Smart homes have the potential to achieve efficient energy consumption: households can profit from appropriately scheduled consumption. By 2020, 35% of all households in North America and 20% in Europe are expected to become smart homes (Johan Fagerberg, 2015). Developing a smart home requires considerable investment, and the householders expect a positive return. In this context, we address the following question: what and/or when equipment should be bought for a specific site to gain a positive return on the investment? We propose a framework to guide the smart-home transition considering customized electricity usage. The framework is based on linear models and gives a payback analysis of each combination of equipment acquisition for a specific user. The results quantify the dependence of the payback on the site and the application.