Construction Loans for Custom Residential Properties

  Chicago Tribune Article on Pre-Construction

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Builders Start to Rethink the Design of the American Home
Chicago Tribune
October, 2003
By Barbara Ballinger Buchholz, Chicago Tribune

   6. More functional kitchens. More design professionals are putting their money where their clients’ mouths are and including still larger kitchens than most now have. This is where families hang out to cook, eat, sit and talk, says architect Eck, author of “The Distinctive Home.” “The kitchen is constantly changing and has become the center, psychologically, if not physically. Most builders haven’t caught on yet about putting it at the center, but that should happen,” he says.
   7. Dressed-up secondary entrances. Because owners enter and exit most often through a back or side door, these are beginning to get bigger and fancier, Koop says. “A lot open to spaces for functional purposes such as a laundry,” she says.
   8. Harder-working offices. Once set up in a corner of a library, extra bedroom or hall, home offices now warrant their own space, preferably at the rear. “Computers are driving this decision. A working office is sloppy with wires and papers, so it should not be in front,” Fitch says.
   9. Nooks and crannies. Architects need to show homeowners how to exploit the spaces they have, which some do by making landings slightly bigger to work as a study or play space, says Miller of Fine Homebuilding.
   10. Intimate master bedrooms. Instead of getting bigger as they have in many homes, they should become more intimate, Susanka urges. She finds owners with master suites that contain multiple areas end up creating a little house within a big house. “They never use the rest of their house,” she says. Shulman agrees: “The idea is to bring families together, not isolate parents.”
   11. Better exteriors. Even when the interior reflects a modern design, many homeowners still want a traditional exterior. Yet, too often builders have imitated a look without understanding its proportions, scale and mix of materials, says Shulman. Change should occur, but only if clients demand designs that better fit the scale and feel of their neighborhood or if villages take control, he says.
   12. Room-like outdoor spaces. Instead of having a deck or patio, outdoor areas are becoming more room-like through the choice of materials, furniture, fireplaces, kitchens and adult toys.
   “The most forward-thinking designers add outdoor sports bars; lounges for conversation; structures that open on two sides to protect furnishings from the elements, including drop-down plasma TVs; and a host of water features such as channels with warm water,” says Frank Berry, owner of Southwinds, a California landscape and construction company.
   The cost of landscaping and hardscaping can be included in the line item cost breakdown and consequently in the loan. - Editor

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