Loxone - automation you never have to operate
Loxone is a building automation system developed since 2009 by the Austrian company Loxone Electronics GmbH, based in Kollerschlag. The Miniserver runs the building logic on board, with no cloud in the path, while functions that need dedicated hardware, such as multiroom audio, run on their own units - the Audioserver in that case.
To the homeowner, Loxone is a house that runs itself. To the installer it is a project that has to be priced before anyone orders the first Miniserver. That second part is what we do.
2009
founded in Austria
300k
projects worldwide
Time
How long does an estimate take you today?
The installers we talk to spend 10 to 20 hours on a single installation. Those with a refined spreadsheet and their own templates do it in 5-10 hours. It is work nobody pays for until the client signs the contract.
Spreadsheet and a PDF pricelist
10-20 h
- Copying rooms and areas off the floor plan
- Counting points, channels and extensions by hand
- Hunting for current prices in the manufacturer pricelist
- Building the proposal and the PDF from scratch for every client
doEstimate
minutes
- Rooms, functions and areas read off the plan
- Miniserver, extensions and devices matched to the point count
- Prices and margins taken from your own configuration
- A proposal with your logo and colours, ready to send
You set up the pricelist, margins and function packages once, at the start. Every estimate after that already uses those settings.
Architecture
How is a Loxone system built?
Miniserver
A single DIN rail unit holding the entire building logic. It runs that logic on board, so the installation keeps working when the internet link goes down.
Loxone Tree
A bus for end devices in free topology - star, tree, line or a mix of them. A further device connects at the nearest point on the bus.
Loxone Air
An encrypted 868 MHz wireless network for places where no cable is left. Up to 128 devices per Air interface, and an installation can hold more than one interface. Mains-powered devices act as repeaters.
Extension-based growth
Capacity grows by adding Extensions on the Loxone Link bus rather than by replacing the server, which lets a well prepared installation grow over years.
In-house devices
Loxone manufactures hardware for the whole installation, not just controllers: from lighting, switches and audio, through actuators and sensors, to access control and car charging. The catalogue keeps growing every year.
Integrations
Building standards such as KNX, DALI or Modbus, vendor protocols and serial ports, plus APIs and integrations written for a specific device. Loxone is self-contained as a product line, but not cut off from the rest of the building.
Advantages
Why choose Loxone?
- One manufacturer from logic down to end devices - fewer integrations to build, and when something breaks there is one place the problem goes
- Logic runs on the Miniserver in the building - an internet outage does not stop the home automation
- Ready-made function blocks for most building functions instead of writing logic from scratch - faster commissioning
- Phased growth: Extensions, Tree and Air can be added to a working installation
- Regular firmware updates for the Miniserver and devices
Worth knowing
Before you choose Loxone
- The hardware and the configuration tool belong to Loxone, yet the system is not closed - Extensions for KNX, DALI or Modbus let products from other manufacturers work alongside Loxone devices
- Commissioning and logic changes require Loxone Config - the user changes moods, schedules and simple rules in the app, while more advanced changes are handled by the installer
- Higher entry cost than DIY solutions, offset by faster commissioning and fewer integrations, and in the long run by everyday comfort and a single app to manage the home
For Loxone installers
A Loxone Partner? This tool is built for you
Estimating a Loxone installation is usually the most expensive hour of the week: done in the evening, after a long day on site, in a spreadsheet only you understand. doEstimate turns a floor plan into a budget calculated on the products you work with, your own service pricelist and your own margins. The client has a proposal the same day, and how much of it they see stays your decision: you set the level of detail and the way it is presented. The tool adapts to how you work, not the other way round.
A floor plan instead of a spreadsheet
You upload the building plan from the architect. Zones, functions and points are analysed straight from the plan, with no needless manual analysis.
Capacity calculated and verified
The calculator watches the channel balance, so the Miniserver, extensions, Tree and Air match the point count. Configuration errors show up before the first estimate, not on commissioning day at the client’s.
Your cost list, your margins
We pull prices automatically from the manufacturer catalogues, and you set your own discounts and markups once. Products from manufacturers we are not integrated with yet, you add yourself.
A proposal signed with your logo
The client gets a proposal carrying your logo and your brand colours. You set the level of detail yourself, from a full product list down to a proposal focused on functions alone.
How the estimate is produced
How is a Loxone installation estimate created?
Define the scope of your services
You tailor your own packages: pick the functions, choose the devices and fill in the pricelists for installation and programming work.
Upload the floor plan
You upload the architectural drawing. Rooms, their functions and areas are read from the plan, with no manual retyping into a spreadsheet.
Automatic device selection
Selection happens automatically from your configuration: the Miniserver, extensions and the Tree and Air devices. Bus capacity and space in the distribution board are verified during the calculation.
Budget and proposal ready to send
Once the plan is analysed and the package is chosen, a proposal for the client is ready. You decide how detailed it should be. Send it to the client straight from the app or hand it over in person on site.
Scope of the estimate
What does a Loxone installation estimate include?
A house does not end at automation. The budget also covers the accompanying installations, such as the home network or a video surveillance system, without which the installation would be incomplete. In those areas you pick the manufacturer yourself - the estimate shows the full scope of your service with every essential element of the installation.
Network and cabling
Structured cabling, switches and Wi-Fi access points. Without a stable network there is no remote access to the smart home system.
Video surveillance
Cameras, a recorder and PoE power. You pick the video surveillance components freely, from any manufacturer, and the view still lands in the Loxone app.
Access control and intercom
An intercom, readers and locks. Loxone has its own devices here, but you can configure the packages on the products you prefer.
Supporting hardware
The distribution board, backup power, lighting and blind drives. Items that proposals tend to skip, only to push up the cost of the final installation.
Data security
Every installer works on a separate database. Your clients’ projects never land in a shared pool, and only you have access to them.
Support at the start
You configure the pricelist and function packages together with us, in online workshops. You are not left alone with an empty panel.
Your brand
Your logo and colours on the proposals and in the email communication with the client. The proposal is fully yours.
About the system
What is Loxone?
Loxone is a building automation system in which the Miniserver runs the logic of the whole installation on site, in the distribution board, with no cloud in the path. End devices connect over the Loxone Tree bus or wirelessly over Loxone Air - an 868 MHz mesh network encrypted with AES 128-bit and a separate key for every installation. The Miniserver Gen 2 can be expanded further with Extensions on the Loxone Link bus. The scope is open ended: lighting, shading and climate are the starting point, while audio, security, irrigation or energy management run on the same Miniserver with Extensions, in one Loxone Config project and one app for the user.
Approach
Automation you never notice
In Loxone the starting point is not control, it is automation. Blinds come down based on the position of the sun relative to the window, before the room has a chance to heat up. Heating works off schedules and presence modes, not off nudging a thermostat by hand. Light responds to presence and time of day. The app is left for special occasions, and that is the measure of a well designed system: what counts is how rarely you have to reach for it.
Price Loxone installations with doEstimate
The homeowner gets a Loxone budget straight from the floor plan. The installer gets the tool that produces it, priced on their own cost list, their own margins and under their own brand.