Lynwood's Kirio unveils 'the smartest home on the market'

Smart home technology continues to be on the transitional fast track from trendy to commonplace. With so many devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home on the market, many companies are competing to make your home the “smartest” it’s ever been.

One of those companies is Lynnwood-based Kirio, which has developed a way to combine all of your smart home devices into one open-platform system, which the user completely controls through its app.

“It makes the home more convenient. Eventually, people will expect this,” said Kirio CEO Rob Green.



Kirio teamed up with homebuilding company buildSOUND to create a smart home from the ground-up.

The home, which is currently on the market in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood, has the Kirio system already built in. Inside, there are 175 sensors that, in at least this home, are paired with Amazon Echos and Apple's Siri. Homeowners can control things like heating, air conditioning, garage doors, blinds, lighting, the fireplace and more by using the app or speaking a command out loud to whichever voice enabled system you prefer.

“We can connect up to 60 wired devices and an unlimited number of wireless devices of any type, through that single device,” Green said.

The Kirio program also has artificial intelligence capabilities that learn the patterns of the homeowner.

“The house will think for you, in terms of what you want to do," Green said. "If you get up at 4 a.m. and take a shower every day, Kirio learns that over time and learns when to turn on hot water."

For some homebuilders, embracing smart home technology took a while.

Unlike smart cars, which in some cases can drive for you, smart homes took a while to catch up.

“And the biggest reason for that is because homebuilders don't want to put anything in a house that they're not going to get a return of investment for. That's the business we're in, and I think people understand that,” said Rob McVicars, Chief Executive Officer of buildSOUND.

But according to McVicars, the industry is changing with more builders embracing smart home technology as the future.

“We believe the day is here. If you don't get onboard with the smart home, you're going to get left behind and that's going to be the cost of doing business,” McVicars said.

Kirio is only available through the home-building or home remodeling process, which means you can't get it through retailers.

It costs between $2,000-$6,000 depending on the size of your home and needs.