The North Texas economy is seeing the best new home market in at least five years with the Dallas-based real estate analytical firm Metrostudy predicting rapid growth because of the low inventory of new homes available and because of the area's strong job and population growth.
Interest rates are low, and that means that people who once bought a traditional starter home are now able to enter the custom home market at a higher level than they previously could afford.
Local builders say this group of potential homeowners is knowledgeable, technologically savvy and sophisticated in their assessments of their desires and needs. Growing trends are toward openness in floor plans, making the outdoors an integral part of the house, planning for future care of relatives and increased concern about environmental issues.
We asked a group of local custom builders to assess the trends they are seeing among buyers. And since a home is probably the largest single purchase most families will ever make, we also asked their advice on how to select a builder for your new home.
QUALITY VS. SIZE
While much of the new construction in the area is of homes that cannot be considered small, there is a move toward fewer square feet than seen in the McMansion era.
"It is finally a trend," says David Lewis of David Lewis Builder Inc. "That's what I have always preached to people - that they should build smaller and something a little nicer. When I talk to a client, I try to get them to think about using real good windows, using real good insulation values and trying to build the house where it is as maintenance free as possible."
Gary Nussbaum of AG Builders, the builder of this year's Fort Worth, Texas Dream Home, says his clients are more value conscious in this challenging economy. "What I hear from clients repeatedly is the desire to build and occupy a home that performs reliably and functions to meet the needs of their family at the lowest overall cost without sacrificing quality," he said. "I believe that clients would rather live in smaller square footage if they could have more quality products installed in their home."
What used to be upgrades and add-ons are becoming standard, says John Askew of the John Askew Co. "I'd say that the average requirement for the average product has increased. We're doing granite virtually everywhere now where granite used to be standard in certain areas and was optional in others," Askew said. "We're doing a little nicer plumbing fixtures standard. Putting in a little nicer lighting standard. Nicer windows."
It's been going that way for a while, says Don Ferrier, of Ferrier Custom Homes, a recognized builder in sustainability. "My clients have always demanded energy efficiency and quality over a lower priced inefficient home," he said. "In the past 10 years, I have seen a steady drop in the size of the homes we build and an increased demand for an even higher performance home."
Donald F. Gatzke, Dean of the School of Architecture, at the University of Texas at Arlington says the huge houses of the 1990s period were more driven by marketing than by need. "Adding more air to the interior of a house is a very cheap way of improving its perceived value," he said. "Nationally, there does seem to be a trend toward smaller, more efficient and, with the innovation in technology, more bells and whistles in terms of controls and media, connectivity."
There's no single "right way" to design a specific space, says Tim Bates of Glendarroch Homes, the builder of the Fort Worth, Texas Dream Remodel in 2010, but he sees a definite move toward "getting the most out of the space you have rather than building the biggest house you can afford."
SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
New homebuyers are environmentally knowledgeable and interested in techniques that save them money long term and that are also good for the environment.
"The demand for sustainable construction is increasing at an astounding rate," says Ferrier. "My business is centered on clients who demand this and won't settle for something less. Our largest client base is Baby Boomers and particularly engineers from Lockheed Martin and the like. The Baby Boomers primarily want the energy efficiency, while the younger folks are primarily looking for what is good for them and their future generations."
Lewis also sees that desire in clients once they understand the pricing. There's an upfront expense, but it isn't a long-term payoff. Lewis always tries to do an encapsulated attic. When careful work can reduce energy consumption by the equivalent of a car payment a month, the payback is quick.
Askew says there are two schools of thought - one that a house needs to be able to breathe and another that says it should be as tight as possible. "We pretty much split the difference," he said. "About 30 percent of our homes are encapsulated. About 70 percent, we do a very good job of insulating, but we do not necessarily do the rafters." The steeper the roof, the more the expense. "The point of return is a lot further down the road before you ever get your money back on it," he said. "The higher the pitch, the less value there is."
It's an important issue to customers, says Bates. Items such as tankless water heaters, foam insulation and highly efficient low energy windows used to be options for people to consider. "Those features have now become the norm for custom homes," he said. "The long-term benefit to the homeowner and the environment is unquestionable."
OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE
Spaces to enjoy the Texas weather are becoming standard parts of new home design.
"The average outdoor living area for our customers has probably doubled in size over the last few years," says Bates. New exterior door technology allows the homeowner to open an entire wall of doors and blend indoor and outdoor living space. "By using either slider doors or accordion-style doors, on a beautiful fall or spring day, you can take a 400-square foot-family room and combine it with your back patio area to make an 800-square-foot haven for entertaining."
The 2012 Fort Worth, Texas Dream Home featured a set of doors that did exactly this.
Some might question how practical outdoor living is during recent scorching Texas summers and given last year's swarming mosquitoes. Both Lewis and Askew point out that there are ways to deal with that.
"Sometimes we do outdoor cooling," Lewis said. "They make air conditioning systems that blow cool air into an area that's maybe 110 outside or maybe 105, but in the shade, you can keep it in the 90s. They use that a lot in Arizona and Florida." He admits that not a lot of people want to pay for that.
Askew is seeing screens, either mechanical or power-driven that can create a bug-free zone. "Above a million dollars, we're seeing it a couple of times a year, maybe 10 or 15 percent of the time," he says. "It's not a major trend, but it's certainly something that we're starting to see."
CUTTING EDGE/SMART TECHNOLOGY
Houses are becoming increasingly smarter through technology, and customers are becoming more comfortable with the process.
