I’m writing this article from the same place you might be reading it - your make-shift home office. And whether it’s a converted guest bedroom or you took over the kitchen table, you’ve probably become painfully aware of how important a good space is for work. So have your clients. In the wake of the state’s ‘Shelter/Safer at Home’ order, many of us have a new perspective on how our home can support our lives (or not). Here are my Top 10 take-aways on how the pandemic may shift your clients’ thinking about what they want in a home.
1. Home office - So let’s start with that most critical and suddenly obvious space. Home offices have been an increasing trend over the last decade and this moment will likely permanently cement that as a “must have” in many people’s minds. In many households, having two dedicated work spaces will become the norm. Fortunately, they can be quite small, but they do typically need a door, some natural light and decent artificial lighting. Choosing the right location is critical to its success; specifically, are they looking to stay connected or be isolated from the rest of the household activity?
2. Home investment - Between the stock market falling off a cliff, the apparent stability of the housing market (so far) and the lowest interest rates we’re likely to see in our lifetime, many people are considering investing more of their money in their homes. For the last decade construction costs have been going up roughly 10%/year. With the shut-down, we may see a temporary flattening of these increases as contractors are suddenly hungry for work for the first time in ten years. But when the brakes come off the economy later this year, it will likely trigger a wave of deferred construction projects, so if your clients want to lock in a contractor’s attention and better pricing, don’t delay in getting the project started.
3. Acoustic insulation – “Will you kids keep it down!?! Mommy is having a very important phone call with the President of Chardonnay!” Higher-end homes often have acoustic insulation (cotton or fiberglass) in the walls around bathrooms and bedrooms, and between floors of a home. It can make a huge difference in allowing multiple people to simultaneously use the home without driving each other nuts.
4. Home gym – One of the things many of us miss the most right now is the ability to get proper exercise. And while going for a bike ride or a jog around the neighborhood is great when the weather is nice and someone can watch the kids, a home gym gives us the flexibility to work out anytime, and do things other than just cardio. Minimum typical size is that of a small bedroom, so in some cases it can be converted from space that you already have. Most importantly, make sure it’s a space that you want to be in (not a windowless basement with 7ft. head height), otherwise all that fancy equipment is going to get really lonely.
5. Mother-in-law suite/ADU – Around the Boulder area and elsewhere, cities are relaxing rules for Accessory Dwelling Units, realizing that it is one of the most important tools for creating low-impact affordable housing, as well as increased cash flow and lifestyle convenience for homeowners. During COVID, many families are suddenly having an unexpected multi-generational living experience. Maintaining some privacy (with separate entrances and kitchens) by means of an ADU gives families greater flexibility and long-term social sustainability. Many of these ADU’s are also being created with “Universal design” principals in mind (handi-capped accessible entrances, 3 ft. wide doorways, roll-in showers, etc.) for aging parents. ADU’s are generally allowed in the City (with conditions), but are substantially more restricted in the unincorporated County. Licenses are transferrable with the sale of the property.
6. Separate kids’ TV/game area – Are your client’s tired of hearing ‘Call of Duty’ explode in the background while they’re writing their novel, hosting a Zoom call or doing their taxes? On the flip side of creating a separate area for adults to work, many households are creating kids TV/game areas that can be closed off. One way to do this without adding yet more square footage is to give the kids what might have been the media room, and make the Great room into the main TV space. “But we don’t want the main social space to be visually dominated by a TV!”, your clients protest. One clever solution is to disguise it with something like the Samsung Frame TV, which looks like (programmable) framed art when not in use. Or more commonly, if they nest their TV into custom built-in casework, it tends to look discrete and integrated into the room decor.
7. Food storage – COVID created a newfound anxiety in many households about possible food shortages, so some are increasing the size of kitchen pantries and are adding auxiliary fridges and freezers. Note that fridges use more electricity than any other appliances in the house, so make sure they are Energy Star rated.
8. Multi-tasking spaces – If you add up all your clients’ “must have” spaces it could quickly bloat the size of the house, which may not be possible or desirable due to building codes, the size of the property, your client’s budget or their sustainability values. The “Not so Big House” movement recommends designing every space to do double duty. For example, use a Murphy bed (folds into the wall), a fold-down sewing table, or a floor-to-ceiling wall of built-in storage for crafts in a single room, instead of building a separate space for each. It also saves money – even though custom-built furnishings like these can be expensive, they are much cheaper than extra square footage.
9. Breathe easy – If your clients want to be sure that the air in the home is healthy they can add an advanced air filter to the forced air ductwork. Nearly all homes have a filter, but some are far more robust than others. The fanciest of these is called a HEPA filter and is able to screen out particles as small as a virus. They can also increase the amount of fresh outdoor air that they’re bringing into a home without ruining their energy-efficiency by adding an Energy-recovery ventilator (ERV).
10. Resiliency & Technology – With our increasing dependency on our electronic devices, many homeowners are opting to add battery back-up power. For the Tesla Powerwall and other lithium-ion based options, prices range from $7K-50K depending on how much of their house they want to run and for how long (most commonly: garage door, security system, basic lighting, and a handful of outlets connected to key equipment like your fridge, WiFi router and sump pump). At this point most battery solutions can only support a home for a matter of hours, but that may be sufficient to get them through short-term power outages. One other tech upgrade people are choosing is Cat5 or Cat6 wiring for optimal internet speeds.
Bonus idea #11. Indoor/outdoor - In an age where our home has become our sanctuary and café patios, playgrounds and parks are suddenly off-limits, the outdoor spaces around the home may become more even more precious. They can cover porches and add misters to make them cool in the summer, and give them radiant heat or fire-pits to keep them comfy when it’s a little nippy. Making the outdoor spaces useable more of the year can also make it less important to increase the size of your home.
Read the article here in At Home Colorado April 2020.
About the author:
Scott Rodwin, AIA, LEED AP is the owner of the Rodwin Architecture/ Skycastle Construction, a 13 person award-winning design/build firm specializing in high-end custom green homes in Boulder. He teaches a free course (good for 2 CEU’s) called “Understanding the Rules for Building in Boulder” through BARA several times a year that goes into depth on these topics. scott@rodwinarch.com www.rodwinarch.com