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It’s been a long day, and you still don’t know what you’re serving for dinner tonight. You slowly pull into the garage, careful to avoid running one of the side mirrors into the garage door frame (curse those eight-foot wide garage doors!). Fortunately, your...
Ripping up new carpet and pad. Pulling away baseboards. Giant, noisy industrial fans running for days. The culprit? A humble laundry room. But before we continue that story, let’s look at what home buyers are thinking about as well as what they wish they had thought...
Tap into buyers' emotions with solution-based selling. The numbers are in, and they look good! The home’s width and square footage fit nicely, the exterior style plus design amenities should attract buyers, and the cost estimates suggest you can make a decent profit....
You want your home buyers to make changes to your home plans. Let’s face it, you’d love to offer a home plan that’s right for each and every buyer, but realistically you can’t; therefore, you want buyers to make changes so the home design fits their needs. The tweaks...
Today, about 1 in 5 Americans live in Multi-Generational households. By definition, multi-generational households have at least two adult generations living under the same roof. Traditionally, in-law suites were the design solution - in a pinch, mom and/or...
Your best framers may not be part of your construction crew; rather, they just might be found among your sales team. Known as forward framing, they employ the power of suggestion to influence prospective purchasers’ expectations regarding your homes. When...
It’s an oft-repeated tune – a national home builder moves into the marketplace, with eyes on becoming the dominant builder, or fast tracks the process by simply acquiring an established local builder. Thoughts of big-box stores moving in and local...
If you’re building a new home with either a basement, second floor, or both, where do you want the stairs to be situated? Stairs located in the center of the home may minimize hallways upstairs but many times center stairs are an assumption at the design...
Design Basics was recently featured in the Omaha World-Herald's Timeless Living section, showcasing the Strasser Pointe (#42420FB) home plan. This plan was designed for a couple and the wife's parents; the ability to share a home, yet have separate living quarters....
It’s not uncommon for people to fall in love with a certain exterior home design or the decor/colors/etc., but then ask for some pretty extensive changes to the floor plan. Or, they build/purchase the home only to find out the floor plan isn't conducive to...