Futureproofing: Another Reason to Buy New

Futureproofing: Another Reason to Buy New

Your expectations for the future will have a big impact on identifying the best home for you. How long do you see yourself living in the new home? Life happens! What will likely change, such as kids moving out or parents moving in? Are aging-in-place features important? Is your home easily adaptable to future needs? Wider doorways may not be feasible at a later date. You’re single, so two sinks in your bedroom suite’s bathroom and a private toilet area may not be important to you but ignoring such amenities could be a real drawback in the future.

None of us has a crystal ball. Prior to 2020, who imagined the impact the COVID-19 pandemic would bring? Still, when it comes to our homes, looking at what’s popular today provides some insight into what we can expect to likely be popular five to ten years from now. Continuing the bedroom suite bathroom example – large showers are in demand, particularly “curbless” showers with no lip or threshold to step over. Safer and more comfortable, choosing such an amenity when building your new home is a wise choice, especially compared to a resale home with combination tub/shower or a tub with separate, modest-size shower. Even something as mundane as cleaning the shower is a factor – small showers are harder to clean because there’s simply not enough room to move around when you are standing in that shower.

Storage and organization has become a higher priority with today’s home buyers. Neighborhood restrictions prohibiting sheds, coupled with our seemingly insatiable appetite for more stuff (along with our reluctance to part with it!) has fueled the interest in larger garages with more room for storage. In the Palmer (plan #42057), note the parcel drop at the front porch alongside the garage for securing home deliveries – freeing you up from having to wait around for the delivery driver to pick up/drop off packages for your home-based business. Increased storage extends to the bigger closets in our homes, deep walk-in kitchen pantries and flexible storage areas – particularly those that can be accessed from outside. As a rule of thumb, more square footage is being devoted to storage in today’s new homes than what you usually find in resales, a trend that is likely to continue.

The Palmer (below) provides extra storage in its 3-car garage as well as storage accessed from outside (behind the garage). Look at that kitchen pantry! Another draw – privacy for the covered porch.

Outdoor living space, already a “must-have” for many new home buyers, gained even further importance during the pandemic. Better than a simple patio or deck, prospective buyers wanted a roof over that space so that they didn’t necessarily have to cancel their outdoor plans just because it was raining. The Palmer plan has its covered patio to the side, behind the pantry, providing yet another desired amenity – added privacy. Sure, many resale homes have outdoor living spaces, too, but do they integrate with the home’s design, or look as if they were merely added-on at some point?

We assess an amenity’s value by both what we ourselves personally know and our experience with it.  Something as elementary as a pull-out wastebasket drawer in the kitchen. Once you’ve experienced that simple pleasure, you’ll never settle for less. We also observe the value we see others place in it, especially if we think its popularity is increasing. Millennials have largely ignored and passed over those 5,000 square foot-plus “McMansions” popular with their parents’ generation. Older homeowners have sometimes lost money when selling those larger homes they no longer need or want due to a lack of buyers. But 32-inch wide interior doors throughout the home and laundry rooms that don’t double as the entry from the garage – those are futureproofing must-haves. When it comes to resale, Realtors tell us that regardless of the presence of a tub in the primary suite bathroom, if there isn’t a nice shower, many of today’s prospective home buyers are simply going on to the next home.

There will come a point in time when your new home goes on the market as a resale. Thoughtful design today translates into better resale tomorrow. Take curb appeal. It not only makes your home more attractive now, but it can also have a significant impact on the future resale of your home, both in terms of how quickly you get offers and the perceived value of your home. Example – the humble garage door. As with your front entry door, an attractive garage door enhances curb appeal!

The Rainey plans below share a common floor plan, but exude distinctive exterior styling. While a fairly traditional garage door style can work for the Rainey Gables (left), that simple 32-panel garage door would detract from the Rainey Chase’s contemporary design (middle), and the Rainey Farm’s Modern Farm House design (right). 

Choosing a brand-new home, with today’s most-wanted amenities, will be significantly more attractive to most prospective future buyers than if you’re trying to resell a home that was already 30 years old when you bought it.   

