no more formal rooms

My blog title is already outdated, as another year has gone by, but I thought I'd show a couple of the projects which have come my way recently. Very different clients. One a young man whose house burned down. The other a mid-aged family with a couple of teen-age kids and an at home business (hair salon). Remarkably similar floor plan solutions, however. Both clients wanted to maximize their value by only constructing rooms which they would use. Seems like no one wants the burden of paying for those formal living and dining spaces that are only trotted out for special occasions. The public-private zoning of the house is taking a beating with our informal lifestyles. The younger client's plan shows the second floor and elevations. This is mainly a party house. It includes a full finished basement with a bar- theater area, and multiple fixture men's and women's facilities. Also a hobbyists garage with a lift. The office and laundry space is seen as part of the only private section of the house- the master suite. You go up a spiral staircase to do your work and run back down to go to sleep. Sort of a single person's solution, we're not worrying about keeping the spouse up here.

The family plan puts the office on the 1st floor- and the laundry in a mud- drop zone off the garage. The second floor is laid out for a future "man-zone" accessed by the stairs in the garage as well as the second floor hall way. So all the buds can come over for some brews and watch the game without disrupting the rest of the family.

Some surprising similarities for very different programs.

projects for the new economy

What sort of jobs are coming now? Here's a typical cross section of what I'm doing. The first is for a developer who was selling improved lots to Ryan Homes. Ryan is unusual for a large public company in that the never improve their own lots. They contract them fully improved with a take down schedule, usually at the highest price the market will bear. They then sell the homes on contract, typically not taking down the lot until after the house has been sold. Not the most profitable way to do business, but a great way to minimize risk and afford a huge return on investment. There's no money tied up in inventory. It's all great except when the market turns and the developer who was counting on Ryan's huge price for the lot is left holding the bag, with no one interested in paying anywhere close to Ryan's price. All you can do is build it out and hope for the best. Here's a 20' townhouse project where Ryan's product was selling for mid $200,000. The market tells us to move product, we have to be at $175,000. for something with the same appeal. Here's what we have. Every possible cent was taken out of these, while making them still appealing to the marketplace.

Here's another one. I mentioned earlier a luxury condo project selling in the 1.5 million dollar range. We thought about reducing the square footage and the price about 20%, and a plan was posted a couple months ago. Now this has been re-thought. We got the first floor even smaller and hope for a price well under a million. Time will tell. The photo is of the existing model home- over 4400 s.f.





Another developer, again with lots left over from a cancelled Ryan deal has to make a project of 22' two story townhouses, and 24' three story townhouses. Our strategy here was to introduce a look to differentiate our project from the competitors, and offer some unique plans to try to get a premium for the community. Easy to strategize-but hard to accomplish. Here's our first stab at the look for the community.



For a note of nostalgia, I was out a couple of weeks ago and snapped some photos of a couple of the last houses being finished up more reflective of times gone by. What I'm starting to call the good old days. The one on the left, the first one started, was sold for full asking price before it reached drywall stage. The middle one sat for over a year 3/4 finished, was sold by the builder as is with a substantial discount, the buyer putting the completion contract out to bid. The original builder didn't win the contract. The third house sat empty for a while, but now the builder has finished it up and moved into it himself.

32' cape plan

I was looking at one of Greg LaVerda's new plans over on the CORA site, and was inspired to post this plan here.He starts with a 32x32 cape layout, but presents it in what he calls a MoTrad idiom. You can see the traditional roots, but a variety of very modern gestures quickly removes most traces of a traditional plan. He calls it a stealth house. Perfect for sneaking in to a traditional setting.

This is a 32x36 cape cod which was designed to sell for about $200.k on a $55k. lot. Builder's cost to build was about $110,000. Obviously, cost was paramount. The w/d was sent down to the basement. The first floor bath is shared with the bedroom. The kitchen layout is basic- with no island (to allow for an old-fashioned kitchen table). At this price point, I'm competing with 20' wide 3 story attached product. Room count and sizes correspond to this competition. My big selling points are the 2 volume ceiling areas. 3 dormers light the front area, while skylites illuminate the open ceiling in the family area. You give up the garage. I typically detail my dormers with the fypon face kit, but this builder deleted that and let his siding mechanic take care of it. Oh well. House was sold last year soon after completion and the builder is putting a second version next door. This time, the 3 front dormers are deleted, a cross gable with a window is put in, and the front room is floored with access from each of the bedrooms. Now for sale at $219,000.

