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Builders retool their communities for an all-out showdown with reality.
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Product with flexible floor plans and smaller square footage helps builder compete effectively against foreclosures.
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The 17th annual CUSTOM HOME Design Awards received 513 entries in nine categories. Just 24 projects were singled out for accolades. The jury comprised four distinguished custom builders and architects, including Heather Cass, FAIA, Cass & Associates Architects, Washington, D.C.; Jacob S. Goldberg...
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As Gen-Y —all 80 million of them— climb toward their peak home buying years beginning in 2012, a certain female subset known as WINKs—women with income and no kids—is poised to rock housing's world.
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Architects tackle the challenges of designing for Gen-Y women during Big Builder's second annual design challenge.
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The fastest growing home buyer population that will reach its peak buying years beginning in 2012 will be Generation Y women.
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Roughly 25 years ago, I saw my first CAD/CAM system outside of Chicago at what was then the largest U.S. manufacturer of Web offset printing presses for the country's biggest newspapers. It was a relatively rudimentary system by today's standards, but there were engineers designing on dedicated...
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Many big builders have looked for answers to the critical question of how to sell homes in a downturn in perks like free pools and no closing costs, mortgage rate buy downs, and $20,000 off. But as the slowdown protracted and inventory pressures became more acute, incentives have piled up higher...
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When the housing market first faltered, many builders? first line of defense was to drop prices and incentivize like crazy. And it worked for awhile. Housing prices had climbed so high that a dip in the sale prices came almost as a relief to buyers priced out of the market. But more than 24 months...
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This story has all the trappings of a fairy tale. It begins with a promise by a big builder. In the middle, a man of limited means empties his wallet of its last $5 to buy his 9-year-old daughter a sliver of hope to tuck beneath her pillow at night to wish on. And, in the end, the little girl's...
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The days of sticking a computer station anywhere in the house with an outlet are numbered at least for some of The Drees Co. homeowners. They can forget the work station in the family room, the kitchen, or even the living room. Chief architect Bill Spears designed a home for the Kentucky-based...
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When David Jenkins, owner of Suwanee, Ga.–based Winmark Homes, decided to add a design center to his garden of home-grown operations, he dug deep into the family-owned business' talent well. Five-year Winmark veteran Marty Milbrett was appointed design center manager and tasked to find a novel take...
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Two years ago, when Eric Elder, The Ryland Group's senior vice president of marketing and communications, first decided the Calabasas, Calif.–based home builder should to team up with Eric Mandil, president and principal of Mandil Inc., the plan was to use Mandil's fresh approach to color as a way...
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Builders used to call Mary Jo Peterson to help them design kitchens and bathrooms buyers wanted. Increasingly, they are hiring her to design kitchens and bathrooms most buyers contend they don't want or need, even if they might one day. Peterson, a Brookfield, Conn.-based kitchen and bath designer...
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When Steve O'Dowd was approached by the founders of Orlando's Park Square Homes in 1999, they confided a vision for growth that might have made most builders in Orlando's custom and vacation-resort home market scoff. After buying out Anil Deshpande, the third original partner when he wanted to...
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In a single moment, one of Horace Hogan's heroes toppled a fantasy and started building a dream.
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AIA design survey reflects the need for convertibility as boomers age.
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Big builders must find alternatives to the single-family home on a large lot as they face consumer interest in traditional communities, a shortage in desirable land, increased costs, and sustainability concerns.
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Architect designs with a “black aesthetic” in mind.