Tag Archives: Architecture

Today’s Housing Design Approaches

Homebuilders are usually categorised into three types: production, semi-custom and custom (Smith 1998; Noguchi 2008). Production builders are organised for high volume construction. They develop several model homes, normally designed on a speculative basis, in response to market demand. The production design (or speculative design) approach allows homebuilders to produce a ready-built home, in which potential buyers can examine the quality and attributes of their new home in a way that blueprints alone cannot achieve—thus, helping to ensure the buyers’ satisfaction. The advantages of speculative design also extend to reducing the lapsed time and cost of construction. The total time to build a standardised house is much shorter than for a one-of-a-kind design since construction staff are familiar with the plans; communications are simplified and material delays less likely to occur as suppliers are able to stock regularly used items. Higher volume work, such as a subdivision housing development, also offers trade contractors advantages in scheduling that result in significant cost savings.

via Espal.