Service area
Private AI Home Assistant Setup in Washington, DC
Kotoh Home sets up private AI home assistants in Washington, DC remotely. Many DC homes are tall, narrow row houses, so the work starts with a network that reaches every floor.
Row houses come first
The highest concentration of row houses in the United States is in the Mid-Atlantic, particularly the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington areas. In DC they've been part of the landscape for over a century. They sit on narrow lots, often run two or three stories or more, and can be surprisingly large. That shape matters for a smart home: masonry party walls and stacked floors block Wi-Fi, so a device in the top-floor bedroom may never hear a router in the basement.
So in DC, the first part of the plan is the network. We look at your floors and walls on the walk-through and specify a setup that reaches everywhere, before we add anything else.
Weather that knocks out power
Washington has a humid subtropical climate: hot, humid summers and chilly winters with some snow. Summer storms can be severe. On June 29, 2012, a derecho swept from the Midwest into the Mid-Atlantic, with its strongest winds, reported as high as 87 mph, focused on the Baltimore–Washington area. More than 4.2 million customers lost power across the affected states, about a million of them in Virginia, in the middle of a heat wave.
What we set up for DC homes
- A network for every floor, with smart devices on their own network, separate from your computers and phones.
- Heat and outage alerts. A text when the power drops or the house gets too hot, with an optional cellular backup.
- Water sensors in basements and English basement units, by water heaters and under bathrooms on upper floors.
- Locks and guests. Codes for a dog walker or cleaner that work only when you choose, with a log of who came in.
- Your schedule by text. Calendars, travel days and household reminders, from the messaging app you already use.
Remote setup in Washington
After the video walk-through, we ship a configured hub and the network equipment we've specified. You plug them in, and we connect your devices, accounts and family texting on a call. Anything that needs an electrician is installed by yours to our spec, or as a quoted travel install.
If you travel often
For households that are away a lot, the system is set up to answer the questions people actually ask from an airport: is the house locked, did the cleaner come and go, is the basement dry, is the heat on. Each answer comes back as a text in a few seconds.
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 Washington 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 runs inside your house. With Private Cloud, the assistant runs an open-source model on a private server we operate for you in a U.S. data center, with no conversation logs. With Private Home, nothing leaves the house at all.
Book a free video walk-through on our contact form or email hello@kotohhome.com.
Common questions
Will a smart home work on every floor of a row house?
It can, but a single router at one end of a three-story row house often won't reach. We look at your layout during the video walk-through and specify the network, usually a mesh system, so the hub and devices stay connected on every floor.
My house is in a historic district. Can I still do this?
Most of what we set up, such as the hub, sensors, thermostats and interior lighting control, goes inside and doesn't change the facade. If anything would alter the exterior, check with the city's historic preservation office first; we plan around it.
Do you install in person in DC?
Private Cloud is set up remotely over video. Private Home and Estate projects are travel installs, quoted with the project.
What does it cost?
Private Cloud starts at $4,995 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, plus travel. Estate is quoted individually.