The Tipping Point for New Homes Over Existing

Used to be homebuilders found buyers who wanted the new-car smell of a new home with community parks and the ability to customize features, like an inlaw suite or home office or granite countertops.  Today’s homebuilder has more advantages over existing housing stock than ever before, as I learned from a seminar I attended of the American Society of Building Designers.

We have reached the tipping point where existing homes should not be able to compete with a new home.  Think of all these features possible with new homes that existing homes can’t touch:

·         No gas and electric bills (Zero Net Energy)

·         Luxurious comfort from even heat distribution, elimination of harmful chemicals

·         Proper site orientation and shading to allow sunlight in where and when it’s needed

·         Open floor plans

·         No moisture problems from a new, well-designed building envelope

·         Community amenities made famous by The Irvine Company, such as parks, pools, and new schools

·         Pleasing planned communities with open spaces, designed to encourage social interaction

·         Home automation for the technophile buyers

Existing homes may have a few advantages of their own – locations closer in to jobs and fire-sale prices for the moment.  But as Sam Rashkin demonstrated in his passionate blueprint for the building industry, the ownership cost of a new home, after taking into account reduced utility bills and maintenance expenses, is surely lower than that of even a short-sold existing home.  Sam is head of the U.S. EPA’s energy efficiency program called Energy Star for Homes, and has contributed to USGBC, NAHB, and DoE programs with energy efficiency goals.  Sam made an impassioned case for the homebuilding industry to seize the moment, elevate their craft, and permanently leave existing housing stock in the dust.

 

 

There is much work to be done.  Many homebuilders are still focused largely on getting low bids and trying to sell directly against these distressed existing homes.  As a result, there is pressure on subcontractors not to innovate, but to focus mainly on keeping costs low.  And material manufacturers feel that pressure as tight margins, commoditization of our products, and more tough times ahead.

But there are good signs if you look hard enough.  Several major homebuilders in the Greater LA area (Meritage, Woodside, KB) are using continuous insulation stucco systems on all their projects, and highlighting that feature in selling their homes.  Of course, these “one coat stucco” systems have been in use in other markets for decades, but Title 24 and the demand for “greener” homes have driven their adoption in Southern California in recent years.  California’s Title 24 energy code ratchets up the energy efficiency mandate on homes in 2014, with additional code cycles set to take effect in 2017 and 2020.  By 2020, California’s Title 24 will likely mandate Zero Net Energy home performance.  Forward-thinking homebuilders will get there sooner and establish their brands as synonymous with energy-efficiency, much as Volvo has with car safety.

As stucco manufacturers and allied companies, the challenge for us is to provide products and technical assistance to encourage this metamorphosis of our industry.  As the homebuilders go, so go our businesses.  If we can help builders seize this opportunity now, when we’re at the tipping point, we can strengthen our industry, decommoditize our products, and gain some competitive advantage for our own companies. 

Sam Rashkin’s book is titled Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry, and is a great place to start this process for your company.

50 YEARS OF COLOR

 

 

When you think about stucco there are many ways to categorize it: functionality, installation, durability, patching etc. The reason for cement stucco is really how it looks on the outside of our structures. As a society we start with function and move to aesthetics. We started with packing mud over straw to keep the weather out and now we are using different size aggregates, materials and pigments to make our buildings more beautiful.

 

MerlexStucco, Inc. is introducing a brand new color chart this year and it coincides with their 50^th anniversary. Their extensive and capable merchandising department has been scouring the globe to access the newest trends and colors. In years past Merlex has used their clientele of capable color coordinators that worked for local building developers and home builders’. This year however, they took a more cosmopolitan approach and studied trends that were coming out of the largest fashion markets. It is very important to stay abreast of trends in design and color. The color chart like paint fan decks are used extensively in architectural offices and design centers to begin the process of choosing colors for our most popular buildings and homes. Here in the capital of “glitz and glamour” it is not uncommon for Merlex and Vero’s marketing departments to help choose color for well know stars and celebrities such as, Jennifer Anniston, Dennis Rodman, Sly Stallone, just to name a few.

 

We have discussed before how natural products make us feel more comfortable. It is logical that materials and colors that are found in nature would be the colors we choose to lower stress in our living and work spaces. Over time, with trends in fashion and advertising and the need to change, colors do tend to ebb and flow in terms of popularity. However, earth tones tend to stay at the forefront as we see them in nature every day. Just think about the last time you went to a park or out in the forest. How many different greens did you see? There is an infinite variety of hues and textures to look at. This is why we can stay with natural color tones and never run out of variation. As for manmade trends, we are ever looking for things that excite and deliver“newness” to our homes, neighborhoods, and work places. Through fashion these are ever evolving. Fashion is a big contributor to interior and exterior color design. Some colors may take on a more important role in certain climate locations, such as reds are more popular in colder climates and blues are more popular in warmer climates. Overall, neutral tones can compliment any design, and therefore, are used in any location. In the 1980’s pastels were very popular in stucco. The color charts were full of light yellows pinks and beiges. If you look at those charts now they are terribly dated! But just think about a picture of yourself from the 80’s, See the mullet and cloths it’s laughable! This is what makes it so much fun though. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s it was all about “Tuscan”, and “Mediterranean”. It was not uncommon to hear the owner ask that the house “look 200 years old “when it was completed. They did a lot with “distressed” wood timbers and exposed beams, ancient looking balustrades’ and porte-cocheres. Now the look is contemporary. Spaces are large and simple without clutter. Exteriors are going to a clean monolithic appearance with natural cement colors. In commercial interior spaces some have exposed HVAC systems and real or replicated poured in place walls. Merlex has had a huge resurgence in an old product called Super Shower Finish. This material was originally used in locker rooms, industrial kitchens and large areas that had moisture much of the time. This material was applied over a brown coat as exterior smooth Santa Barbara Finish and then painted. Now calls come in from all over the world looking for a natural cement product for showers in high end luxury lofts like in downtown New York, Los Angeles and other urban areas.

Ten years ago the market was flooded with real and knock off “Venetian Plasters”. Now the contemporary market is using lime and resin to achieve that natural “clean look”.  Vero Italian Finishes is an importer of real Dolomitic Lime from Trieste Italy. When the demand for aged buildings lessened it was difficult to make the design community aware of the fact that lime is perfectly suited for contemporary designs. The resin plasters are beautiful, shiny and really can add flavor and excitement to walls and ceilings. The industrial look has become very popular and many architectural firms have this beautiful “minimilized” interior space.

New York Fashion Week is held each spring showcasing its colors for the next year’s color palette. This influences everything from clothing styles and colors to paint fan decks and building facades. 

Merlex has always been the leader in choosing new and exciting colors on color charts and designers are used to working with a company that is as discriminating as they are.

So here is to 50 years of service and thousands of colors in the Merlex data base! Now we have Vero Italian Finishes that is building a repertoire of great color for lime and resin. Vero has even started carrying Modern Masters for metallic’s and pearlescent additives. Don’t forget to preview the new colors of the Merlex Web-site: www.merlex.com