Next time – What Your Home Says About You.

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Cover plan featured: Palmer (plan 42057)

New vs. Resale Homes: Peace of Mind

New vs. Resale Homes: Peace of Mind

Over half of all home buyers consider new construction according to Zillow’s Consumer Housing Trends Report. Maybe it’s because they get grossed out by toenails.

We were touring an open house as was another couple when all of a sudden, we heard, “Eeew!” Apparently, the current owners had a habit of clipping toenails in the owner’s bedroom. Having removed her shoes, one of the other visitors had stepped on something and bent down to see what it was – a yellowed toenail clipping. That couple left without finishing their tour.

Our oldest child was two years old when we decided to replace the living room carpeting in our first home. Even though it was a starter home built in the 1950s, most of the rest of the floors were hardwood. We were aghast to discover all of the former resident’s apparent pet “accidents” staining the back of that living room carpeting, which our son had been crawling around on!

It’s not just toenails and pet urine. It could be smoking odors or allergens, or multitudes of dust mites in the air ducts. It could be mold trapped behind a fresh coat of stain-blocking paint caused by an unseen water leak. Some things are just hidden, even to professional home inspectors.

We value certainty. Stickers on the furnace and water heater of the resale home you’re considering indicate both are 10 years old. While you didn’t climb up there, the roof shingles looked okay. And though they are by no means new, the seller is leaving all of the kitchen appliances. Those items represent some of the potential expenses when buying a resale home that can wreak havoc on your budget. You don’t know when they’re going to fail, and you don’t know how much it will cost to repair or replace them. In contrast, your new home warranty and all of the associated warranties behind the products installed in your new home, mean you can budget and buy with confidence when choosing a brand-new home.     

Beyond the dollars, there is a parallel – your time, knowledge, skill, and ability. You may want to tackle rebuilding that old deck yourself. You watch a couple online videos on the subject and can block out two weekends plus schedule to take the afternoons off during the week between. Still, you’ve never done this type of project before, and aren’t sure you have the right tools to tackle the job. And when you’re all done, will you be happy with the result?

Current technology. You may not yearn for the newest tech gadgets, but you’re used to a smart thermostat. You hope there’s an instruction manual for the “programmable” one in the used home. There’s no structured wiring, but a good router should provide a strong wi-fi signal throughout the home. Replacing that old doorbell with a video doorbell shouldn’t be too difficult; however, installing a smart garage door opener means hiring someone. From security to entertainment, technology offerings in new homes allow you to enjoy that new home more.  

Chamberlain myQ Garage App

(Photo courtesy: Chamberlain; myQ SMART Home)

Technological advancements are also evident in new homes’ energy efficiency. As reported on energystar.gov, “In a typical house, about 20%-30 % of the air that moves through the duct system is lost due to leaks, holes, and poorly connected ducts.” But to meet today’s stiffer energy codes, many builders and their HVAC contractors employ advanced testing to reduce conditioned air leakage in ductwork down to 3%-4%. Energy-efficient products and construction have resulted in homes built today being as much as 60% more energy efficient than homes built 20 years ago.

Originally designed with 2×4-inch exterior walls, the Buckland Showcase (plan #9170) can alternatively, like most plans available from Design Basics, be ordered with 2×6-inch walls, allowing more insulation in those outside walls. The outside dimensions do not change; inside, the rooms get slightly smaller when plans originally designed with 2×4-inch walls are revised for 2×6-inch exterior wall construction. For even higher performance, the Buckland Showcase ICF (plan #9170BTX) is designed for building with 10-inch thick Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) construction. Because of the added wall thickness of ICF construction, ICF-adapted plans do increase in overall width, depth, and square footage so that the interior rooms don’t become too small.

Below: The Buckland Showcase as originally designed for 2×4-inch exterior wall construction (left: main and upper level floor plans) and adapted for 10-inch thick ICF walls (right: main and upper level floor plans). To accommodate the thicker walls and minimize cutting of the ICF, the ICF home grew three feet in width; from 1,984 to 2,218 total sq. ft.

