Shadow Boxing

This move has not only made Renaissance a standout in the marketplace, but it has profoundly reduced the company's number of callbacks. The kicker is a new and improved construction approach, using RainScreen technology, which acknowledges the builder's geographic position at the base of the Rain Belt, where the average annual rainfall is about 45 inches. Fiber-cement siding is placed on top of 1-inch-by-4-inch, pressure-treated vertical strips, creating an air space between the siding and the sheathing.

“This creates an airflow behind the siding, so there's no moisture build-up,” Sebastian explains. “Plus, our exteriors are flashed without caulking, so moisture doesn't get trapped. It's an approach that's now code in Vancouver, B.C., [Canada,] because of all the leaky condo lawsuits up there. It makes sense for our market. Since we started doing this three years ago, we have not had a single exterior window or door leak, whereas previously in this wet environment, two in 10 homes we built had some sort of leak in the warranty period.”

RainScreen costs about $12,000 more per house, but buyers are willing to pay for it, Sebastian says. “For us, it's a no-brainer because we don't have the liability we'd otherwise have without it.”

Leaving aside who or what the competition may be, good design sells. Never underestimate the difference that a small detail can make—whether it's an unusual front door, an arched header, or a knee wall with fine millwork to make one room extra special.

“If your budget is under $300,000, most builders will make you feel like you are lucky to be getting a house at all,” notes Dominick Tringali, an architect in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “In a soft market, you want to make the everyday home buyer feel like they are a custom home buyer.” That includes first-timers, who now account for roughly two of every five home sales, according to the NAR.

Small, well-thought-out details can be a tipping point for shoppers who are on the fence about whether to buy new, Tringali states, and they don't have to cost a fortune. Plans that his firm has recently designed for Michigan builders such as Moceri Development, Ivanhoe Huntley Homes, Singh Development, and Cohen Associates have beat the competition with features such as 10-foot ceilings, niche storage spaces, display alcoves, and more natural light than the average resale home.

“The natural-light advantage is something that's easily achieved by taking your typical 6-foot windows and adding transoms to the tops of them, creating more wall space to elevations to make room for larger windows, or designing ceilings to add skylights,” explains Tringali. “These are all cost effective and make a big difference in the overall presentation” of a house.

For all of their drawbacks, old houses have their indisputable advantages. And they are often found outside the actual house—namely, the curb appeal that comes with mature landscaping and an established streetscape.

“This has become more of an issue for us as we've started doing infill projects in dense locations,” says Kirby of Dixon/ Kirby. “People who move into old-growth neighborhoods have the benefit of 10 to 25 years' worth of tree growth. It doesn't require buyers to envision what the neighborhood will eventually look like. I've had great houses that just sat on the market because I didn't do a good job landscaping.”

This realization has prompted a shift in how total design and construction dollars are allocated on Dixon/Kirby's punch list. “Ten years ago, I was giving people the potential for great outdoor space; now I'm trying to build it and sell it, so that potential is already realized,” Kirby explains. That means greening out garden beds, courtyard spaces, and lawns as part of the overall package.

Curb appeal notwithstanding, an added benefit of this approach is that it has helped pre-empt the buyer disappointment that inevitably occurs when the $100,000 courtyards they envision (torn from the pages of shelter magazines) prove to be fiscally unfeasible.

“At least, building in infill areas, I'm helped by shrinking lot sizes,” says Kirby. “A budget of $30,000 on an acre is nominal for basic irrigation, plantings, and sod, but that amount will go a heck of a long way on a quarter-acre. People look at smaller lots and say, ‘Well, my yard is shrinking.' We point out that so is their yard maintenance.”

With smaller lots, demand for courtyards and similarly defined outdoor spaces is rising, he says. “I am building million-dollar homes on 5,000-square-foot lots, so I have to build great outdoor spaces to create bang for the buck. People will use outdoor space if it doesn't feel like second-class space. The responsibility today is not just building a house, it's building a site.”