Hi,
when the machine is referenced then soft limits work.

I have roller plunger home switches on my mill which are repeatable to 0.02mm. It means that I can be half way through a job, stop, turn off the machine,
come back tomorrow, reference and start the job where I left off without having to reset anything.

Certainly you will 'zero' the machine relative to the surface or corner of the work but that is a relative position. Homing (referencing) is an absolute positioning
procedure.

Craig