Engineered for Savings

Price pressures squeeze production builders from every direction. Some production builders are finding that plan reviews — conducted by an efficiency-minded designer — can help identify ways to save money and still provide the same level of quality. [Design fees vary, so you’ll want to gather a few bids.] One designer who conducts such reviews is Lauren Barrett, a principal of The Garrison Barrett Group, a Birmingham, Ala., architecture firm that’s provided “value engineering” design services to builders for many years. The firm’s clients include production builders who complete 16 to 250 units per year.

Design Strategies

Before looking at specific cost-cutting measures, Barrett gauges the salability of each builder’s designs. For example, Birmingham-based Thornton Construction Company — which builds approximately 200 detached single-family homes and townhouses per year — “comes back to us every year to give their homes a fresher look than the competitors’ [homes],” according to Barrett. He says the annual facelift helps Thornton sell homes faster — the best type of cost savings.

Barrett also looks for ways to downsize homes without sacrificing comfort. In fact, he says, some plans can be made smaller with little or no effect on lifestyle. “We try to get more usable space in the home by including less corridor and circulation space,” Barrett says. This reduces costs while providing the same amount of living area.

When downsizing living spaces, Barrett recommends the builder invest some of the cost savings in larger window openings, such as a double window over the kitchen sink, to increase the sense of openness. “Even a small area feels brighter and more spacious with more windows,” he notes. If designed and specified properly, the increased glass needn’t add much cost, and it can go a long way toward distinguishing your homes from the competitions’.

Materials and Appliances

When Barrett reviews a builder’s plans, he also scrutinizes material specs. This includes the use of thinner, less expensive surface materials for kitchen counters and floors. “Granite countertops are typically 4 millimeters thick and don’t need a substrate,” he says. “Because of improved machinery, it is possible to use counters that are 3 millimeters thick with a good substrate.” While considerably less expensive, the thinner countertops do require a plywood or composite board substrate to ensure the longest-possible life.

Floors of durable, exotic wood veneers can be less expensive than solid oak floors in many instances. Barrett recommends matching kitchen cabinet doors with the veneer floors to provide a less expensive, but more unified, home design that impresses home buyers.

It’s also possible to save on appliances. The key, says Barrett, is to find substitutes that offer the same benefits for less money. Warming ovens are a good example. “Warming ovens are trendy, so they cost considerably more than regular ovens, but they don’t do as much — they only warm. It’s much cheaper and more practical to just buy another oven.”

In homes with open floor plans, builders often spec super-quiet, and super-expensive, dishwashers. But Barrett says that buyers will accept a less expensive model if it’s properly placed. “If you don’t want to incur the expense of high-end, super-quiet dishwashers, try to design the kitchen so that the dishwasher is not facing the main living areas. And put a towel rack across from it so some of the sound gets absorbed,” he adds.