Media rooms? Out. Multipurpose game rooms? In.
Expansive square footage? Out. Compact and energy efficient? In.
As San Antonio peers into 2012, a few custom-home builders share their views of what trends are taking off here and which ones are usually fading away.
There is much mutual understanding.
Clients are asking to find ways to utilize less water, while also adding more showerheads in elegant master bathroom showers and jacuzzi. They’re asking for eco-friendly features that can are expensive more up front but provide long-term personal savings, such as tankless water heaters. And they are generally asking for a more minimalist, clean-line appear.
Don Craighead Homes
Don Craighead regarding Don Craighead Homes sees the trend toward smaller homes. Many clients now ask for a home in the 3,500- for you to 4,000-square-foot range; a few years ago, they will often have gone for 6,000 for you to 7,000 square feet.
“They’re only scared to commit at the level they were before,” Craighead says.
For Craighead, building green is picking up steam.
“I’ve been promoting it for about three years,” according to him. “They’re interested in it, even though they recognize it’s going to cost more.”
Such clientele envision energy and water costs going up and are looking for longer-term savings. They are requesting spray foam insulation and on demand water heaters.
Meanwhile, clients are even now wanting top-of-the-line appliances, lighting fixtures and also plumbing fixtures – only in a more compact and energy-efficient residence.
While the Mediterranean look is “still pretty hot,” Craighead is experiencing more straight lines and also contemporary features.
What’s passed by the wayside? For Craighead’s clients, oahu is the media room. Most choose instead to hang a huge flat-screen TV above the fireplace or around the wall of a great room.
Sierra Homes
To Teresa Fransik of Sierra Homes, the largest current trend is also downsizing.
“We’re getting into that era of the not-so-big house, exactly where clients are building not volume but quality,” Fransik says. “The official term is a ‘jewel box’ – little but tricked out.”
The woman’s firm, a green-home building organization that operates within with regards to 50 miles of Fredericksburg, hasn’t really built large homes because of her focus on vitality efficiency. But in the last five-years or so, the norm of preferred square footage has declined via about 3,000 or perhaps 3,500 square feet to around 2,500.
Her customers are asking for super energy-efficient homes, together with rainwater collection systems, future solar connections and whole-house rise protection.
“They’re looking at the possibility down the road of trying to make certain they’re protected against rising energy expenses, brown-outs, reduction in water supplies. Those actions are starting to be important,” Fransik says.
They are choosing low-flow water accessories and dual-flush toilets; other eco-friendly elements such as low-VOC (volatile organic chemical substance) paint and sealants are often regular now and “not as unusual as they were 10 years ago.”
For flooring, carpet has gone out; hardwood, concrete and tile are in.
As for design, simple and basic is the desired appear, she says. “They’re not getting a lot of interior trim specifics. There’s not a lot of glitz and also glamour.”
Mike Hollaway
While residence size is coming down a little bit, Mike Hollaway of Mike Hollaway Custom Homes sees clients asking for more quality within the square footage; for example, they may steer those same dollars in to better appliances or more tile work.
Clients are willing to offered more money for quality windows and foam insulation as a consequence of energy efficiency. They are shelling out for gourmet kitchens and backyard living areas that include cooktops, people who smoke, fireplaces, under-counter refrigerators, icemakers and integrative features and pools as reported tagza.com.