installation of alarm systems and CCTV cameras for property security.

Our goal is to offer quality products at the right price with good service for our customers. Our reputation is made on our seriousness and availability.

For some years I watched the home automation industry and the products they were developing. Wanting to be able to offer my customers a quality product, I spent a lot of time researching what was out there.

After much research, I finally found a very interesting range of products, that were available at a fair price for everyone. These products are French and the company has years of experience in the world of the alarms and have now moved into home automation.

We live in a world where everything is fast communication, where information is paramount. So these home automation products are a natural evolution of existing alarm and monitoring systems.

These days, there are more and more thieves targeting villas so it is more important than ever to secure your family and property.

What are the key benefits to home automation?

Home automation is there to simplify your daily existence. You can control your villa, apartment or office by computer, smartphone or tablet from anywhere in the world.I think that the key benefits of a home automation system are as follows:

Security – protection of people with a high-end control panel which detects intrusions, smoke, or other domestic risks. With these intelligent alarm systems, you are perfectly safe. You can rest easy, because it will watch over your family. It works even when you are at home and helps deter burglars from the start.

Video – stay in touch with your home where ever you are. With video monitoring on your handheld device, you can see when the children return home, see visitors or your housekeeper and check that all is well in your absence.

Power control – you can remotely turn your lights on or off, simulate presence by switching on lights or other appliances such as stereo systems and even contol individual electrical outlets. As you can see, these are just a few ideas to make life more pleasant and efficient.

How difficult is the process of installing the system and what is involved?

The installation of a system only takes a few hours to setup each of the detectors. Everything works wirelessly. There are no cables, no screws and no holes.

How easy is it to control the system remotely, and what is involved?

You can control your alarm with a remote control, a keyboard, a computer, a smart-phone or tablet. Camera feeds can be viewed directly and home automation, such as lighting can all be directed from your device. All the controls are simple to learn and easy to use.

What are the price ranges involved when automating your home?

We have several packages. The price, for a single alarm is 18,000 baht. We have a ‘Security Evolution’ alarm package for less than 50,000 baht, which comes with more features, including an indoor and outdoor siren, one camera and detectors for doors or windows.

For less than 13,000 baht you can control your lights or electrical outlets with a central panel and two outlets. The price for connecting two sockets with the remote control system is 1,500 baht.

All these packages can be tailored to individual needs by adding accessories, such as more sensors or cameras.

What is it about your product that makes it different from other products on the market?

The difference is that we have a very wide range of products to create a complete, tailored system, at a price affordable for every budget.