Buckland Showcase - #9170 ML
Buckland Showcase - #9170 UL

Buckland Showcase – #9170
(As originally designed: 1,984 sq ft)

Buckland Showcase - #9170BTX ML
Buckland Showcase - #9170BTX UL

Buckland Showcase ICF – #9170BTX
(Adapted for ICF construction: 2,218 sq ft)

Technology shows up in healthier new homes, too. You see it in in “hands-free” toilets and faucets as well as water purification systems; in having lots of natural light; and in having a quiet home, which minimizes internal and external noise. But perhaps nowhere else is technology more evident than indoor air quality. From air quality monitors that turn on ventilation fans if/when indoor pollutants exceed healthy levels, to air purification systems that can trap and kill most bacteria and viruses, high-tech solutions available mean new homes can be considerably healthier than used.

Join us next time as we look at how “futureproofing” considerations affect your home purchase decision.

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(Product spotlights are for informational purposes only.)

How Your Choices Affect the Cost of Your New Home

How Your Choices Affect the Cost of Your New Home

My daughter asked me to go car shopping with her. With two young boys (one that’s just 8 months old) she was ready for an SUV with three rows of seating. Her preferences had a major impact on the vehicle’s price. First, the middle seats had to be captain’s chairs. Second, the vehicle had to be all wheel drive. Overall price and safety features were the next priorities. Beyond that, vehicle amenities fell into the “wants” and “nice to have” categories as opposed to “needs.”

Like new vehicle buyers, new home buyers’ choices have a major impact on the price of their new home. You need three bedrooms and a flex room that can double as where you occasionally work from home. You’re ruling out homes that don’t have your bedroom on the main floor plus an oversized shower, two sinks, and a private toilet area in your bathroom; or homes that don’t have a single dining area capable of hosting holiday family meals; and builders without a model home you can actually walk-through.

SUV Buying Scenario

(Click on image to enlarge.)

While those non-negotiables have a direct bearing on price, so also do the design and product amenities you want. You love being outdoors; the covered deck adds $7,000. The beautiful Craftsman-themed exterior is also $7,000 more. Inside, the spa bath upgrade runs $10,000, while the gourmet kitchen package comes in at $8,500. Building green, energy-efficient, and healthy are important to you; the price tag for the high-performance insulation option is $5,000; while the indoor air quality package for $4,000 could make a big difference with your kids’ asthma. And you keep coming back to the option of building that big pantry as a safe room…

Though price is just a number, it conjures up so many emotions! That indoor air quality package can remove 99.9% of all airborne particles and over 90% of viruses. That’s interesting information. But it feels so good making nurturing choices such as caring for my family’s health, or even selfishly, wasting lees time dusting. As a new home buyer, anything you’re willing to spend extra money on is worth more to you than its price. Modifications to the plan, optional design amenities, upgraded products – these choices are very personal, and represent decisions wherein you’re not willing to settle for less. 

Bonham - #42239V

Though you’ll have to stretch your budget, you’ve fallen in love with the Bonham (#42239V) plan with VELUX® skylights incorporated into the design! You can already see yourself lounging on that covered rear porch, but that’s also going to significantly cut down on daylight in your great room. The skylights will make a dramatic difference. That gorgeous fireplace is emotional, too! Which would you choose? Or, do you give in, opt for both, and commit to be bit higher monthly payment?

(Click on image to enlarge.)

My daughter is now driving a Subaru Ascent. Like most shoppers, she chose to spend more to get what she really wanted, but to stay within the budget she had established there were some trade-offs. When shopping for a new home your experience will likely be similar – with one important difference. Some of the things you want in your new home can be future projects. Create a 3- to 5-year plan for your landscaping rather than funding that cost up front. You might finish off the space over the garage a couple years from now to keep your purchase price down. Doing so may free up money now for other amenities you are longing to enjoy in your new home!

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Cover image: Bonham (#42239V) Plan

Brake Light Homes

Brake Light Homes

How your choices affect the cost of your new home.

