Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

Must-Have Features for New Homes

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

If you believe everything that the “consumer experts” are saying, it would seem that Americans want smaller houses and they are willing to strip some of yesterday’s most popular rooms, such as home theaters, from them in order to accommodate changing lifestyles.  Buyers today want cost-effective architecture, plans that focus on spaces and not rooms and homes that are designed ‘green’ from the outset.

The key for home builders is finding the balance between what buyers want and the price point.  For many buyers, their next house will be smaller than their current one.  Large kitchens that are open to the main family living area, old-fashioned bathrooms with clawfoot tubs and small spaces such as wine grottos are design features that will resonate today.

Here are 9 “must” features in new homes:

Large kitchens, with an island.  If you’re going to spend design dollars, spend them where people want them, in the kitchen. Granite countertops are a must for move-up buyers and buyers of custom homes.

Energy-efficient appliances, high-efficiency insulation and high window efficiency. Among the “green” features touted in homes, these are the ones buyers value most. While large windows had been a major draw, energy concerns are giving customers pause on those. The use of recycled or synthetic materials is only borderline desirable.

Home office/study. People would much rather have this space rather than, say, a formal dining room. People are feeling like they can dine out again and so the dining room has become tradable. And the home theater may also be headed for the scrap heap, a casualty of the shift from boom to correction.

Main-floor master suite. This is a must feature for empty- nesters and certain other buyers, and appears to be getting more popular in general. That could help explain why demand for upstairs laundries is declining after several years of popularity gains.

Outdoor living room. The popularity of outdoor spaces continues to grow, even in New Hampshire. And the idea of an outdoor room is even more popular than an outdoor cooking area, meaning people are willing to spend more time outside.

Ceiling fans.

Oversize custom showers. Whirlpools are still desirable for many home buyers, but they clearly went down a notch in the latest survey. Oversize custom showers with seating areas moving up in popularity among our clients.

Stone veneer  and timber details on exteriors.  Vinyl doesn’t make the cut.

Two-car garages. A given at all levels; three-car garages, in which the third bay is more often than not used for additional storage and not automobiles, is desirable in the move up and custom categories.

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Exorbitant design fees?

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Exorbitant design fees?
Your architect or designer may not be making as much as you think

by Richard Morrison, AIA, ASID

I occasionally hear from people who are shocked by some of the hourly rates that architects and designers charge, perhaps anywhere from $75/hour to $250/hour or more. No doubt they are comparing these rates to their own hourly income (or the annual equivalent) as an employee, and imagine that these design professionals are just raking in the money. As a public service to my design colleagues, I am going to let you in on some of the “behind the scenes” financials.

The reality is that an hourly rate needs to cover much more than what a design professional takes home as his/her pay. Let’s take a billing rate of, say, $120/hour as an example.

To start with, not all time is billable. Most independent practitioners and owners of firms are thrilled when they can get 50 percent of their time billed. Some of the non-billable tasks that owners of firms must deal with are: accounting and billing, meeting with prospective contractors and product representatives, marketing, phone calls from non-business sources, fixing the printer that’s just jammed, attending trade shows and seminars, setting up filing systems, dealing with their insurance agent, listening to employees’ or colleagues’ gripes — well, the list is endless.

So, if only 50 percent of the time is billable, that means that each billed hour must cover two working hours — effectively creating an income rate of $60/hour.

But there are many expenses that need to be paid out of this money: office rent, new computers and software, insurance, phones, office supplies, professional licenses and dues, non-billable consultants, reference books — well, the list is again almost endless. It’s not uncommon to see 50 percent of total revenue go towards this “overhead” of maintaining an office.

So now we are down to a net (pre-tax) take-home revenue of maybe $30/hour from that original $120/hour — hardly supporting an opulent lifestyle in this part of the country. Of course, some professionals can reduce their overhead to the bone and work longer hours to generate more income, but it’s not a get-rich-quick profession.

The situation is somewhat similar when a design office bills for employees. It is common to see billing rates of 2.5 to 3 times the actual hourly wage of an employee. So if an employee is being paid, say, $25/hour, you will likely be billed $60-$75/hour for that employee. Remember that the employer is paying not only the direct wages of $25/hour, but also for vacation days, sick days, workers’ compensation insurance, health insurance, training days, and other non-billable time. The billing rate must cover not only that employee’s costs, but also general office overhead costs such as an office manager and rent on a larger space, and the equipment and supplies needed by that employee. Oh, and maybe a little profit, too.

While all of this is likely to be self-evident to anyone owning their own business, hopefully, those who don’t will now understand the reason for these “exorbitant” design fees. I always encourage people to focus on the overall value that is being provided by a design professional. Usually, it far exceeds the fees being charged.

Richard Morrison, AIA, ASID, is a Menlo Park architect and interior designer

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Designing Your Home Can Be Overwhelming!

