In response to the accelerated need and demand for space to work from home, KB Home has developed the KB Home Office concept, available as an optional dedicated room feature for all KB Home floor plans.
The office will debut in model homes this weekend at two communities in California’s Inland Empire—Carmel Ridge at Spring Mountain Ranch, located in Riverside, and Talavera in Menifee—and roll out to all of KB Home’s active communities over the next 30 to 60 days. Standard features in the KB Home Office include a desk and workstation, expansive built-in shelving space, and an upgraded electrical and technology package with ultra-fast USB charging outlets, receptacles, and an additional data/teleport.
From here, buyers can add extra features at the KB Home design studio, including enhanced technology solutions, soundproofing or insulation, ceiling fans, window treatments, and a beverage center/coffee bar. Additional windows, a half-bath, and a separate outdoor entrance off a private patio are also available in select floor plans and locations.
For more information and context about the KB Home Office plan, we spoke with Jeffrey T. Mezger, CEO of KB Home, about the trends and circumstances that make home office packages an appealing option for today’s customers.
BUILDER: Has KB Home seen a rise in interest from customers in home offices since March?
Mezger: Anecdotally, we are seeing that around our system. My hunch is this is just getting going now. I think you’ll see a lot of momentum in this area, and because of the way we’re set up where we’re built to order and we have studios in all of our cities, it’s like a consumer laboratory. We’ll find out what the most critical and important features are that the customers prefer in an office.
And the beauty of it is, it’s very affordable. This isn’t a heavy expense option. The standard package is going to cost, depending on the plan and the city, between $2,000 and $3,000. It’s $12 to $13 a month to have your own personalized office. No commuting, no nothing, you can work from home or your kids can have a place to do their schooling or homework. It’s an affordable home office solution at a time when the consumer really needs it.
Initially, people were working from home or their kids were taking classes online, and everybody saw it as a short-term phenomenon. That’s not so much the case now. At the same time, a lot of companies are now announcing that, for parts of their business, the employees are going to be allowed to work from home, because they’re just as productive and they don’t have to commute. And we think this is natural, that you’re going to see a growing demand for an actual home office, not a bedroom that you throw a desk in but a room that’s configured and featured as a very functional, affordable office system. So we’re pretty excited about this, we think it’s going to be a big thing for the industry.
BUILDER: Is the desk built in, or is it a separate piece of furniture?
Mezger: It’s built in. That’s where it’s different. For decades, our industry has aspirationally decorated a model with what looks like an office. It’ll be a desk the decorator throws in, maybe some built-in shelves, and then the consumer will come through the model and go, “Hey, can I have that?” What we’re doing now with this approach is letting a buyer personalize an office with what they need, whether it’s lighting or windows or more technology, or the color of the the desk cabinetry and the countertop material and shelf packages.
BUILDER: When buyers specify that they want a home office, is it going to replace another feature in a floor plan, such as an extra bedroom?
Mezger: Exactly. The footprint of the home hasn’t changed, but we’ve moved around the inside walls, if you will. Whether you take part of a hallway or expand a bedroom, each plan’s a little different.
In our business approach, a 50-foot-wide home that we build in Orlando or Raleigh could be the same plan that we offer in Texas or Phoenix or Sacramento. When we design the office options in the 50-foot-wide series, we can then move very quickly to go back and retrofit some models, which is what we did here in these that are opening this week or in any new models rolling out.
So we now have all of our series designed with the office incorporated into it. We’re in the permitting and plan checking stage. The rollout strategy varies a little bit by city, but our goal is 60 days to have it across the whole footprint from coast to coast.
