Finding a new-home community, picking a lot and settling on a floor plan is for many buyers the fun part of the moving process. It’s only after those initial commitments that the hard part begins: selecting all of the exterior and interior elements, accents and accessories that will turn a blueprint into a home.
It’s also the part that can make buyers feel frustrated, overwhelmed and uncertain about their choices. Many find it daunting to have to make so many choices from an array of options that goes well beyond counters, cabinets and appliances; it’s also selecting every inch of flooring, backsplashes, roof shingles, door handles, faucets, cable and electrical outlet locations, interior and exterior lights — even in the less dramatic spaces such as laundry rooms and garages.
“Making those choices can be a very intimidating process,” said Debbie Naftel, director of design for Edward Andrews Homes. “We want to make it fun for our buyers.”
As the housing market continues to strengthen, many builders and developers are simplifying the process by establishing design centers, where buyers can see, touch, step on and step into options for every room in the house. While such centers were fairly standard in the pre-recession bubble, many disappeared as the demand for new houses withered. They’re now making a comeback.
“We wanted to create more of an experience-driven process,” said Caroline Simmel, Edward Andrews’ senior marketing vice president. “Our mission is to be extraordinarily customer focused and to take the uncertainty out of the process.”
Having a design center also eliminates the need for buyers to make multiple trips to lighting, appliance and flooring centers to make choices.
“It speeds the process to be able to make those decisions in one place,” said Pamela Bordelon, design center manager for the Providence Group. “Buyers don’t have to take time out of their schedules to run around to different places to see what they want. They can accomplish that in a few appointments, which is especially great if someone is moving in from out of town and has less time to make their choices.”
Letting buyers see and compare options in one place streamlines the process, and cuts down on last-minute changes that can disrupt the building schedule.
“This helps avoid the constant changes from a buyer whose decisions weren’t well thought out,” said Simmel. “By having a center, we can put a process in place that allows us to design first, then build.”
Many of the buyers at 600-home Soleil Laurel Canyon, an active-adult community in Canton, have owned or built houses before and feel confident about making choices, particularly around options and upgrades they didn’t have before.
“These homeowners are very computer savvy and have done a lot of research,” said Lisa Szeder, design manager and consultant. “They know what they haven’t had and what they want, things like granite countertops, high-end cabinets, hand-scraped or hand-rubbed hardwood floors. They want high-end things that will last and will jazz up their homes.”’
Even with ideas in mind, some buyers can be overwhelmed. “But I remind them that it gives them the chance to design their house so it doesn’t look like everyone else’s,” said Szeder. “We spend a lot of time giving them personal attention to help with those choices. It’s a much better system than what we had years ago that meant sending them on separate trips to the cabinet place, the lighting store and the appliance center. It’s really great that they can look at everything together in the same room.”
Soleil’s design center is part of the community’s model home collection, where nine houses are outfitted with an assortment of options and upgrades. “We put a lot of thought into them so people can get a realistic picture of what this cabinet with that countertop will look like,” said Szeder.
Buyers of Providence Group properties work through their options during appointments with Bordelon, an interior designer, and her staff at the company’s center in Johns Creek. The process begins with finding out each buyer’s lifestyle preferences.
“Then we start with exteriors, move into the kitchen, then go into the bathrooms and any upgrades they might want, such as special millwork, fireplace surrounds or cabinets,” said Bordelon. “We finish up with flooring and lighting. Most of the items they’ll be picking are here in our showcases. We have samples in five kitchen vignettes, an outdoor living area and a media room. A lot of people like the simplicity of the vignettes; they can see exactly how the elements work together and will look in their own homes.”
At the recently opened design center for Edward Andrews Homes in Alpharetta, buyers can piece together all their choices in a virtual home. But the process begins with buyers taking an interactive quiz that tells designers about their lifestyles.
“It explores exactly how they live in their home and covers things like children, pets, how long they expect to live there,” said Simmel. “And that’s all before their first appointment with us, so we know when they come in who they are and how they live.”
The digital tools also make it easier for buyers to sort through the options and to have a good idea of their preferences before they ever arrive in the design center.
“From there, we can funnel it down into specific areas where our designers can show them options of things they’ll like,” said Simmel. “We also have technology that enables us to put their choices into 3D images so they don’t just have to guess at what something will look like. We’ve found that when it comes to homebuilding, very few people really have vision; a lot of people second-guess themselves. This system provides that vision.”
The high-tech system took about 18 months to create, said Simmel, but having it shaves considerable time off the building process.
“It changes the way people build homes because, ultimately, it gets them to that confident ‘yes’ so we can sign off and start building,” she said.
Szeder believes making the specific choices is more fun than picking a lot or floor plan, even though it involves a laundry list of decisions. “My goal is to not make it overwhelming,” she said. “If they get stressed out, I just suggest we take a yoga break or whatever they need to relax!”
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