Bath Trends: The Royal Treatment

How far the bathroom has come in housing history, from an unheated shack outside to a treasured private retreat. Sure, the basic functions of a bathroom are intact and in place, but in today’s master suites, especially, the space has evolved to include a variety of spa-like amenities and luxury features.
As a Realtor, I’ve notice the how important the master bath is to buyers (after the kitchen). I am also looking at remodeling our bath as well so I’ve been very tuned into bath trends and since I like to dream check out these current bath trends:
Shower Power: Forget about a single showerhead hung from the wall. Today’s showers offer multiple, adjustable heads on every wall and from above, with wall-mounted control pads to set and manipulate spray patterns, intensity, and temperature. Some heads, called shower tiles, are set flush to the wall or ceiling to provide a gentle spray, while handheld shower wands allow users the ultimate in water control.
Tub Time: Bathtubs are not only getting longer and deeper, and with requisite whirlpool jets, but also can include mood lighting and spillover troughs to create a more relaxing experience. Called “chromatherapy” by one plumbing manufacturer, these tubs feature underwater LED lights that gently change color across a wide spectrum of soft pastels; effervescent bubbling action from multiple underwater ports enhances the soothing effect. Meanwhile, overflow tubs enable a deeper soaking experience without the worry of making a mess.
Wellness Centers: In addition to featuring luxury items, bathrooms (especially master baths) are getting larger — large enough, in some cases, to include in-home spa amenities including massage tables and yoga or dance studios that offer more convenience, privacy, and cleanliness.
Clothes Care: Along the same lines as the in-home spa and studio concept is the idea of a home-based laundry center, including personal dry-cleaners and closet-like clothes fresheners and flat-rack dryers in addition to traditional laundry equipment. If the bathroom has the footage, why not install such products to make life easier, cut down on errands, and save a bit of money while attaining a higher level of quality care for your clothes?
Personal Service: Master bathrooms have become destinations. As such, they need additional conveniences, including laundry and clothes storage as well as a place to prepare snacks and refreshments. Often called “morning kitchens,” these mini-service areas offer built-in coffee and espresso makers, compact refrigerators, bar sinks, microwave ovens, and perhaps undercounter dishwasher drawers (not to mention adequate cabinet storage) to privately serve the owners as they get ready for work in the morning or wind down at the end of the day.
Universal Access: Whether to accommodate a temporary injury, a more chronic disability, a young child, or an elderly relative or guest, the concept of universal or accessible design can be easily and affordably achieved in any bathroom without sacrificing style or luxury. Multiple-height vanities, lever-handled faucets, D-shaped cabinet pulls, and zero-threshold showers with built-in seating and handheld heads are just a few design and product ideas that support universal design. 3 piller homes

Homebuilding Myths: The Three-Bid Rule

As the housing industry becomes more sophisticated and conscientious about achieving genuine and lasting homebuyer satisfaction, the level of professionalism among builders continues to reach new heights.

As a result, potential clients searching for a builder to create their dream home have a much deeper pool of talent from which to select. Today’s professional builder is not only skilled in construction and client relations, but also highly-competent in terms of his or her business expertise.

This new and more professional breed of builder deserves to be evaluated by home buyers in a new way. Namely by dropping the age-old practice of collecting three bids for the work in favor of a more business-like approach to a very important decision.

In theory, the three-bid rule was thought to work because it assumed everything else, other than cost, from the competing builders was equal. This thought process assumed that each builder had assessed and calculated the scope of work, blueprints, and specifications in the exact same way.

In reality, however, such assumptions are dangerous and rarely, if ever, accurate. Every builder and contractor, professional or not, analyzes a new-home project and estimates its associated costs differently; as a result, the three bids are not apples-to-apples comparisons. The differences can be subtle, but they exist. And those differences render an unequal playing field for competitive bidding creating confusion and misunderstanding.

Even if all three contractors based their bids on precisely the same interpretation of the project, the three-bid rule still reduces each builder to a number rather than considering his or her various skills, experience, personality, record of success, and ability to do the work. For this reason, an increasing number of the best homebuilders simply refuse to bid competitively, opting out of such opportunities because they know they are being evaluated only in terms of a cost estimate rather than whether they are the best builder for the job.

The professional builder prefers a different approach to contractor selection: the negotiated contract. In that scenario, a homebuilder is selected based on his or her abilities and personality and how they fit with the homebuyer. These are two critical considerations considering how closely builder and client will interact with each other during the construction of a new home.

The negotiated contract also takes the guesswork out of the project’s cost. The budget is shared up-front with each of the builders being considered based on what the buyers can afford, not what the builder (and his stable of trade contractors) thinks it will cost. Sharing the budget not only removes assumptions and judging a builder’s worth based on price alone, but also builds trust and enables honest communication about actual costs and, if necessary, choices that need to be made to match the project’s scope with the homebuyer’s budget. That’s the “negotiated” part of the contract process.

As important, the negotiated contract process is far superior to the three-bid rule in matching personalities between the homebuyer and the builder, and between projects and a building company’s skills and experience. By first narrowing and then selecting one homebuilder based on everything but the cost of the project, buyers help ensure that the project will remain on budget and schedule and result in a finished home that meets (or ideally exceeds) their expectations.

As the homebuilding industry continues to evolve into an increasingly professional business, it requires new and more effective models for conducting that business. The negotiated contract has strong advantages over the three-bid rule.

 

This approach reflects the new age of new home construction to the benefit of every homebuyer.

M. Zenios
3 Pillar Homes