Home Assistant & Home Automation — A Plain-English Guide
Last verified: August 2026
Home Assistant is the open-source brain that runs your smart home locally — no monthly fees, no cloud lock-in, and it keeps working when the internet is out.
What's inside the 25-page PDF
- What Home Assistant is (and why seniors love it)
- Hardware options: $99 Green box vs Raspberry Pi vs old mini-PC
- Setting it up step by step
- Adding Z-Wave, Zigbee, Matter and Wi-Fi devices
- Three automations every home should have
- Voice control with Alexa, Google, or local
- Backups + remote access (free vs $6.50/mo Nabu Casa)
- Bill’s starter stack — exact parts list
The full guide is a 25-page printable PDF with screenshots, real prices, and Bill's recommendations for Portage County customers. Download it above — it's free, no email required, no signup.
Why I made this guide
I leave a printed copy of this guide with every customer after I install or troubleshoot home assistant & home automation. It lives on a kitchen shelf next to the appliance manuals so they can reach for it the next time something acts up — or the next time a neighbor asks "is it worth it?"
No ads. No affiliate links. No fluff. Just what I'd want my own mother to know.
— Bill Davis
Need help with this?
Reading is one thing. Doing it is another. If you'd rather have me come do it for you, the first in-home visit is $99 flat — most jobs done in one trip.
Would you rather I just do this for you?
No shame in it — plenty of folks would rather hand it off, and that's what I'm here for. I'll come to your home, set it up right, and make sure it's working before I leave. Flat $99 per visit — no jargon, no upsell, and every visit is 30-day come-back-free.
Not a hardware job? I can often fix it remotely for $49 — a secure screen-share, up to 2 hours, that you watch the whole time and can end whenever (included free for $39/mo Support Plan members, and it counts toward the $99 if it turns out I need to come out).