What’s a “brake light home”? One that is so stunning, that brake lights come on as people slow down to take in its beauty while driving by! New homes of almost any size, at almost any price point, can exude curb appeal. But curb appeal has a price tag. While your home’s exterior design and style will, in large part, dictate costs, there are still many choices you can make that will significantly affect your home’s attractiveness and cost.

#8532 Kendrick

The Kendrick (#8532) plan is less than 1,200 square feet, yet is a definite “Brake Light” home!

Your choice of roofing can have a sizable impact on your home’s price and appearance. More than two out of three homes get topped off with asphalt shingles, which also tend to be among the most competitively priced options. Typically backed by a 20-year warranty, three-tab shingles are the thinnest and least expensive. Adding dimension and shadow lines, architectural asphalt shingles are thicker, heavier, more expensive, and often backed by 30-year and even longer warranties. Depending on where you live, spending a little more for hail impact-resistant and/or high wind-rated shingles may reduce your homeowner’s insurance premiums more than their incremental increase to your mortgage payment, reducing your actual monthly housing cost. Also, keep in mind that light-colored shingles reflect sunlight, helping lower utility bills in hot climates, while dark shingles absorb sunlight, keeping homes warmer and reducing heating costs in colder climates.

Residential metal roofing has been growing steadily in popularity. Steel and aluminum are the most common metals used, though copper has long been a popular accent metal roof product. Metal roofing prices start competitively with higher-end architectural asphalt shingles. You can expect metal roofing to last 50 years or longer, and many metal roofing products qualify for insurance discounts. Standing seam metal roofing has visible vertical “ribs,” and newer metal roofing profiles simulate wood shakes, shingles, tile, and slate. One reported downside is that metal roofing can be noisier in rain and hailstorms.

In spite of their distinctive good looks, cedar shakes have fallen out of favor due to their higher initial cost and high ongoing homeowner’s insurance expense. Slate is sometimes still used in the northeast; clay or cement tiles predominately appear on roofs in the southwest and Florida, a natural complement to Mediterranean exterior styling. In addition to being more expensive roofing material, slate and tile are heavier, requiring additional roof engineering and framing expense.

Shingles Cost Comparison Chart

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Man-made composite shingles have largely replaced wood shakes and slate roofing. Often considered a green building product due to using recycled content, composite shingles look strikingly similar to their natural counterparts but are much lighter, backed by long warranties, and very durable – with some carrying those insurance discount opportunities for high wind and hail impact ratings.

Your siding options, like roofing, also have considerable impact on your home’s appearance and cost. Vinyl is the most widely used siding material due to its relatively low-maintenance (no painting required!) and generally being the lowest cost. Thickness of the siding and the presence of insulated backing are primary cost factors. Engineered wood (e.g., LP® SmartSide®) and fiber-cement (e.g., James Hardie HardiePlank®) prices start comparable with high-end vinyl siding. Both options are very durable, with HardiePlank carrying a non-pro-rated 30-year warranty, while SmartSide’s 50-year warranty is pro-rated after 5 years. As with natural wood siding, which tends to be slightly more expensive than engineered wood, re-painting every 5-10 years adds to the cost of ownership, but also allows you (or the next owner) to change your home’s color. Note: siding profiles other than the traditional horizontal look, such as shakes, board and batten, etc., will add cost. Typically, higher than wood siding, masonry products tend to be relatively close to each other in pricing, with stucco (natural or EIFS) a little less than brick; and brick a little less than faux stone (e.g., cultured stone). Real stone, however, can be two to three times more expensive. Due to the added costs, masonry finishes are often used as accents and focal points, rather than completely covering your home’s exterior. Masonry products not only look great, they require little upkeep and are extremely durable, helping you avoid future replacement costs.

Windows can have a sizable impact on your home’s price, but you may not “see” the difference. We’ll limit this topic to standard windows as specialty windows run the gamut of pricing. Beyond the number and size of windows, major factors include the type (e.g., single hung, double-hung, sliding, casement); frame material (e.g., vinyl, wood, clad); window performance, options such as grids between the glass panes; and of course, brand.