"Yep, I got an app for that," says Gatzke. "Whether we wanted to have all this control or not, it's coming. It's just too cheap not to imbed it and then sell it as a feature." Likely in the future, he says, is more automation in which the house monitors itself, learns what your patterns of life are and then responds. "It will learn that you sneak out of work early on Friday and will bump up the A/C at 2 p.m. instead of 5," he said.
Nussbaum says he enjoys hearing from the 28 to 38 age group. "This group of clients knows what they want and, because they have grown up with having so much information at their fingertips, they are curious and informed about the process of home building. It really keeps me on my toes," he said. "These people want a fully automated home that can be operated from their iPads. Lights, security, HVAC, drapery treatments, sound system and TV's. It is an exciting time to be building and designing."
It's leading to a new trend in Lewis" opinion. He sees the dedicated phone line going away as houses become more and more wireless. "Instead of the intercom, sometimes it's easier for parents to send a text message from the living room to the kid's bedroom," he said. "They respond to that faster than you yelling, "Hey, it's dinner time." "
"Gone are the days of having five different remotes sitting on your coffee table to control the TV, radio, receiver, cable box and DVD player," said Bates. Cooling, heating and lighting can be easily automated and there are security features. "You can set up a camera so that if someone rings your front doorbell, you can see who it is from the other side of the world," he said.
MODULAR DESIGN/PREFABRICATION
Perhaps the ultimate in modular design and prefabrication came between 1908 and 1940 when customers could order entire homes from Sears Roebuck that would arrive by rail with precut lumber, carved staircases, nails and varnish. As many as 100,000 may have been sold.
"I saw one not too long ago out near Bowie," says Askew. "It was cool looking. Relatively simple but it wasn't just a box." But he doesn't see much implication to the custom home building industry beyond what is already being done - pre-hung doors, custom-made windows and cabinets. All of those things used to be done on-site.
Lewis, however, is watching some projects where architects are experimenting with the idea with really efficient modular projects. "They're not real big yet, so they're not high end, but it's going to take a lot of the market eventually. I'd like to get involved with that here in Texas to tell you the truth." Items that can be built in a warehouse as doors, windows and cabinets are now are made to better specifications under very controlled conditions, he says.
"No one has yet put a modular product on the market that comes near the cost efficiency of a large production builder," Gatzke said. "The stick-built house is an incredibly efficient economic system - low overhead, low skill base, minimal supervision, almost no inventory costs, lots of subcontractors, the materials are dirt cheap, as material go…That said, there will likely be real improvements in structural insulated panels -SIPS, Stramit and similar - that can be economically made, transported and modified in the field."
Homebuilding today uses the same basic techniques used 50 to 80 years ago," said Ferrier. "There is a major push to improve on those systems." He uses SIPs - Structural Insulated Panels - that are prefabricated in controlled conditions. "SIPs are acknowledged as one of the best energy efficient and green materials available," he said.
OPEN FLOOR PLAN
Living rooms fell out of favor years ago as people began transitioning to family rooms and great rooms. A logical extension is an open floor plan that links normally separated spaces.
"It's an ongoing trend," says Askew. "But you have to define open. You want it to be where the kitchen and family room and the breakfast area are all pretty much one space? You want them segregated but still you can see them? You want to have a little separation with some arches so you can feel the difference in rooms?"
Openness creates a friendlier more comfortable living space, Ferrier says. "This year we will design or remodel six homes, and on all of them we open up the existing floor plan to create an open floor plan," he says.
The concept can lead to "some really awful, awkward interiors," Gatzke says. "This is one area that some sensible design could make a big difference in getting some generous, but useful space in a smaller footprint."
Bates sees the concept as great for families with smaller children. "You can prepare dinner and keep an eye on junior who is about to break the lamp," he says. "The lines between meal preparation in the kitchen, eating in the nook and watching TV in the great room have been so blurred due to how fast paced people's lives are that it only makes sense that the lines between those rooms would be blurred a bit as well," he said.
MULTI-GENERATIONAL
Many homeowners are assuming that they will someday have to care for their aging parents and making that part of their home planning.
"I don't know about the popularity, but it's becoming a necessity," Gatzke said. "The financial benefits of a mom and pop suite will become more apparent with the aging population. Pay for the addition to your property with the money you would pay the assisted living center - and maybe you actually like having your parents around."
The area can be designed as flex space, Lewis said, but the best configuration if possible is to build that area so that it is not really connected to the house - an ancillary building or a wing. "The family dynamics are the biggest key," he says. "If it's an in-law or even a guest, you want them to feel like they are separate from the family, but you want them to feel wanted."
Nussbaum says clients are looking at the future as they plan their homes. "While they may not be ready to build all the space they want immediately, clients want to plan and design for future rooms such as extra bedrooms and bath for growing families or possibly in-laws having to move in." There's an example in the 2013 Fort Worth, Texas Dream Home. "We have a media room planned to finish out," he said. "However we designed and placed the room above the garage and adjacent to the elevator and upstairs bar kitchen. This room could easily be converted to a master suite and bath for a live-in parent or returning adult child."
Bates says he can't think of a single house his company has designed or built that did not take that possibility into account. "If you have the space on the lot and the cash to pay for it, it is a great option to build a separate guest suite with a kitchenette. This option gives the elderly the privacy and feel of their own place, but the comfort in knowing that there is help only a few steps away."
Ferrier has personal experience in this. He remodeled his home so his mother could live with him. "Baby Boomers are my most common client," he said. "They want to build so a parent or parents can live with them and so they can have assistance when they need it."
