// NEXT-GEN HOME DASHBOARDS
Forget the smart meter. Your whole house, one screen
Cameras, power, broadband, backups, doors and the freezer in the garage — on one screen, from any device, anywhere. Quiet until something actually needs you. Built to order by a Dorset family firm, doing this since 1995.
Rated 4.9 on GoogleFamily-run since 1995 · real people, no call centre// LIVE DEMO · SAMPLE HOME · SWIPE OR USE THE ARROWS
Three screens, one glance, any device
A sample home, built the way we build them. Swipe between screens, or press the expand button for the full-screen wall view.
A quiet afternoon. Nothing wants your attention.
Forget the smart meter
You almost certainly have one. It sits in the kitchen showing a number in kilowatt-hours, and you probably stopped looking at it within a fortnight. That is not because you are uninterested in your home — it is because it answers a question nobody asked.
It cannot tell you that a camera stopped recording three weeks ago. Or that last night’s backup failed. Or that the freezer in the garage has been climbing for two days. It measures one thing, in one unit, in one room.
A proper dashboard is not a bigger smart meter. It is everything that matters about your house — cameras, power, broadband, backups, doors, the freezer — on one screen, from anywhere, on whatever device is in your hand.
Why people turn this sort of thing off
Plenty of people have already tried. An app per device, a notification for every passing cat, four logins, and within a month everything is muted and nobody looks at any of it.
We build them the other way round. The dashboard is quiet by default and only speaks when something actually needs you. Motion at the side gate at nine in the evening is worth one notification with the clip attached. A branch moving in the wind is not worth any.
| The usual way | How we build it |
|---|---|
| An app per manufacturer | One screen, one address, any device |
| Notifications for everything | Notifications for things that matter, and silence otherwise |
| You have to remember to check | It tells you — including when something has quietly stopped working |
| Stops working when a manufacturer drops your model | Hosted by us, reading your kit directly |
| Footage only on the recorder in the garage | Clips copied off-site automatically, so a stolen box is not a lost clip |
// WHAT WE CAN CONNECT
If it publishes its data, it can go on the screen
Not a shopping list — a starting point. Each of these says what it gives you and where the catch is, because the catch is the bit that decides whether it is worth doing.
Solar & battery
Victron, and most inverters that publish an API or Modbus.
Worth knowing: We run our own business off a Victron system, so this is the one we know best.
Your electricity supplier
Half-hourly usage and tariff data where the supplier exposes it.
Worth knowing: Coverage varies by supplier. Some publish a proper API, some publish nothing at all.
Cameras & CCTV
Live views, motion events and clips copied off-site automatically.
Worth knowing: Most systems expose a stream. Some budget cloud-only cameras deliberately do not — we check yours first.
IoT sensors
Temperature, humidity, water leaks, door contacts, freezer alarms.
Worth knowing: Anything that speaks MQTT, Zigbee, Z-Wave or a documented API. Closed proprietary hubs are the hard ones.
Network & Wi-Fi
Access points, switches, PoE draw, channel utilisation, broadband health.
Worth knowing: RUCKUS, UniFi, Aruba and most business platforms. Depends what your controller version exposes.
Vehicles & fleet
Location, mileage, fault codes and battery health from a diagnostics dongle.
Worth knowing: Via a standards-based OBD or telematics device, not by reverse-engineering a manufacturer app.
GPS & route tracking
Where it is now, the route it took, distance covered, and a geofence that shouts when something leaves an area it should not.
Worth knowing: It is not a theft tracker — it is not hidden, it runs off the battery it monitors, and no insurer recognises it. A dedicated tracker still owns that job.
Pet & asset trackers
The dog, the trailer, the tools — on the same map and the same alarm rules as everything else.
Worth knowing: Depends entirely on the tracker. Some publish their data properly; plenty of consumer collars keep it locked inside their own app. We check yours before promising anything.
Slack & Teams
Alerts land where your team already is, instead of another app nobody opens.
Worth knowing: We use this ourselves — every booking and job on our own system pings Slack.
Backups & PCs
Whether last night actually ran, disk health, updates, antivirus state.
Worth knowing: Already built — this is what 365 PC Manager reports into your portal.
Machines & production
Run hours, output counts, downtime and utilisation from PLCs or line controllers.
Worth knowing: Where the equipment publishes it. Older machines may need a sensor retrofit rather than software.
Weather
Forecast for your postcode, tied to whatever it should influence.
Worth knowing: Chosen per site — the point is what it drives, not the forecast itself.
Same idea, different building
How this actually works. You can arrange the screen yourself — there is a dashboard studio in the 365 portal, free to join, where you drag the tiles about and save the layout to your account. What you do not have to do is the wiring. Tell us what you have and what you want to see, and we connect it. If something on your list cannot be read, we tell you that before you have spent anything, because finding out afterwards is how these projects go wrong.
Three ways in, and the first one is free
You do not have to take our word for any of this. There is a dashboard studio in the 365 portal: drag the tiles where you want them, take off what you do not care about, save the layout to your account and it is there on your phone too. Joining takes about twenty seconds — no card, no salesperson.
| Feature | Free 365 member | On 365 Home Support | A bespoke home dashboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to join | £18.25 a month per computer | Quoted once, per home |
| Arrange it yourself | Yes — and the layout is saved to your account | Yes | We lay it out with you, then adjust it after a fortnight of real use |
| What is actually live | Nothing — every tile is a clearly marked sample | The computers we look after: health, backups, storage, protection, your next visit, your written reports, your saved Wi-Fi surveys | Whatever your house has that publishes its data — cameras, power, broadband, doors, sensors, the freezer |
| Where | In your portal, on any device | Its own hosted address, any device, anywhere | |
The bit we will not blur. Inside the portal a tile is either marked live, in which case it is reading your own account, or sample, in which case the numbers are made up and nothing is plugged in behind it. Your cameras and your solar are not going to appear in there by magic — connecting those is the bespoke build, and it starts with us checking what your equipment actually publishes.
