Learning from the Spec Houses

Houses built to sell, rather than for a client, have a number of things in common in this part of the world. I worry that I respond positively to the clean, modern look, but that my tendency would be to change details that would make it unprofitable and perhaps unattractive to the mass market.

Exterior

9729 Woodlawn Ave N

Modern homes built in 2014 are oblong boxes with flat roofs. The siding is cement board (sometimes in a Venturi-esque brick pattern), with accents of horizontal cedar. They are not afraid of bold color accents (Kiwi green, Blast-off orange).

The designs reject their neighbor's bourgeois normality, which helps them stand out in the home marketplace, perhaps. It is only potentially awkward when someone tries to live in the Fuck You house in the middle of the block. Maybe this is why builders cluster them in groups--for peer support.

Like International-style gas stations in the 1950s, the reason behind the design choices is cost savings, pure and simple. By not pandering to accepted norms like a sheltering roof, or cottage massing, builders signal a "take it or leave it" attitude that allows them to save money on details like sun protection, landscaping, or trim. How can a deciduous tree shade the second-floor windows? It can't, this is the new style, maybe its not for you.

908 28th Ave S

There are a lot of "L"s and squares expressed on the exteriors of these homes, as if the game Tetris was used to style a place to live.

Windows do not respond to view opportunities--large windows often face another building a few feet away. And the fenestration isn't used to establish a rhythm. Window placement is random. Alignment is far more important than symmetry.

Although these homes feature lots of glass, the windows are always penetrations in a solid geometry. Curtain walls, a glass skin for an internal structure, are never employed. Open houses leave all window coverings to the imagination, and the homes have lots of natural light, but for structural and thermal reasons (and perhaps for placement of furnishings), there is far more flat wall surface than glass.

Exterior doors are almost always single-lite french doors with either clear or patterned glass. (I happen to like this trend.)

Interior

The interior is Open Plan, often starting at the front door. In practice, this means a white oblong with a 9' ceiling peppered with downlights, containing living room furniture, a dining table, and kitchen cabinets against, but not embedded in, the walls. A gas flame behind glass is often, but not always, a feature.

1209 NE 88th St. Offered at $1,098,000.

The floor is usually hardwood, parallel to the long side of the oblong, visually connecting the kitchen to the other spaces.

The ideal appears to be no bumps in the walls, no soffits in the ceiling--as close to being in a white shoe box as possible. The kitchen cabinets and appliances (with the exception of the refrigerator) do not engage with the walls. ("Engagement" is consistently found in the examples in Susanka, The Not So Big House.)

Carpeting is a well-known buyer turn-off, but the staging usually includes one or more area rugs on the hardwood floor. The acoustics of such a space are not a concern at open house time, just when two or more people try to live in it.

Windows run nearly to the ceiling--headers are always part of the floor framing. This draws the eye up, which is good, especially when the view at eye-level is of old-fashioned houses. Window coverings are another problem left for the home's eventual owner to solve. Open houses rarely have any.

9729 Woodlawn N. Note the lack of trim
at the top and sides of the windows.

Trim is simple painted 1x  or 5/4 (3/4" or 1-1/4" thick) or is omitted altogether. The drywaller's skill is on display everywhere. Corners are crisp--rounded corners are dated. Crown molding does not fit the modern style. Sometimes, the trim will be painted a color that subtly contrasts with the walls. 

Outlets and light switches are generally conventional, usually, but not always, "Decora" paddles for switches paired with ordinary receptacles. Most homes are wired with network and CATV, and these connections are typically combined with receptacles. Builders (at least below the $1M price point) don't usually indulge in lighting control systems, or even dimmers.

Bathrooms

1209 NE 88th. Frameless glass, elongated tub.
No place to hang towels.

Bathrooms are typically more spacious than the old 5' x 8' standard. A 5' x 12' (the length of a bedroom) is often seen with tub, toilet, and a long, two-sink, counter. Tub-free homes are rare, for historical reasons, apparently. Many Master en suites have a tub with a shower next to it, or a walk-in shower with a soaking tub in the stall.

Bathrooms, especially non-master baths, are often windowless. The shower surround is an expensive tile, such as glass ceramic, or large oblong "Roman" tiles. Subway tiles (3 x 6 or 4 x 8 tiles with contrasting grout in a brick pattern) are trendy, but are not dressy enough for the Master suite.

9729 Woodlawn Ave N

Fancy multi-head or programmable showers are rare. One of the most common fixtures is a vertical rail for height adjustment and a detachable sprayer. Also rare is a place to put soap or shampoo. Towel racks are also optional in builder's minds.