Type. Single-hung windows are typically the least expensive, having a stationary upper, while the lower sash raises and often tilts in for cleaning. Based on retail pricing for egress windows from a well-known brand, next on the price ladder are casement windows (25%-40% higher than single-hung), which are hinged on one side and crank outwards; sliding windows (60%-90% higher than single-hung), having one sash which slides horizontally; and double-hung windows (roughly twice the price of single hung) in which both the upper and lower sashes raise, lower, and tilt-in.

Frame Material. Vinyl windows are usually the least costly as well as being low maintenance. Expect to spend 15%-30% more for fiberglass, around 50%-75% more for wood, and 75%-200% more for clad and composite windows. Keep in mind, these price differences are for the windows only, not including installation.

Even for a modest home like the Krebs Pointe (#42395), the window frame material makes a big difference in price. Using retail pricing for the egress windows from a well-known national brand, the vinyl double-hung window package cost is $1,880, while the aluminum-clad/wood interior window package priced out at $5,176. 

Krebs Pointe - #42395

Window Performance. With new homes being built to more stringent energy codes today, most windows are going to be double-panes of glass, and many are built with low-e coatings on the glass and may be filled with a gas such as Argon between the panes. For additional energy savings, some windows have three panes of glass. Also, some windows are impact resistant for protection against flying debris, and/or built to withstand very high wind pressures – all of which add to the window’s cost.

Options. Nearly invisible window screens, varying grille styles, upgraded hardware, and an emerging array of technology options can add to your home’s beauty and enjoyment. And cost. One design option you may have is to join (“mull”) two windows together to make a single double-wide window. This provides the same amount of daylight as having the individual windows but reduces installation costs.

Cedar Hill - #42435

Providing room for a bed headboard, the Cedar Hill’s (#42435) Bedroom Suite 1 splits its windows. With two holes to cut in the wall and two separate windows to trim out, those split windows will be more expensive than the same size windows that have been mulled together as in Bedroom Suite 2.

Brands. Quality… research and development… service…  warranty… style… options… years in business… leading window brands became leading window brands for a reason. Sure, performance ratings as provided on the stickers adhered to new windows are one basis for making your decision. But what is the value of knowing when you have an issue with your home’s windows that it will be taken care of, versus saving a few dollars up front and gambling that a new window brand will be there for you 10 years from now? Resale should be kept in mind as well, as highly regarded window brands are one of the surest ways to communicate yours is a quality home, potentially enhancing both the home’s value and leading to a quicker sale.

Garage Doors. The humble garage door. It goes up and down and keeps your golf clubs from getting stolen. But one of your home’s focal points? If your garage doors face the street, did you realize those doors are probably the single largest architectural element on the front of your home? Everybody’s home doesn’t look alike, yet when you drive down many streets, everybody has essentially the same garage door style – often the raised 32-panel door. Because of their size, and because they are sometimes the closest part of your home to the street, garage doors style should not be overlooked.

Size, insulation, and warranty are reflected in garage door prices. But the material they are made of, style, and brand likely have the most significant impact on price.

Good, better, best? Garage door manufacturer Clopay® offers an online Door Imagination System™ that is a great way to visualize how your home would look with different garage door styles and materials. Using their tool and the rendering of Design Basics’ Kendrick (#8532) home plan, shown at left is the lower-priced Classic™ Steel raised 32-panel insulated door; at right, a stunning wood door from the Reserve® Wood Semi-Custom line; and, balancing cost and aesthetics, in the center, a wood-look insulated door from the company’s Gallery® Steel series. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Steel Garage Door
Wood-look Garage Door
Wood Garage Door

Entry Door Systems. Did you know that stylish entry doors could increase a home’s perceived value by an average of 4.2% or $18,750? That’s what a study by one of the leading door manufacturers, Therma-Tru, found. Akin to garage doors, too often a home’s front entry door was the “default” selection – the good old Colonial 6-panel door, or whatever is the builder’s standard front door.      

