Entertaining the idea of building something unique and smart

[Abtin S.]

Entertaining the idea of building something unique and smart for the Austin, Texas area or other parts of the country. I’m in the research phase and want to see what people think and maybe make some connections for future projects. If any of these ideas are good I would love to see them adopted by normal builders because I don’t like the current type of traditional homes that are on the market, both in terms of design, but also the functional things like pest resistant features that seem to be generally lacking.

The design would need to incorporate such things as:

1. Low construction cost. It should cost less or about the same as a regular traditional house. Need something smart and cost saving here, yet good quality. Also, maybe important players such as the architect, contractor, and others should be investors in the project, believers in the vision and they’ll have skin in the game so the product will be made well.

2. Pest resistant. Very important. This should be done very well. This would be one of the main marketing features of the home. See this article for example of the kinds of construction techniques available to do it: https://extension.usu.edu/pests/schoolipm/files/school-ipm-documents/ipm-design-and-construction/IPM_Design_Construction_1.pdf I have some personal experience in making a normal home pest resistant because I once bought a house that had roaches and I didn’t want to kill them and struggled with making the home pest resistant by sealing entry points from the inside. This worked to a great extent because there’s always some entry point that pests come in which often can be sealed. Even the heating and cooling registers have nets they sell on Amazon that can be placed inside them to prevent entry. But I believe the home probably wasn’t designed in a pest resistant way. I’m looking to incorporate pest resistance into the architecture of the project.

3. Good quality. Don’t skimp on cheap items like decent fixtures, etc. Spend money wisely on things that count and avoid spending on things that don’t do much. No need for things like fireplace for example. No need for complex interior architecture. Maybe have open floor plan. Need a good architect that can find the right design.

4. Best of both world, meaning good quality and low cost, so requires smart design and choices. This maybe should be the motto of the building project to remind the team what we’re trying to do. Think maybe Tesla Cybertruck trying to do something amazing yet at very low cost due to smart design, still in production, but that’s the idea at least. Or Apple M1 chip maybe. Or phrases like faster, cheaper, better, lighter, etc. Sounds hard or impossible sometimes but we see it from time to time. Requires innovative thinking.

5. Minimalist and modern. Can save some costs there. No complex designs. No wall textures maybe. Nothing unnecessary.

7. Rectangle design. Two stories. Maybe very simple light sloping roof. Or other design that saves cost.

8. Building materials that are cost effective but good quality. Hard exterior, no siding. It shows when something is cheap and low quality, but cheap and good quality is what we’re aiming for.

9. Light color roof and exterior to keep house cool, for warmer climates. Seems no sense to have a black roof and dark exterior walls in Texas sun.

11. Maybe have the central storage closet be tornado resistant, or create a tornado resistant mini basement for regions with tornado threat. Depends on the cost, but if it can be done in a smart and cheap way that would be intersting. Not sure if this is a good idea in terms of cost vs. benefit, still in research phase.

12. All electric. No gas. Gas seems too dangerous maybe.

13. Interior design should be modern, functional, subtle and light earth-tone colors. I might be able to supervise interior design because many people have commented about my good interior design. Interior walls should be all white. Flooring should be light color. No major dark colors. Avoid carpet if possible. Fixtures should be modern, minimalist, and functional.

14. Start maybe with one build and see how things go. At the end profit/loss will determine if the plan is working. Possible backup plan if not profitable is to make it a rental and if market improves can sell it for a profit due to appreciation.

MARKETING

1. Appealing to people who notice something different and better, or who like the idea of a pest resistant home such as for health reasons, cost reasons, or humane reasons. Don’t like to kill things, vegan/animal rights community, green or environmentally friendly community, natural/organic/anti pesticide community, or simply because it’s a better home building design. Pest resistant, not pest proof necessarily.

2. Modern and minimalist design can appeal to some people and is unusual in the current market of traditional looking homes. Sure, some people like the old fashioned home design. But smart design will appeal to buyers who will notice these details, and marketing should mention the functional details of the design. The goal here isn’t to make a stylized home to try to make a certain look happen, but a functional and smart home that is the way it is for a specific reason, which I believe often those homes will look modern and minimalist and probably not look like a traditional home. But the home should still look conservative enough to be attractive to most buyers in the current market.

3. Backup tiles, paint, etc. provided so owner will have the exact match in case of future repairs or touchup. Instruction manuals left for buyer in a neat folder or envelope. Instructions provided to buyer about the pest resistant features of the home and how to maintain them. Take good care of buyer and they might provide good word of mouth, and on the website of the company have links to our current listings so if people Google the company name after word of mouth they’ll easily find what we have to offer.

This plan is not about making the cheapest builder grade home possible to sell to buyers and milking the most money out of them. It isn’t about doing what everyone else is doing, but doing something better that the buyers realize this makes sense for them. It’s fueled by my passion for products that are done smart, innovative, with the customer in mind, yet profitable. Also dislike for killing things unnecessarily, using pesticide in the home, and it not making sense why pest resistance standards can’t be better. I would love for us to explore this topic further and see what possible business model can be done, and if it’s good I’d love to see others do it because the average home standards right now aren’t great in my opinion.