All my lights have a physical switch or button. The smarts come in subtle ways:
1. Turn lights on 45 minutes BEFORE sunset at any time of year
2. Turn lights on and off at specific times, automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time (I'll never have to listen to my wife complain about the lights needing adjustment again)
3. Start warming up/cooling off my house BEFORE I get home from vacation
4. Double click a button in my Family Room to put my whole house into Movie mode
5. Some of my buttons are also temperature sensors. This gives me the ability to monitor the temperature of parts of my home very closely. I've had some struggles with our boiler this winter and we also had the insulation redone in our attic. Instead of relying on anecdotes, I have actual concrete data that I can use to make decisions and gauge the effectiveness of various mitigation strategies.
6. Put hard stops on devices (such as TVs or connected network devices) (i.e. turn the TV power off at my children's bed time).
7. Monitor my garage door and notify if it's open too long or if it's been left open accidentally at night.
8. Fans!! I can turn my ceiling fans on and off based on a variety of triggers (temperature, time, etc). I hate having the fans off but my wife can't sleep with the fan on. Now the problem is solved and we don't even think about it anymore, the fan runs on a schedule.
One of my next big projects will be to automate the opening and closing of our front window blinds. They are in an inconvenient place and are difficult to get to, but I really like to have light coming in during the day but have them closed at night.
There's more but I tire writing this. I hope I made the point. None of this is revolutionary or changes any existing behavior (all the buttons/switches we had previously work same as they always did). But boy does it make some things a lot more convenient.
I’m happy it all works for you and it sounds almost like a bit of a hobby for you too which is great. But from someone less interested in it from that angle it still just sounds a lot like a bunch of work and expense for marginal levels of convenience. I also just find interiors more aesthetically pleasing and relaxing with the least amount of technology possible, maybe a side effect of working in this industry.
Maybe it's just the UK, but I struggle to find any suitable physical switches that both look like a normal light switch but also function with smart devices.
I understand the benefits of some automation, but if there isn't a 'normal' switch that works completely 'as expected' for the family to use, it's not worth the trouble.
I'm in the US so I don't know what's viable for you, but I'm using Lutron Caseta switches for my main lights/fans. I've had zero issues with them and they even work without the hub (which I only have so that I can link it to home assistant).
They aren't a traditional toggle switch, they have two buttons (on and off). Personally I find that to be an acceptable compromise and in terms of looks they are some of the best looking switches on the market smart or not. A lot of generic smart switches look like mass produced cheap junk. Lutron actually put a little bit of effort into the design which is nice.
What do you consider 'as expected'? Personally I want switches that will turn off when flicked down, and turn on when flicked up. On the other hand, 3 way switches have already broken that rule so instead, toggling a switch will always toggle the light regardless of its position.
If that toggling is okay with you, I've heard good things about Shelly which you can use to convert a regular switch to be smart. Otherwise I'm looking at GE Enbrighten switches which looks to keep the switch itself in a neutral position and have two buttons on the up and down rather than being an actual switchable switch.
It would have to be 'toggling' I think as otherwise it is not possible to gain complete automation. Consider a light that has been switched (physically) off and then turns on via automation - the switch cannot be physically turned off, as it is already in that position.
This is why the conundrum exists and as such I would need to replace all switches with toggles, or distinct on/off buttons, so the family could easily manage.
However, they also need to work as non-smart/traditional lights if the network has failed, and I suspect this is a much harder problem to solve.
Lutron Caseta switches (which I use for my mains) have two buttons. One on top for on and one on bottom for off. They also have a little dimple so you can feel which is which without looking. It gets a little more complicated if you have a fan or dimmer control but the user experience is still pretty good. Is it as quick and easy as a physical switch? No, but it's about as close as you can get without having a physical switch that actively toggles when it's triggered remotely. I don't know if anybody makes a switch like that. It would be nice but for me personally the Caseta switches are more than sufficient. I've had zero usability issues and no complaints from the wife.
1. Turn lights on 45 minutes BEFORE sunset at any time of year
2. Turn lights on and off at specific times, automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time (I'll never have to listen to my wife complain about the lights needing adjustment again)
3. Start warming up/cooling off my house BEFORE I get home from vacation
4. Double click a button in my Family Room to put my whole house into Movie mode
5. Some of my buttons are also temperature sensors. This gives me the ability to monitor the temperature of parts of my home very closely. I've had some struggles with our boiler this winter and we also had the insulation redone in our attic. Instead of relying on anecdotes, I have actual concrete data that I can use to make decisions and gauge the effectiveness of various mitigation strategies.
6. Put hard stops on devices (such as TVs or connected network devices) (i.e. turn the TV power off at my children's bed time).
7. Monitor my garage door and notify if it's open too long or if it's been left open accidentally at night.
8. Fans!! I can turn my ceiling fans on and off based on a variety of triggers (temperature, time, etc). I hate having the fans off but my wife can't sleep with the fan on. Now the problem is solved and we don't even think about it anymore, the fan runs on a schedule.
One of my next big projects will be to automate the opening and closing of our front window blinds. They are in an inconvenient place and are difficult to get to, but I really like to have light coming in during the day but have them closed at night.
There's more but I tire writing this. I hope I made the point. None of this is revolutionary or changes any existing behavior (all the buttons/switches we had previously work same as they always did). But boy does it make some things a lot more convenient.