Hello, and welcome to another installment of Bob's Biased Blog! Today, we're talking about designing, customizing, and upgrading your home. Altering your home’s design and materials to fit your lifestyle and preferences can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the home-building process. In this post, I’m going to focus on three types of modifications: the most popular, the most creative, and finally, the most cost-effective. I’ll share what our average client is contemplating as they design their home and budget. Here are my biased criteria:
Most Popular: This is exactly how it sounds. I see EVERYONE asking about and adding these items and modifications to their needs/wants list. Sometimes, these items are the most cost-effective; sometimes, they are an upgrade, and sometimes, they are standard. Either way, these items seem to make it into most homeowners' designs/budgets.
Most Creative: Do you ever screenshot a picture or like a post on Pinterest because you thought maybe there’s a chance you can incorporate this into your future home? That’s the mindset for this category!
Most Cost-Effective: This is everyone’s favorite! These items answer the question: What can I change or add that gives me the most value?
click on any of the links to see what our modular manufacturer can offer
Foundation
Most Popular: Basement—This is a standard feature in our Turn Key Package. It gives homeowners future space to finish and storage.
Most Creative: Walkout basement—If your land has enough slope for a natural walkout basement or if some minor excavation is required, doors and windows that provide access and natural light can provide many options for using the basement in the future.
Most Cost-Effective: Rough-in Plumbing for Future Bathroom—Having the plumbing components available to add a bathroom in the future is more cost-effective when the builder is completing your foundation than after you move in.
Exterior Materials
Most Popular: Board and Batten or Vertical Siding—Changing the colors, textures, and materials on the exterior of the home is important for those focused on curb appeal. Even if it’s just meant to be used as an accent, vertical siding or vinyl board and batten is the most popular way to break up traditional horizontal siding.
Most Creative: 3.5” or 5” Extra Wide Window Trim—Most people look straight to the shutters around the windows. The extra wide window trim gives the exterior of the house a nice picture frame look, making the windows appear bigger.
Most Cost-Effective: Window Grids—There are many options to spruce up the exterior of your home, and most options come at a minimal upgrade cost.
Exterior Structural Elements
Most Popular: Porch - We design/budget the roof type and dimensions of each porch for each home. Front, back, side, wrap-around porch… it doesn’t matter, but there is a good chance you’d like to have a covered porch somewhere attached to your home.
Most Creative: Garage – Whether it’s a one, two, three, or four-car garage, attached, detached, or in the basement, whether you’re going to park cars or use it as storage space, there is much you can do with a garage that could look many ways.
Most Cost-Effective: Electric - Outlets and lights can be added very easily to the exterior. Let’s find ways to make Christmas decorating a little easier!
Interior Materials
Most Popular: LVP—Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring—This is a standard feature in our Turnkey package for the main living areas of the home (kitchen/dining, living room, hallways). We can install this everywhere, but we start in the common areas of the home. It’s a durable floor that gives a great hardwood look.
Most Creative: Fireplaces - There are so many options for fireplaces, and it seems everyone likes something different. Try to determine if electric, gas, or wood is the route you’d like to go, and then focus on how it looks. I’ve seen tile, trim, pallet wood, stone, granite, and drywall surround the fireplaces. And let’s not get started on the mantel options.
Most Cost-Effective: Windows - Do not hesitate to add windows to the design of your home. There is a good chance you will not complain about having the extra natural light when you move in. Not to mention… hiring a contractor in the future to add windows doesn’t sound fun.
Interior Structural Components
Most Popular: Deleting/moving partition walls—You have your load-bearing walls, or, in modular construction, the marriage wall where the modular boxes come together. But all the other walls in the home can be moved to make one room smaller and another room bigger.
Most Creative: Adding what’s missing—Don’t skip a floor plan because it doesn’t have a pantry or ½ bath. Let’s just find the best place to add them; there’s a good chance the laundry room is too big anyway. Find a floor plan that meets 80-90% of your needs, and then let’s create the rest.
Most Cost-Effective: 8.5’ or 9’ ceilings—8’ is our standard ceiling height, but upgrading your floor plan to higher ceilings doesn’t seem to break the bank for 8.5’. This is not an upgrade that you can do in the future.
Kitchen
Most Popular: Quartz Countertops - Who doesn’t want a countertop where you don’t need to worry about maintenance? Solid surface countertops are very durable, which in turn makes this upgrade a popular one.
Most Creative: Cabinet Accessories - Lazy Susans, spice racks, roll-out shelves, trash-can cabinets. If you need storage solutions, look ahead at the variety of options homeowners decide between.
Most Cost-Effective: 24” Deep Refrigerator Cabinet - Look at the cabinet above your refrigerator right now. Is there stuff in front of it? Is it too shallow? Could you reach it without a step stool? Let’s bump it out and make it functional!
Bathrooms
Most Popular: Tile Shower—I understand the glass door and grout are a pain to clean. But come on! They look so pretty!
Most Creative: Flooring - Rolled vinyl, vinyl tile, ceramic, porcelain, floating floor…. You can see how sometimes too many options aren’t always a good thing. However, this space typically allows for some creativity due to the minimal square footage that bathrooms usually take up.
Most Cost-Effective: Windows - If you have a bathroom on an exterior wall, add a window. We can fit it above the shower tile or next to the toilet!
Honorable Mention
Most Popular: Laundry Sink—Most people Require an extra sink in their homes to wash in.
Most Creative: Vaulted Ceiling Sunroom—Many homeowners are interested in incorporating vaulted ceilings into the design. We have designed an addition with vaulted ceilings that can be placed around any floor plan to add that extra feature.
Most Cost-Effective: Extra Wide Doorways - You mean, I don’t have to struggle to move furniture through doorways? You’re saying my wheelchair will fit? The answer is YES.
Customizing your home to fit your unique needs and lifestyle is a journey filled with exciting choices, contemplations, and possibilities. By exploring various options and making informed decisions, you can create a home that's not only beautiful but also perfectly suited to you. For more insights on home building, be sure to check out my previous posts:
Ready to start customizing your dream home? Contact me today to schedule a consultation. Happy home building!
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