Material composition, glass options, and style are large influencers of entry door system prices. Insulated steel doors tend to be the least expensive, followed by increasingly popular fiberglass doors, and at the pricier end of the spectrum, wood doors. For aesthetics and security (we like to see who is at the front door), entry doors will either have glass in the door, sidelites, or both. The presence of sidelites may be limited by the width of your home’s front entry design. For an even brighter entryway, there may be a transom window atop the entry door. All of these glass options add to the cost.

It would almost be a crime to install a standard 6-panel entry door if you were building the Kinney Haven (#42461) design. Both your personal style and your home’s exterior style should be reflected in that door! Modern? French Country? Craftsman? Does the door you chose look “right”? As guests arrive, your home’s front door can make a big impression. This can be money well spent; you enjoy the stylish door, and as the Therma-Tru study reported, you may recoup the added investment (or more!) at resale.

Kinney Haven - #42461

(Click on image to enlarge.)

While your home’s exterior design is the primary cost driver, as you have seen, roofing, siding, window, and door choices can affect your new home’s price by tens of thousands of dollars. Most of us have budget restrictions when building a new home, or at least a price we are comfortable with. So, it becomes a balancing act, usually requiring tradeoffs to meet your budget and vision for your new home. Similarly, product choices inside the home have a surprising impact on your new home’s cost, which we look at next time.

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Cover Image: Cedar Hill (#42435)

A Great Elevation Helps Make the Sale

A Great Elevation Helps Make the Sale

Prospective customers rule you “in” or “out” based on your homes’ exteriors. It’s a fact. Overwhelmed by too many choices, buyers use shortcuts to narrow the number of home builders they will consider. One of those shortcuts is your elevation designs. Photographs can be great – once the home has been built AND if the photos, the lighting, the landscaping, etc., are top-notch. 

More common is to win buyers’ hearts and minds with elevation renderings. But all renderings are not created equal, and this is where buyers infer a lot about the builder. A black and white CAD drawing is devoid of emotion, and a black and white artist’s rendering does little to capture buyers’ attention. Color renderings are more impactful, but many are perceived as being “cartoonish,” unprofessional, and actually work against you as they help her rule you out. Professional, hand-drawn color renderings used to be the standard, but are now seen as old-fashioned, inferring the builder is also less sophisticated. (Elevation rendering progression shown below – Dorsett plan #29062; click on the image to enlarge.)

Dorsett - #29062 BW CAD

Black & White CAD Elevation

Dorsett - #29062 BW Drawn

Black & White Hand-drawn Rendering

Dorsett - #29062 Color Drawn

Color Hand-drawn Rendering

Dorsett - #29062

Photo-realistic Rendering

Photo-realistic, color, CAD renderings are now what buyers expect. Everything can be perfect – from the weather to the landscaping, color and materials choices, etc. Plus, there can be multiple views, whether that’s front/sides/rear, different perspectives, daytime/dusk, or even drone views. (Click on an image below to enlarge.)
the Sinclair Terrace - #42424

Front Elevation Rendering
(Sinclair Terrace – #42424)

Sinclair Terrace - #42424

Rear Elevation Rendering
(Sinclair Terrace – #42424)

Custom Presentation Renderings for Your Plans

Design Basics was selected by the Home Builders Association of Des Moines to create photo-realistic elevation renderings for each of the five homes built for their 2020 HomeShowExpo. The different views of each home visually connected viewers with the homes’ designs on an emotional level, and feedback form the builders, their sales representatives, the HBA, and consumers was extremely positive.

What about you? What does the visual presentation of your homes say about you, your company, and the homes you build? Design Basics can create custom photo-realistic elevation renderings from your CAD home plans that stir buyer’s heartstrings and rule you “in!” You can specify exterior colors and products, or Design Basics can make recommendations. We will also discuss what angle and perspective we feel would help create the most intriguing rendering.

One plan or dozens, we look forward to helping you raise the bar with high-quality presentation renderings of your homes! Contact us today: 800.947.7526

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