Everywhere I look I see new subdivisions packed with large, yard eating footprint homes and at least the two sides and back are relatively flat walls with no depth, no architecture to speak of. Just a few windows inserted in the large sided wall. Very boxy looking. Is there a name given to this style of house?
Also of interest, local cities immediately approve housing developments in flood plains easily.
Looking into passive homes that supposedly cost just 3% more to build, almost none exist in my state. Even higher end custom homes tend to be bigger but that's it.
How about the all-white trend? Especially in nice neighborhoods that started or have generally been all brick homes, but builders figured out that getting folks hooked on painted brick and somehow white made it possible to use the cheapest shittiest brick available. I mean, when they deliver that crap it looks so random, bland and irregular that I wouldn't use it for a firepit.
We live in just such a place, in one of the "older" homes, built about 14 years ago. Not long after that they shifted to this painted brick crap, and in every new or newer part the houses are literally all some shade of white brick. Not some, ALL of them. Whole streets of what to us looks like a white monolith. Lord help you finding the right house without a street address.
The brick on our house is varied both in color and texture, I'm sure someone paid a premium for that. When we sell in a couple years, we're torn on whether painting it or leaving as is will yield faster/better results.
You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02
Posts: 12889 | Location: Madison, MS | Registered: December 10, 2007
Originally posted by Georgeair: How about the all-white trend?....
Black is the new white now. My friends neighbors refer to a new custom house just finishing up, after 14 months, as the black house. Roof, gutters, windows, trim, and 85% of the exterior siding is black, 15% is stone.
No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride.
Originally posted by Georgeair: How about the all-white trend? Especially in nice neighborhoods that started or have generally been all brick homes, but builders figured out that getting folks hooked on painted brick and somehow white made it possible to use the cheapest shittiest brick available. I mean, when they deliver that crap it looks so random, bland and irregular that I wouldn't use it for a firepit.
We live in just such a place, in one of the "older" homes, built about 14 years ago. Not long after that they shifted to this painted brick crap, and in every new or newer part the houses are literally all some shade of white brick. Not some, ALL of them. Whole streets of what to us looks like a white monolith. Lord help you finding the right house without a street address.
The brick on our house is varied both in color and texture, I'm sure someone paid a premium for that. When we sell in a couple years, we're torn on whether painting it or leaving as is will yield faster/better results.
My DIL, as much as I love her, convinced my son to have their variegated brick veneer house painted white. Not just any white, but BRIGHT white, like Xerox bond paper. And black trim. IMHO, although I'm not an architect, the house would have looked so much better if it had been painted in a colonial / antique white instead.
The brick veneer on my most recent house (elevated ranch) has a slight dusty pink tint, when viewed from a distance. Its trim is white, and the back Hardi-board siding is painted in a sandstone color. I do not plan to change it. Most of the houses in my neighborhood are mixed brick veneer / siding in varying colors. Our neighborhood is mid to late 1970s homes, with some hills, so some homes have chalet-type features.
However, I have noticed that the last 3 houses sold within the last year have either been painted white or a light gray.
I was in the PNW last week, and I couldn't get over the old/older homes that fill most of the city. I absolutely love their architecture! I'm used to similar homes in areas of the country in the old/rundown parts of town - many being very low income.
It brought back great memories of my childhood seeing neighborhood after neighborhood filled with these well-maintained homes. Sad these neighborhoods are also filled with a political persuasion and mindset alien to me. Still, it was nice to see while visiting my daughter there.
Retired Texas Lawman
Posts: 1230 | Location: Texas | Registered: March 03, 2016
They keep building these giant McMansions around here on what formerly was unbuildable land so they all end up with virtually no back yard and if they even do, they are small and weirdly shaped with huge steep drop offs to large swales.
The other building style that seems to have taken off like crazy around here are these gigantic apartment complexes that I like to call “upscale dorms”. They’ll put one of these huge ugly monstrosities in that are hundreds and hundreds of units. All the same and they’re getting like $4,000 a month for them!
Posts: 35164 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: November 12, 2007
I used to work for tract builders. The cities love the fees that come from new home construction. In Winter Garden, Florida, the city was getting somewhere around $16,000 per home for all those fees. And that fee included 1 inspection for said trade. Fail an inspection and the re-inspection fee could be $75-125. This was from 2018-2020 so I doubt the prices have gone down.
10 feet between each home, only 5 of those feet belonged to you. Put an AC unit on the side and you are really struggling for space. It wasn't uncommon for grass in between 2 story homes to die because they got little to no sunlight.
I built some very large homes, 3,000 square feet, some were single story, others 2 story. Our goal was 120 days or so on a 2 story. You'd have the neighborhood slammed with trades so much that it was difficult driving down the street.
Slab only had a couple days to set and they'd be delivering block for the exterior walls. Following day would be blocking the house followed by block inspection to make sure the rebar was done to plan. Then they'd pour the block and start framing.
Many of those large tract houses incorporate the latest trends such as granite, stainless appliances, wood floors, high ceilings, nickel fixtures, etc. but when you look close they're generally marginally built with mediocre quality materials that the average buyer doesn't notice or care about. Particle board palaces, as my friend refers to them. Things I notice are budget HVAC such as a single unit in a 3,500'+ 2-story (plus basement) house, and poor ductwork to boot, thin hollow core doors, concrete that's poured maybe 3" thick, OSB sheathing hap-hazardly covered with house wrap, vinyl siding with a couple places of lick'em stick'em stone, poor fitting fiber insulation with gaps and missed places behind receptacles etc., painted particle board trim, drywall rather than cased openings. It's all about offering a trendy look with the most square feet, for the dollar.
No car is as much fun to drive, as any motorcycle is to ride.
