[Left: Is this the kind of house you want?] To get the house you want, you have to know what that is, and then find out how your heart's desire matches up with the realities out there in the wide world.
The standard American house put up today in the standard American subdivision looks pretty much like this:
- It has 3 or more medium-pitch gable fronts facing the street. At some point a couple of decades ago, this was someone's idea of putting across a big jolt of "curb appeal," and, oh boy, has this idea caught on! Variation: 2 or more front-facing gables with the rest of the complicated roof resolving itself into hip roofs. In any case, the roof is big and is meant to impress--like Dolly Parton's big hair. Well, it may look good on Dolly (a matter of balancing other big parts), but I for one get tired of seeing ALL the girls up and down the street wearing it all piled up high and teased out like that.
- At the eaves, all these gable roofs end in "pork chop" (boxed-in) returns. These are quick and easy to build. Variation: "Queen Anne" returns, not too much more difficult to make, and they do add that touch of regal refinement. (Note: A "pork chop" return is shaped much a pork chop, with the bone pointing toward the peak of the roof and the meaty part hanging down; the "Queen Anne" return, however, in no way resembles the late English monarch.)
- There will usually be one or more prestige elements tacked on to enhance "curb appeal" and qualify the house as some sort of style or other. A pair of classical column might grace a "Georgian." There might be some brackets under the eaves of a "Bungalow." A "Victorian" could have turned porch columns and some perfunctory "gingerbread" stretched between.
- The house will be covered in vinyl siding, with vinyl or aluminum soffits and fascia at the roof overhang. (See my rant on the evils of vinyl.) Builders, and homeowners too for that matter, find vinyl very hard to resist--it's so cheap. They pocket the savings and then try to tell themselves it looks pretty much like--well,sort of like--if you don't look too closely--or at least from the curb--yes, it looks just like traditional wood siding! (Maybe in the sattelite photo?) Variation: Some expanse of masonry, either brick or stone, is added somewhere for the prestige value; or a bigger, "high-end" house will be entirely encased in red brick.
All of this screams "cheap," but of course the cruel irony is, it is not at all cheap, but very expensive. We all know how high housing prices have gone up over the past several years.
If this is the type of house you want, even in its "custom" variety, you won't have much trouble getting it. Pick a builder from the phone book, and chances are he has already built several of them, maybe dozens of them.
But let's assume you want something different--something more, something better. It could be one of the following, or something like it:
- An historical reproduction/adaptation, perhaps based on the house you grew up in, or a house you have seen and admired, or even a picture and floor plans from an old home plan book.
- An authentic rendering of a certain style you love, such as Arts and Crafts, or Stick Style Victorian, or Shingle Style, or Mid-Century Modern.
- A fantasy house, something really beyond the ordinary, like a fairy tale cottage or a rocket ship house.
- A distinctive house made to fit you like a glove in terms of both your functional needs and your own personal stylistic preferences.
Getting this kind of house will not be so easy, simply because the vast majority of players in the building industry--builders, subcontractors, suppliers, even most designers--are not geared toward producing it. You will need to know the ins and outs of the design/build process, and who to deal with and how, in order to make your vision a reality (and without busting your budget in the porcess)--but it can be done!
Are you planning to build a new home, and finding the conventional avenues are not getting you where you want to go? I am here willing and able to address any all of your questions, and to provide professional services if it comes to that.
