Private AI Home Assistant Setup in Chicago

Winter is the risk to plan for

On January 30, 2019, O'Hare International Airport hit −23°F, with a wind chill of −52°F, and Midway recorded −22°F. Cold like that is rare, but it shows what a Chicago house has to survive. If the furnace stops during a cold snap and nobody is home, pipes can freeze before anyone notices. Lake Michigan shapes the city's weather in every season, and winter storms can arrive quickly.

That makes the most useful thing a smart home can do in Chicago fairly simple: tell you, right away, when the house is getting cold, wet or dark.

Bungalows, basements and two-flats

Chicago has more than 80,000 bungalows, nearly a third of the city's single-family homes. Most were built between 1910 and 1940, usually of brick, one-and-a-half stories, with a full basement. Basements are where trouble starts: a sump pump that fails in a spring storm, a water heater that leaks, a laundry hose that splits. A few inexpensive sensors in the right places change how fast you find out.

What we set up for a Chicago home

• Freeze alerts. Temperature sensors in the coldest rooms and near exposed pipes, with a text if the house drops below the level you choose.
• Furnace watch. If your thermostat is connected, the assistant notices when heat is called for but the temperature keeps falling.
• Basement water. Leak sensors by the sump, water heater and washer. Paired with an automatic shutoff valve, the water can close on its own.
• Power and internet. An alert when the power drops, with an optional cellular backup so it still reaches you.
• Everyday routines. "Is the garage closed?", "Set the heat to 68 before we land," and reminders for the family, all by text.

How remote setup works in Chicago

We start with a video walk-through of your home, devices and network. Then we ship a hub configured for your house. You plug it into your router, and on a second video call we connect your thermostat, the compatible devices you already own, your calendars and email, and texting for each family member. New devices that need a plumber or electrician, such as a shutoff valve, are installed by your own tradesperson to our spec, or we quote a travel install. We never claim a local office: in Chicago, the setup is remote unless we fly in.

A typical Chicago setup

For a brick bungalow with a full basement, a sensible starting point is a hub, three or four temperature sensors (basement, the coldest bedroom, near the kitchen sink wall and the attic hatch), leak sensors at the sump, water heater and washer, and a connected thermostat if you don't have one. Add a shutoff valve on the main and the house can protect itself from the most expensive kind of winter damage. If you leave for weeks at a time in January or February, we also set an away mode that holds a safe temperature and sends you a daily one-line check-in.

Prices

Private Cloud starts at $4,995, with a $199-a-month care plan that includes your private AI server. That is the tier we set up remotely. 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 Chicago it is a travel install, and travel is quoted with the project at cost. Estate projects are quoted individually. Smart devices are extra. The full breakdown is in our cost guide.

Privacy

The hub that runs your devices and rules sits in your house and keeps working without the internet. With Private Cloud, the assistant runs an open-source model on a private server we operate for you in a U.S. data center, reached over an encrypted tunnel, with no conversation logs kept and nothing used for training. More on the difference in local vs cloud AI assistants.

To start, book a free video walk-through on our contact form or email hello@kotohhome.com. We reply within one business day.