When it comes to new homes, everywhere you look – models, websites, magazines, friends’ homes – something is new or different.
So what’s in a trend?
Buyers happen upon trends by a variety of avenues – word of mouth, floor plans printed in magazines and posted online or touring events such as the Parade of Homes. Builders and designers consider those suggestions, and their applicability, as a plan is drawn, while weighing a multitude of factors that may or may not allow for inclusion of the preferred features.
When a buyer comes forward with multiple ideas from multiple sources, they all need to be sorted so decisions can be made on what to include and what to omit so as to best suit the client’s needs, wishes and budget.
Trends emerge in interviews with those in the Columbus-area new home market and from a nationwide survey by the National Association of Homebuilders, the parent organization of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio.
The national association’s survey of 3,862 homebuyers or potential buyers in the U.S. put energy conservation at the top of the preference list and, with that go, Energy Star-rated appliances and heating systems. Gated and golf course locations were just above elevators as the least desirable amenities.
Still, the average purchase price of those who responded was $203,900 – well below the typical cost of a custom-designed home in central Ohio.
For upscale buyers, energy is a consideration, not the “trend,” says Lori Steiner, president of Truberry Custom Homes. It’s certainly not a top consideration when buyers and Truberry architects begin designing a custom home, Steiner says.
Most Truberry homes cost at least $400,000.
Energy efficiency comes automatically in new homes in Ohio. One factor is upgraded building codes. Another is that top-grade materials, such as windows, are always included, especially in upscale homes.
Design is another factor. Window placement designed to maximize natural light and room placement and sizes designed to account for the buyer’s living needs or desires both factor into energy costs.
With energy efficiency frequently part of the custom home package, other considerations rise to the top of the preference list and, for Truberry, neighborhood is still No. 1, Steiner says. It’s followed by garage size and basement walkout possibilities.
After those come living spaces, such as placement of the master bedroom and determination of the number of bedrooms and walk-in closets. Then there’s consideration of other rooms and uses.
“In the family market, we are seeing a trend back to the two-story homes with second-floor masters,” Steiner says.
Empty-nesters, on the other hand, tend to prefer first-floor master bedrooms, she says.
Architect Richard Taylor of Dublin-based Richard Taylor Architects has also seen a preference for first-floor masters among buyers, often for use as in-law suites for aging parents.
“It may be (the owners’) 20 years from now,” Taylor says.
Heated tubs and showers in master suites are popular, Taylor says, and he sometimes suggests large two-person showers and space reserved for a tub with plumbing roughed in, but used for seating or a cosmetics counter.
Another popular feature: Eat-in kitchens that are slightly more elegant.
“Granite is everywhere, (but) crushed quartz is just coming on,” Steiner says. “It is about the same price, but it never needs to be sealed and doesn’t stain.”
Multi-level cabinets are also gaining popularity in all residential prices and types, she says.
While eat-in kitchens gain ground in new designs, dining rooms are losing ground. That space is used to better incorporate the kitchen into large rooms where most living is done, Taylor says. Steiner sees significant demand for secondary gathering areas, such as lofts or bonus rooms above garages.
She is finding less desire for volume and for two-story great room ceilings, with preference trending to 9- and 10-foot, flat ceilings. Also gaining the eyes of buyers is a new ceiling finish called Bark. It’s a variation on the once-popular stipple effect, which left a rough, pointed surface after a soft finish was tamped and dried. Now, the same finish is applied, but bark patterns are pressed into it, resulting in a much smoother, patterned finish to be painted.
Space once designated for a dining or living room is now being used for a den or office instead, and tastes in offices are evolving. The prototypical office with dark paneling and copious shelves is losing favor, Taylor says, as users find themselves with fewer books and smaller computers. He has designed office space behind folding doors in a family room that can be opened as the desk is needed.
Another design includes a small office as part of, but somewhat separate from, the main part of a second-floor bedroom. And an office can be inserted in a niche as part of a large, open room, he says.
“(Offices) are becoming a room that is worked in almost every day, but now, the kids do their computer work on a laptop or an iPad everywhere and anywhere in the house, not just the office,” Steiner says.
Laundry rooms also continue to get larger, Steiner says, while mudrooms – often with clothing storage and charging stations for cell phones and other portable electronic devices – are almost standard.
In outdoor areas, open-air roofed spaces – not necessarily screened – with real furniture and TVs are emerging, Steiner says. Those outdoor TVs are often flat-screens, and buyers are forever finding new ways to incorporate flat-screens into rooms; kitchens, bathrooms and porches are joining traditional spots such as family rooms and master bedrooms in TV preferences.
Detailed concrete driveways, some with paver edges, make up another outdoor trend, as do ever-fancier garage door designs.
Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
