Cabinets

I had a great meeting with Robert Gary, the owner of River City Cabinets this week. Cabinets are huge in a house. I didn't realize how big they were early on when I first started learning how to build but trust me- people love their cabinets. They are a significant expense for a home but they can really turn into an art form and make a huge first impression. In my experience; the 3 major areas of the home that you should really focus your cabinet attention on are the kitchen, master bath and powder bath cabinets. Designers will tell you that the kitchen and master bath "sell" the home. The powder bath is big because it is where the majority of your guests will visit when they come over. Robert taught me some cool things this week about the placement of capitals, corbels and rosettes on cabinetry. So I want to show you some pictures of what we talked about:

These are called capitals. Since these run about $75/each and up, we are going to use them in high visual impact areas. We chose the vent hood area above the cooktop. They will be stain grade with glazing to enhance the definition.





This is called a corbel. We are putting these under the kitchen base sink cabinet to box the granite out and give the sink area added definition. We will also use them under the island countertop overhang for barstool seating. These will also be stained with glazing to enhance definition.

This is called a rosette. This is going to be placed on the upper cabinets on the four corners of the built-in study. In between the four corners we will have fluting.

So there is a lot to think about and we didn't even talk about crown moulding. Make sure you get with an expert, and make sure you weigh all your options when designing cabinets. There are a lot of cool ways to make them stand out without going over the top.

Spec Homes

Jason and I like to have a certain amount of specs going each year. A spec or speculative home is one that is built and financed without a buyer on the back end. The speculative part is that you feel you have a product that people want and you are willing to bet a large loan on it. Builders can get in trouble if they lever themselves up too much, and this is an area that almost everyone cautions you on. Most of my conversations with people who I meet for the first time go like this.......Oh, you're a builder? How many specs you got going right now? After a while, it's almost like it's a bad word or something. Now keep in mind, this is not an endorsement to build a spec, but if you do you may want to consider a few things:
First, make sure you study the market well. Make sure you know everything about the neighborhood you are building in, the ammenities people are looking for in terms of finish-out and how long things are lasting on the market.
Second, get a lot of eyeballs looking at your plan. People love to look at floor plans. Use this opportunity to have folks give you feedback and punch holes in the plan. You'll be amazed at what you pick up. Usually, we have anywhere from 4-10 different people look at each plan we are getting ready to build. It is not uncommon for us to revise plans several times until we get it right.
Third, don't come in on the high end of the market comps for the neighborhood. Real estate is like a pyramid, there are more people at the bottom of the pyramid (where there is a lot of space) that can afford homes than at the top, and it is no different in a neighborhood.
Lastly, stick to a budget. I was at an awards ceremony where a prominent builder won an award for a spec home design and got this huge trophy. Well I know for a fact that builder didn't make much in the transaction because the budget was not respected. You have to respect the budget. Don't get me wrong, we fall short too sometimes but we are always conscious of it. Think about it, you are investing 8-12 months of your time and a lot of money into a project so you may as well make the best of it.
Spec homes can be a great process for a variety of different reasons, and we always incorporate them into our strategy. Use caution and follow some of the basics above when considering whether or not you want to do one.

Expectations

I'm a huge fan of the dry erase board. I've got one right next to my desk. Whenever my kids come to the office to visit, they love to scribble on it. I do too. Every week I use it for one purpose. I like to write down the things that went wrong during the week. This week, I had a long list. When I finally got close to leaving this Friday evening I stepped back, looked at it and realized that so many of the issues revolved around managing people's expectations. In construction especially, you can let people down if you over promise and under deliver. It can be a promise about anything really; timelines, money, meetings, commitments or whatever. I thought to myself tonight that I am going to try to do a better job of managing people's expectations in the future better by reviewing our processes on delivery and using historical data to help lessen that probability in the future. I was quick to apologize in those instances this week, but after a while people grow tired of that and want you to do what you say you are going to do. If we want to have a business that is going to be consistent, scaleable, service and relationship-oriented, and priced fairly- we have to manage expectations accordingly.