No licence, and no monthly fee per camera. We would rather charge once for building it properly than meter you forever for something we already made.
Why an IT firm, and why this one
The cameras are the easy part. The hard part is everything talking to everything else reliably, staying online, and telling you when it stops — which is our trade rather than a sideline.
We have been doing this in Dorset since 1995. We build the same kind of dashboards for Victron energy systems worldwide, and for business wireless networks. This is the home version of work we already do.
And the same honest caveat as the others: if we look at your house and conclude a dashboard would not add much, we will say so. It happens, and it costs you nothing to ask.
// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
What is wrong with the smart meter I already have?
Nothing, except that it answers a question almost nobody asked. It shows electricity in kilowatt-hours on a small display in the kitchen, and plenty of people stop looking within a fortnight. It cannot tell you a camera stopped recording three weeks ago, that last night's backup failed, or that the freezer is climbing. A dashboard is not a bigger smart meter - it is the whole house on one screen.
Can you put my existing cameras on it?
Usually, and that is the first thing we check rather than promise. Most modern CCTV systems expose a stream or an API we can read. Some cheaper cloud-only cameras deliberately do not, and if yours is one of those we will tell you before you have spent anything.
Do I have to buy new equipment?
Often not. We would rather read what you already own than sell you a shelf of new kit. The point of the dashboard is to make what is already in your house useful, and a fair number of jobs need nothing new at all.
Where does it live, and can I see it away from home?
It is hosted by us on its own address, so it works from anywhere on any device - phone on the train, laptop abroad, tablet in the kitchen. Nothing depends on a manufacturer's app deciding to keep supporting your model.
Is this free?
Part of it genuinely is. The dashboard studio in the 365 portal is free to join and play with - arrange the tiles, save the layout, keep it. On a 365 Home Support plan (£18.25 a month per computer) the tiles about the computers we look after go live and read your own account. A bespoke home dashboard - your cameras, your solar, your sensors on one screen - is a different job, designed and built for your house, so it is quoted per home. There is no licence and no monthly per-camera fee; we would rather charge once for building it properly.
Can I try one before I commit to anything?
Yes, and we would rather you did. Join the 365 Club free, open the dashboard studio in your portal and build a screen. Every tile in there is marked either live or sample, so you always know which numbers are real, and you can send us a design you like and ask what it would take to build it for real.
Why would I trust an IT firm with this rather than a security company?
Because the hard part is not the cameras, it is everything talking to everything else reliably, and being told when it stops. That is thirty years of our trade. We have been doing this in Dorset since 1995, and we build the same kind of dashboards for Victron energy systems worldwide.
Can you connect it to my electricity supplier?
Where the supplier exposes the data, yes - half-hourly usage and tariff information can sit alongside your solar and battery so you can see what you are actually buying and when. Coverage varies a great deal by supplier: some publish a proper API, others publish nothing. We check yours before promising anything.
Can alerts go to Slack or Teams instead of another app?
Yes, and we would usually recommend it. An alert that lands where your team already is gets read; an alert in a fourteenth app does not. We do this on our own systems - every booking and completed job on our internal setup pings Slack.
Can you read data from vehicles?
From a standards-based diagnostics or telematics device, yes - location, mileage, fuel economy, fault codes and battery health. We work from documented interfaces rather than by reverse-engineering a manufacturer's app, because anything built that way breaks the next time they update it.
Can I see where the van is, and get told if it moves?
Yes - live position, the route it took, the miles it covered, and geofences you draw yourself so the dashboard raises an alarm when something leaves an area, or when its signal drops. On a Victron system the GPS can come from the GX itself; on a vehicle it comes from a diagnostics or telematics device. Credit where it is due: Victron's own VRM portal already does geofencing and keeps a position history. What we add is your own screen, several vehicles on one map, and route history that does not expire after six months. It is not a theft tracker, and we will not sell it as one: it is not concealed, it runs off the battery bank it is watching, and no insurer recognises it.
Can I design my own dashboard and save layouts?
Yes - there is a dashboard studio in the 365 portal, and it is free to join and play with. Drag the tiles where you want them, take off what you do not care about, save the layout to your account and it follows you to any device. Being precise about what is real in it: on a 365 support plan the tiles about the computers we look after read your own account, and every other tile is clearly marked as a sample of what we could connect. Making one of those samples real - your cameras, your solar, your sensors - is still a build we do for you, because it needs someone to check what your equipment actually publishes first.
Does it work for a boat, a campervan or a holiday home?
Those are some of the best uses for it, because they are the buildings you are not standing in. Batteries and bilge on a boat, leisure power and whether it started this morning on a campervan, heating and damp and leaks on a holiday home two hundred miles away.
What if something I want cannot be connected?
We tell you before you have spent anything. Some equipment simply does not publish its data, and some budget cloud-only cameras deliberately prevent anyone else reading them. Finding that out afterwards is how these projects go wrong, so we check first.
Curious? It costs nothing to ask
Tell us what you have — cameras, solar, an alarm, a house full of gadgets that do not talk to each other — and we will tell you honestly what could go on one screen, and what it would take.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM