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> ...opportunity to innovate in how we design homes... @munificent This sounds like a statement made by someone that's never gone through the US process of pu

> ...opportunity to innovate in how we design homes... @munificent This sounds like a statement made by someone that's never gone through the US process of purchasing a new home. New homes have floorplans that are not designed to be 'consumer usable.' The floorplans and layout of the development are designed to maximize profit. That means squeezing tiny spaces into tiny plots in order to make several million more dollars per development, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. These generic plans are drawn up by the lowest-cost bidder, and then sold to buyers who can barely afford those. The entire market is complicit in this, and it is by design. Want a multi-generational house? It won't be in a development, and it will cost more than two houses that are in a development. Good luck with that...

yardie 4y ago
You can have a custom home built. In general they are 10-20% more expensive. Because any savings in economies of scale a developer might see get converted to profit, not savings. Architects are a thing and do take on SFH projects when asked.
dsfyu404ed 4y ago
If these crap floorplans didn't sell people wouldn't build them. If they sold worse there'd be alternatives. I don't see why people want them but clearly they do.
- frankus 4y ago
  It could be a classic information asymmetry (people don't know what they want until they've lived with it, or even know that something better is possible). The same process that has turned most store-bought strawberries into freakishly-large flavorless blobs.
- neutronicus 4y ago
  People generally pick a location, set some criteria (must have X bedrooms, Y bathrooms, Z square footage, parking), see the small integer number of houses in the market in that location satisfying those criteria in-budget, and go with the one whose maintenance seems least daunting. There aren't even really enough options to be picky about floor-plan most of the time, especially if the house with the wonderful floor-plan hasn't had the roof replaced for 15 years.
  - _carbyau_ 4y ago
    ^This^ Looking to buy a home soon. Our checklist on location wipes out most of the market. IE not in floodzone, near enough to work, train station, reasonable schooling, shops. Get a solar sensible(not passive, not perfect, just vaguely right) house with those requirements? "Tell him he's dreamin'!" I haven't even got to caring about the floorplan being open or not...
- idontpost 4y ago
munificent 4y ago
You're absolutely right that I've never bought a new house because exactly as you note, the floorplans of new construction are built to maximize profit and wow naïve buyers when touring the house. That doesn't change the fact of my statement: The way we design houses is worse for our psychological health. Therefore, there is an opportunity to improve our mental health by designing them different. There may be economic problems in the way of that opportunity, but the opportunity is still there. By "opportunity" I don't mean "easy thing we can do" I mean "understood problem that is possible to solve".

yardie 4y ago

You can have a custom home built. In general they are 10-20% more expensive. Because any savings in economies of scale a developer might see get converted to profit, not savings. Architects are a thing and do take on SFH projects when asked.

dsfyu404ed 4y ago

If these crap floorplans didn't sell people wouldn't build them. If they sold worse there'd be alternatives. I don't see why people want them but clearly they do.

frankus 4y ago
It could be a classic information asymmetry (people don't know what they want until they've lived with it, or even know that something better is possible). The same process that has turned most store-bought strawberries into freakishly-large flavorless blobs.
neutronicus 4y ago
People generally pick a location, set some criteria (must have X bedrooms, Y bathrooms, Z square footage, parking), see the small integer number of houses in the market in that location satisfying those criteria in-budget, and go with the one whose maintenance seems least daunting. There aren't even really enough options to be picky about floor-plan most of the time, especially if the house with the wonderful floor-plan hasn't had the roof replaced for 15 years.
- _carbyau_ 4y ago
  ^This^ Looking to buy a home soon. Our checklist on location wipes out most of the market. IE not in floodzone, near enough to work, train station, reasonable schooling, shops. Get a solar sensible(not passive, not perfect, just vaguely right) house with those requirements? "Tell him he's dreamin'!" I haven't even got to caring about the floorplan being open or not...
idontpost 4y ago

munificent 4y ago

You're absolutely right that I've never bought a new house because exactly as you note, the floorplans of new construction are built to maximize profit and wow naïve buyers when touring the house. That doesn't change the fact of my statement: The way we design houses is worse for our psychological health. Therefore, there is an opportunity to improve our mental health by designing them different. There may be economic problems in the way of that opportunity, but the opportunity is still there. By "opportunity" I don't mean "easy thing we can do" I mean "understood problem that is possible to solve".