ᐅ Building a Single-Family Home Suitable for Extended Absences – What Should You Consider?

Hello everyone!

What should be considered when planning and building a single-family house if you know that you will often be away? It should all work smoothly, with solutions in place for any expected situation, regardless of whether you are there or not. Realistically, I would expect a maximum absence of four weeks.

I’ll start a list here and would appreciate any additions:

- Complete security system with perimeter protection, smoke, water, and gas detectors
- Full outdoor video surveillance with motion detection
- Connection to a monitoring center
- Notifications to the monitoring center in case of power outage or heating failure
- The monitoring center should be able to remotely open the driveway gate and front door
- The monitoring center should have the ability to make announcements around the house via loudspeakers
- No roller shutters (not even automatic ones)
- Roof drainage entirely passive, without the need to pump out infiltration pits during heavy rain
- Automated garden irrigation
- Garden design without large lawn areas, possibly with a robotic lawn mower
- Trash bins must be accessible from the outside for waste collection services

The only remaining requirement is that someone regularly collects the mail. Have I forgotten anything else?

Matthias

Airbnb... Then you don’t have to spend money, you receive some instead.

It should be obvious that you don’t let strangers into the house if you are already building a high-security area. There must be a reason for that.

Matthias

Timer switches to ensure lights turn on occasionally even when away
No tall privacy fences

In principle, I also agree with not hiding a house too much to allow for some level of social control by neighbors. However, if I actually carry out the project I have in mind right now, the situation is different: There will be no possibility for neighbors or passersby to see onto the property anyway, as it is located too far back. The plot is mostly surrounded by a public green area. In this specific case, I think a different strategy is better: Replacing the existing 1.60 m (5 feet 3 inches) high double-wire mesh fence with a 2.00 m (6 feet 7 inches) high front grille fence that is even harder to climb. Then, by using dense planting, ensure that no one can look onto the property, for example, to avoid attracting graffiti artists. These plants could also be thorny near the fence. Additionally, implementing continuous automatic monitoring of the building’s surroundings through technical means, where a remote control center can respond, for example, by voice alert or calling the police.

After all, neighbors are not always around. Therefore, I prefer solutions that always work and do not rely on chance.

Matthias

Good visibility is a deterrent.

Try using KNX or similar systems to create the impression that someone is home. Lights, loud music, the TV running, shutters opening and closing at different times.

I’m glad to live where foxes and hares say good night and everyone knows each other.