shack attack

An honestly designed house. A home which doesn't try to be anything more than what it is. No effort to feed the owner's ego. No effort to bloat up to impress friends or neighbors. Just an honest little structure to house ourselves and our families. With just enough stylistic content to reflect ourselves and our values, while maintaining a connection to our culture's history of the built environment. Not too much to ask is it? It is a house type which has a continuing appeal. It's been called a bungalow, a cottage, a cabin, maybe a lodge. I'm going real down and dirty here though, and taking the concept all the way to "shack." Simple forms, natural materials, porches, and informal lifestyle. No pretense whatsoever. No country club memberships or Range Rovers need apply. Just bring your kids and dogs and enjoy yourselves for heaven's sake.

I've settled on 2400 to 2800 s.f. with 1- 1st floor bedroom and bath, with the master upstairs. Garages are optional- detached - and placed on the back of the lot. The street scape is unassuming, unimpressive, but quite comfortable. Who wants one?

where did all the small houses go?

After gearing myself up for a run of 1500 to 2500 sf plans, seems like all I'm working on is larger homes. Here's what has gone out in the last month. The first is a 3800 s.f. plan in a Med. style. No living room or study, just a family room and a 1st floor "man" room with a walk behind bar.

The second house is a larger estate- approx. 6-7000 s.f. The front was rendered with a hip roof, the rear with a gable roof. We seem to be settling on the gable. What's interesting to me about this plan is the way there are 3 distinct circulation zones on the 1st floor. The foyer runs front to back with a staircase under a window dislay at the rear. a half flight down takes you to pool deck level. From here, you enter an area I call the grotto, a stone walled room containing a back staircase with a cozy sitting area underneath. This is centered on the opening to a barrel vaulted kitchen. The third circulation zone is conceived as a gallery, with art displays and openings to the great room, family studio, and back entry. We got rid of the two story volume in this plan, but there's still a great variety in the feel of the spaces as you move through the plan. Are we green yet? Geo thermal seems to be popular with clients deciding the extra expense is worth it if its less than a 8 year payback. I also note that the 2 story Great room was not desired in either of these plans.

Interesting commission came in a couple weeks ago. A group of investors have to take over a project from a builder who evaporated. They are in to the lots for way too much money. The only way out maximizing value is to hire one of the many laid off production builder project managers and have him build houses for as low cost as possible to create the kind of compelling value which will make a sale. They'll pay all the costs, and whatever is left at the end of the day is what they recouped from the lot.

Market told us we had to sell at about $135. per foot, and the area dictated 300-400k sales price. So that meant 2100-2800 s.f. You are probably thinking I might introduce one of the new plans I've been posting here, but I didn't think they would work well in this instance. Back to the tried and true. Several reasons: First, a non-existent builder. This is not an actual company, its a group of investors who can hardly agree on when to have a meeting, let alone new kinds of product design. Second, the site is on the fringes of our marketplace, not the sort of setting state of the art buyers might consider. Third, These things will be built by production subs probably traveling a long way to get there. They have to be simple. I've shown a couple of samples. Nothing too revolutionary, but I'm trying to get rid of the big foyer window, and introduce a couple of ideas not usually seen in this price range: the open staircase to the basement on the one plan with the wide opening to the family area in the back of the house. The other plan would typically have an open foyer with a T-stair, but here we closed it off, made a straight run on the stair, and used the space for an upstairs laundry and nicer bath. Small gestures, but may help this product stand out from the Pulte type competition.

voysey hollymount

Here are two plans which seem to be in the same general theme as those recently posted. The first is a 56' wide version of C.F.A. Voysey's Hollymount. This plan is done as a 3600 s.f. version, with the usual room components. In Keeping with the English Arts and Crafts roots- the garage is planned to be detached. Look what happens to the plan when it is adapted to the new economy. It loses 14', down to 40' width. The study morphs into a desk alcove. The dining area is expanded and opened in to the kitchen. The formal living room is made so it could be closed off as a playroom or study. The main living space is opened up to the kitchen area. We shed 14' of width and over 900 s.f. of avoir du pois.