Office

An office is a building with a schedule, a lot of empty rooms and nobody personally responsible for the lights. That combination makes it one of the highest-return environments for automation, and one of the least well served by consumer smart home advice.

This category deals with start-up and shutdown routines, meeting rooms that release themselves when nobody shows up, access for employees and contractors, and the energy behaviour of a space that is unoccupied two-thirds of the time.

Articles in this category

1. How to switch an office off at six and on again at eight

   A layered shutdown that copes with the person working late, a start-up that works backwards from arrival time, and the measurement you should do before automating anything.

   7 min read · 1,478 words · Reviewed October 2026

2. From keys to badges to phones: access control for a small office

   Why keys stop working once a handful of people are involved, how PINs, cards and phones really compare, and the administrative process that decides whether any of it works.

   6 min read · 1,352 words · Reviewed July 2026

3. Meeting rooms that release themselves when nobody turns up

   Why motion sensors get meeting rooms wrong, how no-show release actually works, and the privacy line worth drawing before you fit anything.

   6 min read · 1,333 words · Reviewed July 2026

4. Measuring how an office is actually used, without monitoring people

   Hybrid working broke the assumptions every office was designed around, and almost nobody knows their real numbers. Measuring is cheap; getting the legal part right is what makes it work.

   6 min read · 1,323 words · Reviewed August 2026

5. Why afternoon meetings feel worse: CO2 and office air quality

   What carbon dioxide readings actually tell you, why meeting rooms are the worst room in any building, and how to ventilate on evidence rather than on a timer.

   7 min read · 1,490 words · Reviewed August 2026

6. Office lighting: glare, daylight and the switch nobody touches

   The building service people complain about most and address least. Most of the fixes save money at the same time.

   6 min read · 1,445 words · Reviewed June 2026

7. Securing a small office out of hours without a security guard

   Why water and fire deserve your first hundred euros, how to detect intrusion without a flood of false alarms, and the escalation path that decides whether any of it works.

   7 min read · 1,538 words · Reviewed August 2026

8. Automating a leased office without breaching the lease

   What you can fit without permission, what needs landlord consent, and the reinstatement clause that turns a cheap installation into an expensive exit.

   6 min read · 1,395 words · Reviewed September 2026