Yes. That's the way all home automation systems that I know work. You put the modules in your electricity cabinet and connect your electrical wiring to it. To the buttons in the wall, data cable is used. (effectively a lot of the time Cat7 cable). Two ways of setting this up, either daisy-chaining button after button, a so called "bus structure" (KNX works like this), or by simply using a multi-cable data cable, reserving one little cable per button and then directly back to the electricity cabinet. It used to be all bus structures, because you needed less cable and were able to expand more easily like that, but recently things started moving to the one-cable-per-button way of working because it's simpler (albeit more work to install), cheaper (no button-identifying intelligence needed behind the buttons itself, or -even more expensive- intelligent buttons) and future proof (because there's no intelligence in the buttons itself, you're certain to be able to switch to a different system should you want to, even after decades).


They are completely compatible with the EnOcean technology, which is wireless and used a lot in combination with KNX. I would never use that as the basis of my installation though, only maybe as a last resort kind of thing. For the same reason I'll always prefer wired ethernet compared to wireless: stability.


While I have no experience with Z-Wave myself, like I said I would be reluctant to use such a technology. Of course, I can see how this could be the only way of putting a home automation system into a home with a classical electricity setup. Because yes, if you want to use home automation, you need to take this into account from the moment you're building the house, because you need to setup your electrical wiring differently that you would do with a classical setup. And of course this cannot be changed afterwards. It's for this reason that I would ALWAYS advice a home builder that's remotely interested in home automation, but wants to hold off because of the cost, to install his electrical system with so called "teleruptors" (Electromechanical Impulse Switches). This kind of setup doesn't add much to the cost of a total setup (about $500 for a typical house), but then the wiring is ready and compatible for a future home automation setup.

If you didn't setup your wiring like that, then you're stuck. OR use technology like Z-Wave, because then that would be the only way of installing home automation without cutting into the walls. In this case this would be a viable alternative.

I've read up on it and the pros and cons you list seem very true. I would also add to it that it's not an open standard and it doesn't have an iOS or Android app of its own. There do seem to be third party ones though. Integrating video and audio doesn't seem to be possible, and front-door communication is also a no-go. (even though you can use a simple doorbell). Also, sometimes in bigger houses there can be a delay between the push of a button and the system actually reacting, because of the longer distances between the transmitters/receivers.

You mention lights and thermostats, and granted, that's about 80% of what most people use home automation for. But I would also like to use it for: controlling shutters & blinds, everything off function (lights!), panic button, fire prevention, using it as an alarm system for my home, video integration, video surveillance, audio distribution throughout the house, controlling the ventilation system (eg. after a shower, automatically increase the suction in the bathroom to get rid of the vapor faster), access control to certain areas of the house (read: "make them child proof"). I would also like to use it for more intelligent project like checking if the water level in my rain cistern doesn't get too low, and if it does, fill it up with some extra water so the cistern pump will never run dry.

You mention that you haven't found a controller yet that you love, but in my opinion, the days of proprietary controllers are over. I actually have a touch screen into one of the living room walls, but that one was already there because of a different home automation system I used to have (yes, this is already my second home automation setup). I'm now controlling it using a Raspberry Pi and it works wonderfully well because as said before, Loxone can be controlled from every browser in the network.
But, in hindsight, I wouldn't even bother with installing such a monitor now anymore. Using my iPad or iPhone (or Android phone) is just that much more convenient and all that's needed really. (eg. I won't even have dedicated buttons to control my blinds anymore, it's so much more convenient to do it via my iPhone, which I have in my pockets all the time anyway).