Service area
Private AI Home Assistant Setup in Charlotte
Kotoh Home sets up private AI home assistants for Charlotte homes remotely, with outage and leak routines shaped by the storms that have knocked out the city’s power for weeks at a time.
Two storms Charlotte remembers
On September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo reached Charlotte with sustained winds of 69 mph and gusts of 87 mph, destroying 80,000 trees and knocking out power to most of the city. Residents went without power for weeks. Then in December 2002, an ice storm across central North Carolina left more than 1.3 million people without power, many of them for weeks during an unusually cold December, as ice split the city's Bradford pear trees.
Charlotte has a humid subtropical climate with four seasons and mild, short winters, which is exactly why a hard ice storm does so much damage. And because it sits a few hours inland, people from both Carolina coasts often ride out hurricanes here.
Normal January highs are around 52°F, and the city sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a, so most houses aren't built with long freezes in mind. That makes the occasional hard cold snap a real test for exposed plumbing, and it's why we treat freeze and leak protection as basics rather than extras here.
What we set up for a Charlotte home
- Outage tracking. Battery backup for the hub and router, a text when power drops and returns, and a summary of indoor temperature and anything that tripped while it was out.
- Freeze and leak protection. Temperature sensors near vulnerable pipes for those rare hard freezes, leak sensors at the water heater and washer, and an automatic shutoff valve for the main.
- Generator monitoring. If you have a standby generator, the assistant can tell you when it starts, how it's running and when it last ran its weekly test.
- Daily life. Family calendars, reminders, a morning inbox summary and lights and locks you control by text.
How remote setup works in Charlotte
Private Cloud in Charlotte is set up remotely. We start with a free video walk-through of your home and current devices, configure your hub with your rooms and routines, and ship it to you. You plug it into your router, and we connect your accounts and compatible devices together on a video call.
New devices, like a water shutoff valve, generator monitoring or smart switches, come with a parts list and placement plan for your own electrician or plumber, or as a quoted travel install. Private Home, with the AI on a dedicated computer in your house, is installed in person.
Where your information lives
Private Cloud runs an open-source AI model on a private server we operate for you in a U.S. data center, with no conversation logs. It never goes to OpenAI, Google or Amazon. Private Home keeps it all inside the house and keeps working offline. In both, the hub that runs your devices is local, so your rules keep running if the internet goes down.
Good fits in Charlotte
Remote setup works well for Charlotte's many newer suburban homes, which often already have smart thermostats, video doorbells and smart locks. If you have a lake house on Lake Norman or Lake Wylie, one assistant can keep an eye on both homes, with separate routines and alerts for each. It's also useful if you're the person family members call when something goes wrong at their house: with their permission, you can get the same alerts they do. Before anything ships, you'll get a written plan with what we connect remotely, any devices worth adding, and a fixed price.
Prices for Charlotte
Private Cloud starts at $4,995 with remote setup, plus a $199-a-month care plan that includes your private AI server. Private Home starts at $24,995 with care at $399 a month; travel for the install is quoted at cost. Estate projects are quoted individually.
Book a free video walk-through or email hello@kotohhome.com.
Common questions
Charlotte is far from the coast. Do hurricanes really matter here?
They can. Hurricane Hugo was still producing 87 mph gusts in Charlotte in 1989 and cut power to most of the city for weeks. Inland, the risks are falling trees, power loss and water, which is what the assistant helps you keep track of.
What if the power is out for days?
Nothing electrical runs without backup power. A small battery backup keeps the hub and router going through short outages, battery sensors keep reporting, and an optional cellular backup keeps alerts flowing. For long outages, the assistant can monitor a standby generator if you have one.
Do you have a team in Charlotte?
No. We set up Private Cloud remotely: we ship you a pre-configured hub, you plug it into your router, and we connect your accounts and compatible devices with you over a video call. Private Home and Estate projects in Charlotte are travel installs, where we fly in for install day.
What does it cost in Charlotte?
Private Cloud, set up remotely, starts at $4,995, plus a $199-a-month care plan that includes your private AI server. Private Home, with a dedicated AI computer in your house that works fully offline, starts at $24,995 with care at $399 a month; in Charlotte that is a travel install, and travel is quoted with the project at cost. Estate projects are quoted individually.