Monday, July 20th, 2009

For many homeowners, working with a design professional and arriving at that “perfect” plan for their new home can be tiring and down right overwhelming!  Between late nights after work revising floor plans on scraps of paper and finalizing blueprints with the designer,  things get “complicated” and often leaving people feeling worried that their no getting exactly what they wanted from their design or designer. 

The truth is, many homeowners don’t know enough about what it takes to design a home to get what they want from the start.  In some cases, communication issues skew the collaboration process and in others certain “wish-list” items conflict with the size, style or more usually – the budget!  And occasionally homeowners feel shy about challenging trained professionals. 

Here are some tips to help you get the right plan, right from the start:

1. So, Whose House Is This Anyway?

Some homeowners say that they worry that the architect or professional designer will follow his or her own vision, or intimidate them into not speaking up with requests.  I’ve seen it happen way too many times where an architect will absolutely overwhelm homeowner objections with a tirade of “architect-speak” that no one can understand much less respond to.  Don’t let that happen to you!  Obviously you need to hire a design professional that can offer his or herexpertise and guidence when needed, but this is YOUR home and you need to feel that the designer is listening and resonding to you.  The best home designs are the result of an easy and respectful collaboration between designers and homeowners.

2.  Feel Free To Mix And Match Styles.

No matter what aesthetic you love, don’t think that you need to follow that style rigidly.  It’s rare to find a perfect fit with any exact style.  Be open to taking the gist of what you think represents the home of your dreams and allowing it to be molded and evolved to fit the way that you live, the lay of your land and your neighborhood.  A good example of this are most lake or hillside homes that present one architectural style on the approach side and perhaps something much more open and casual  towards the lake or view side.

3.  Hire A Designer That Knows The Medium.

Even if your brother-in-law, the architect, is an expert in sleek contemporary homes, but you want a Victorian lake home it probably won’t work out.  Take a look at the designer’s website portfolio to see what they have designed in the past.  Or make sure that they have experience in whatever building method that you are interested in such as green homes, timber frame, log or hybrid.  Each method has idiosyncrasies that an experienced designer will be able to embrace and enhance to your benefit.

4.  Know What You Want.

The best way to do this is to make a list of  your priorites from most desired to least desired.  Don’t make the mistake of leaving less important things off the list.  Sometimes those smaller items can be incorporated into the design for minimal cost.  We ask all of our clients to fill out our Design Questionnaire before we start the design process.  Sometimes we even get couples that fill the form out seperately to see how closely their individual visions intersect!  Your list can become the benchmark to ensure that your designer is developing a plan that represents the needs and wishes you have for your new home.

5.  Make Sure That You Understand What You Are Seeing!

Many, perhaps most, clients are certainly not trained to read blueprints and really do not understand what they are looking at.  How may times have I heard someone exclaim “So THAT’S what it looks like!” when they see their home being framed in.  No more!  We still start the conceptual design with sketches, but advance rapidly into 3D Cad design.  Residential design software has advanced tremendously in the last few years and it is very easy to create realistic 3d models of your home which are incredibly easy to understand and even easier to manipulate until it’s just the way that you want.  From that 3D model, all of your floor plans, elevations and house sections will be created.  So if you are like most of our clients, make sure that your designer can do 3D modeling.

6.  Be Realistic About The Budget.

Money is always extremely important and having the homeowner and the designer agree on a realistic budget BEFORE the design starts is the most important thing that you can do to ensure a successful outcome.  This allows the designer to design your home to the budget rather than design your dream home only to price it out after months of design work only to find that it grossly exceeds the amount that you want to invest in your home.  In our office, we prepare a very simple comparison of your “wish list” that you compiled in our Design Questionnaire to a home that is similar and that we have completed recently.  This gives us real construction numbers to use to create a ballpark estimated budget range for your new home.  Sometimes that  number is simply more than clients want to invest in their new home, so they tell us what amount they are comfortable with and we suggest compromises to the “wish list” that will allow us to get to that figure.

7.  Use Visual Aids To Convey Your Ideas.

We ask our clients to bring as many pictures as possible of elements that you want when discussing concepts for your new home.  Rip out magazine articles and take pictures of homes that you like as you drive around.  Keep folders for different rooms and the exterior features that you want.  And it’s important to show your designer not only what you do love, but also what you hate!  It does not have to be exact at all – just a single element that you really like or the ambience of a photograph that “feels” right.  The more ideas and insight that you can give your designer, the better.

8.  Be True To Yourself And What You Want From Your New Home.

Remember that building a new home will not change who you are.  Homes should not be transformative, but reflective.  A great design for you will celebrate you, your family, your values and personality.  Think about it – Your way of life now is probably going to be pretty similar to what it’s going to be in the future.  A home can be a wonderful reflection of that, so embrace it.

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