Hello home. Hello master.

It's the dream of every couch potato or weary worker who flops into the couch after a hard day at the office.

The power of just having to snap your fingers to make the lights dim, the room warm up and a favourite DVD begin playing in full home theatre glory.

Well, the snap-of-the-finger stuff may still be in the realm of magic genie land, but if you have the cash you can achieve the same result with the tap of touch screen control.

Home automation is becoming cheaper, smarter and more integrated as the technology behind it improves.

It is now possible to retrofit into your house, or build into a new home, a system that will do even more than control and anticipate your home entertainment, lighting and temperature requirements.

On top of those functions you can even link in moisture detectors to sense when your lawn needs watering or programme the system to flash every light bulb in the building when the burglar alarm goes off.

Home automation suppliers and installers report they are doing a roaring trade as homeowners scramble to automate.

"At the moment everybody is going for home theatre controllers," says Sam Edwards, national service manager for automation equipment supplier Control 4.

"Instead of having different remotes for your TV, DVD, video, and Sky, the home theatre controller means you can put them all in a cupboard and just have the one remote to control everything," he says.

"With that same unit you can also control the projector screen, the blinds on the window and the lighting in a room. Basically it's the cornerstone of an automation system."

Control 4's controllers retail for about $1500, and Edwards says people who are willing to spend thousands on a giant plasma screen as the centrepiece of their living room have been happy to fork out a bit more on top to make the most of technology.

The device typically sits on the home theatre rack and ideally will be connected to the internet so that when you pop your favourite CD in, the controller can go searching the web for the disc's cover art to display on the plasma while you listen.

But to really make it to couch potato heaven, you need to spend an extra $4000 for a decent touch screen that integrates with the controller.

Tony Cook, a home automation specialist at Hawke's Bay electrical company Eastek, says the business has been flat out installing automation systems, mainly in new homes.

He says while costs vary considerably because each home owner has unique requirements for an automation project, a typical full fit-out of audio and video distribution through the house, plus data networking, telecommunication cables and the associated hardware could cost between $38,000 and $45,000.

At the top end of the range, Eastek has been involved in home automation projects costing "hundreds of thousand of dollars".

His most important piece of advice is that although wireless devices have grown in popularity, taking the opportunity to install cable into a new home is still worthwhile.

"If you're building a home today, put a cable network in the house that covers your TV, telephone, data communications, and audio."

This saves a much more expensive rewiring job in future, Cook says.

"Later down the track, if you want to instal a little bit of automation, you're pretty much right."

And while automation controllers are already trawling the net looking for CD cover art, in the near future it might be your fridge or stove that's wired to the outside world.

"Some Auckland supermarkets are already trialling a connection to internet-enabled home fridges which monitor their contents and can automatically re-order food," he says.

Sounds like yet another excuse not to get off the couch. My world is under my control.