Service area
Private AI Home Assistant Installation in Vancouver
Kotoh Home designs and commissions private AI home assistants for Estate projects in Vancouver. It watches for water, heat and outages, and answers when you text it.
For Estate projects in Vancouver
We offer Vancouver installs as Estate projects: larger homes, households with staff, or families who also have homes in the US and want one assistant across all of them. We don't have a Vancouver office. We do a video walk-through, design the system, and travel for commissioning. Pricing is in U.S. dollars, with travel included in the quote.
A rainy city, with rain that varies by street
Vancouver is one of Canada's wettest cities, and how wet depends on where you live. Annual precipitation averages about 1,189 mm at the airport in Richmond, about 1,588 mm downtown and about 2,044 mm in North Vancouver. Most of it falls outside summer.
For a house, that means water is the main thing to watch. Leak sensors in the basement, the mechanical room, under sinks and beside the water heater text you within minutes. An automatic shutoff valve can close the main when a plumbing leak is detected. For groundwater and drainage, the system can't fix the problem, but it can tell you early, which is usually the difference between a mop and a renovation.
When the atmospheric river arrives
In November 2021, a Pineapple Express atmospheric river brought severe flooding to southern British Columbia. The province declared a state of emergency, and every highway linking the Lower Mainland to the rest of the province was disrupted, along with both main rail lines. Travel into and out of the Lower Mainland was badly disrupted.
That is the case we design for: a house that keeps running its own rules when no one can reach it. The smart-home hub works without the internet, and an optional cellular backup keeps alerts flowing if the main connection drops but the cell network is up.
Heat the city wasn't built for
Summers are usually mild. Average July and August highs are around 22 °C, and days above 30 °C are rare. That made the June 2021 heat dome so dangerous. British Columbia's Chief Coroner reported 619 heat-related deaths in the week from June 25 to July 1, and Lytton set a Canadian record of 49.6 °C.
A monitored house can't change the weather, but it can make heat visible. Indoor temperature sensors in each bedroom can alert you, or a family member checking on a parent, when a room passes a threshold you set. The assistant can also start the fans, cooling or blinds you have, on a schedule or on command.
Earthquake country
Vancouver sits near the Cascadia subduction zone, a plate boundary off the Pacific coast capable of magnitude 9 earthquakes. We don't overstate what a smart home does here. It can tell you which sensors still report after a shake, whether water is leaking and whether the power is on. Where your utilities allow it, an automatic water shutoff limits damage from broken pipes. Structural and gas safety belong to qualified trades.
Built for Canadian homes
Canada uses 120/240-volt, 60 Hz power with Type A and B plugs, like the US, and Canadian Z-Wave devices use the same radio band as US ones. We specify equipment sold for the Canadian market. Where local rules require it, a locally licensed electrician or installer does the physical work to our specification, and we commission the system. Work-permit rules are confirmed before we quote.
Where your data lives
Every install puts a smart-home hub in the house. For Vancouver clients we generally recommend Private Home: the AI runs on a computer in your home, and nothing goes to a cloud AI service. Private Cloud runs on a private server in a U.S. data center. If your data needs to stay in Canada, choose Private Home. We don't give legal advice on data rules.
Pricing and next steps
Vancouver projects are Estate projects, quoted individually in U.S. dollars, with travel included. For reference, Private Home starts at $24,995 for a single home, with care at $399 a month. See estates and house managers, second-home monitoring and our guide to leak and power alerts. To begin, use our contact form or email hello@kotohhome.com. We reply within one business day.
Common questions
Do you work in Vancouver?
Yes, for Estate projects. We start with a video walk-through, design the system, then travel for commissioning. Travel is included in the quote, and pricing is in U.S. dollars.
Do US smart devices work in Canada?
Usually. Canada uses 120/240-volt, 60 Hz power with the same Type A and B plugs as the US, and Canadian Z-Wave devices use the same radio band. We still specify devices sold for the Canadian market and confirm each one during design.
Who does the electrical work?
Where local rules require it, a locally licensed electrician or installer does the physical work to our specification. We design, configure and commission the system, and confirm work-permit rules before we quote.
Can the house warn me about water in a heavy rain?
Yes. Leak sensors in basements, mechanical rooms and under fixtures text you within minutes, and an automatic shutoff valve can close the main on a plumbing leak. Groundwater and drainage problems need a plumber or drainage contractor; the system tells you early.
Can my data stay in Canada?
With Private Home, the AI runs on a computer in your house, so requests are processed there. Private Cloud uses a server in a U.S. data center. If keeping data in Canada matters to you, choose Private Home. We don't give legal advice on data rules.