Smart bulbs are cheaper. Here is when that stops being true.

The problem with smart bulbs, in one sentence

A smart bulb needs power all the time to listen for instructions. Your wall switch cuts that power. So the moment anyone flicks the switch off, the bulb is a normal bulb again. It stops answering the app, it stops answering voice, and it ignores every schedule you set.

You can put a sticker on the switch asking people not to touch it. We have seen plenty of homes that have done exactly that. It works until a guest visits, or a cleaner comes, or a child reaches the switch.

The comparison, plainly

Why this hits Indian homes harder

Two things make the bulb problem worse here than in the marketing photos.

First, most Indian rooms have one wall switch per light, sitting at the door where everybody passes. It is the most touched object in the room. In a house built around a single lamp on a side table, a smart bulb is fine. In a house where six people walk past a switchboard all day, it is not.

Second, we automate fans, not just lights. A smart bulb cannot control a ceiling fan. In a Jaipur summer that is not a small gap.

When we would tell you to buy a bulb instead

There are real cases where a bulb is the right answer and hiring us would be a waste of your money.

Buy bulbs if you want colour changing light in one corner of a room. Buy bulbs for a table lamp that has its own switch on the cable. Buy bulbs if you are renting for a few months and want something you can pack in a bag. And buy bulbs if you simply want to try the idea before spending anything serious.

What we would not do is wire a whole house with smart bulbs to avoid an install. It costs more than people expect once you count every fitting, and it leaves you with a house that breaks whenever somebody uses a switch normally.

The middle option most people miss

You do not have to pick one for the whole house. Fit smart switches in the rooms that matter, which is usually the living room and the main bedroom, and use bulbs for the odd lamp. That is what a lot of our customers end up with, and it is a sensible place to land.

If you want to know what the switch route would cost in your home, the published bands are all on the site, and the estimator will give you a range in about a minute.

One thing to check before you decide

If you lean towards switches, there is a single fact about your house that changes both what is possible and what it costs: whether your switchboard has a neutral wire. Many Jaipur boards do not.

It takes five minutes to check yourself, and it costs nothing. How to check your own board