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.