Top 5 Reasons Why Our Homes Feel Different
Every home usually feels unique. When touring a house, a homebuyer almost always gets that “gut feeling” about the essence of it, along with how they feel about the more tangible parts of the house. But something we’ve noticed over the years is the consistent feedback that our homes “feel different.” There’s an X factor or something they can’t quite put their finger on… but, at the end of the day, our homes stand out because of it.
Well, after thinking it through, we came up with a list of 5 things that we believe fuel that feedback.
1. FOR US, IT ALL STARTS WITH THE DRYWALL
Believe it or not, a house’s drywall has a direct impact on the feel of the home. When drywall is done properly, especially on the ceiling, you sense the quality in the finishes and overall structure of the home. To get a little more specific, most factory-built professionals will use a ½” drywall on the ceiling. In fact, many of our competitors will use this size on everything. While we also use it on our walls, we take our drywall program a step further than our factory-built competitors.
Even if it means we slow down and put in more energy to do it right, we make sure we put ⅝” drywall on the ceiling—always. Thicker drywall offers a lot of benefits, such as more effective insulation, fire-and moisture-resistant qualities, and good-quality interior finishes throughout the home.
2. WE THINK BEFORE FRAMING
Another way we’re different from our competitors is in how we build our drywall. Many industry professionals will frame their roofs first, then add the drywall. The problem here is, once the roof is framed, the builder has to then cut around door headers, closet entrances, and other parts of the home. This means lots of drywall waste, wasted time, and potential flaws in the way the drywall is applied.
Another issue here has to do with the nature of wood. It’s not perfect. Wood has barked edges, and it bows and cups. While you can get pretty close, no one is using perfect lumber. Imperfect roof trusses will inevitably lead to an imperfect drywall fit, as it’ll move to the imperfect ceiling structure. We avoid this completely with our method.
In our climate-controlled building facility, we lay out all sheets of drywall onto our ceiling building table, in full sheets. We attach it to our ceiling structure, and we move that whole structure onto the top of the walls of the house. So now, you have a ⅝” drywall sheet above your double-top plate on your walls and on your ceiling. This gives you a true 8-foot or 9-foot ceiling height in any given home, with less waste.
3. OUR HIGHER CEILINGS LEAD TO A BETTER INTERIOR
Our high-quality modular homes can be upgraded to a 9-foot side wall height, which means:
- It makes the home feel more spacious and grand.
- We’re able to package in taller windows, which leads to more natural light.
- More natural light makes a home interior feel warmer and more open.
- You can upgrade everything’s height in the home, including cabinets, door trim, base trim and more.
- You’re making the most of what your home has to offer and adding value for the future.
When a home is built with the best quality materials and best practices in a climate-controlled facility, it sets off a domino effect of better home features that fit your needs as a family.
4. WE DON’T STRESS ABOUT INVENTORY FOR CABINETRY
Many of our factory-built competitors choose to build their own cabinets. Here’s why we don’t do that: we want to offer you the most flexibility possible. These competitors are often concerned with making sure they have the materials they need for cabinetry at all times and are usually unable to pivot quickly. With so many design options out there, they have to limit what they keep on hand, which means homebuyers tend to be limited as to what they can choose for their new house.
We outsource our cabinet construction so that you have the ability to upgrade the cabinet style, capabilities, color, and quality according to the trends you love. All of our cabinets, for example, come with a soft-close door. You can upgrade that specific feature to full extension soft-close drawers for more functionality (i.e., you’ll never get a spatula trapped or hear a drawer slam again). But, it’s important for homebuyers to know that we’re able to be flexible in this way because we outsource cabinet construction with a partner we trust.
5. WE GIVE YOU ROOM TO BE CREATIVE
Creativity is in the details. Without the flexibility we were talking about, a homebuyer can’t get creative with their own home. What makes us different is how many options we offer for almost every type of interior finish.
From our light switches to door handles to bathroom and kitchen accents, we allow our homebuyers to make their house feel unique by choosing the finishes they love. Additionally, we give them the ability to omit some of our base finishes and replace them with pieces they love more from local vendors. In the end, our goal is to offer you the strong building blocks needed to customize the home of your dreams.
When shopping around for the right homebuilding process, ask yourself this: how is my builder allowing me to be creative and custom with my decisions?
