Home Energy TechTips

What is the future of new home construction?  Does it look the same in a market with 25% of home sales being short sales or foreclosures?  Should homes be built the same way even though energy codes now demand unprecedented levels of insulation and air sealing?  Are standard technology packages adequate in a marketplace where millions will spend hundreds of $ for the newest smart phone on the market?

Are builders best served by trying to compete on $ per square foot in this environment?

DOE Challenge Home offers a very different approach for builder success in the “new normal” housing market.  Thanks to support from Connecticut Light & Power, Newport and DOE staff presented how to successfully go to market with Zero Net-Energy Ready Homes last week in CT.  Builders, architects, energy raters, and engineers took part in the training session – which is among the first in a national training blitz which Newport/DOE are launching over the next year.

For information on upcoming trainings please visit www.building.energy.gov/challenge

From The Fire Protection Research Foundation Blog:

In 2008, the Foundation conducted a comprehensive assessment of the installed cost of home fire sprinklers across the U.S.

NFPA has re-commissioned the study to review current costs against the 2008 benchmark study to better understand the relationship between adoptions, various elements of cost (installation, materials), and total costs, how efficiency in design or installation may be introduced, and other innovations.

Click here to go to the Fire Protection Research Foundation’s blog post.

Newport Partners conducted the 2008 study on behalf of the Research Foundation and has been called upon to conduct the updated study as well. Newport’s final report for the updated study is expected to be complete in the Fall of 2013.

So far, we have analyzed people’s preference for a larger or smaller home as well as their preference for more or less yard space.  Therefore, it makes sense to combine the data and look at these preferences in relation to one another.

The chart shows what you might have expected to see.  Those that would prefer less yard space were more likely to prefer a smaller home.  In addition, those that would prefer more yard space were more likely to prefer a larger home.

The chart also shows the following:

Those who would prefer less yard space were more likely to also prefer a smaller home than those who would prefer more yard space were to prefer a larger home.

The last series of blogs will focus on two specific rooms, the dining room and the home office.  How important is it to have a large dedicated dining room space?  With more people working from home, is a home office becoming increasingly important?

So, did you wager a guess?

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, check out the previous blog post.  We asked you, the reader, what you thought would be the most common response as to why someone would prefer less yard space.

And the answer is…

A) LESS TIME SPENT MAINTAINING THE PROPERTY!

This seems to make sense, given that the most commonly noted response we observed for why people wanted to downsize their home was to spend less time cleaning and maintaining.

Interestingly enough, less than 15 percent of all respondents that would prefer less yard space cited ‘being more environmentally conscious’ as the reason why.  This is somewhat surprising given the interest many people have in living in more environmentally sustainable ways.

The following chart looks at the rationale for preferring less yard space by age range.  It’s important to note that respondents who preferred less yard space and were over the age of 65 were less likely to cite the benefit of having to spend less time maintaining the property than younger respondents.

We also asked respondents why they’d prefer more yard space.  The most commonly noted response was that they wanted more space for outdoor activities.  The interest in having more space for outdoor activities did not seem to vary based on the number of household members under the age of 18.

Next week, we’ll look at the relationship between preferences for a larger or smaller home and more or less yard space.  Do people that would prefer a smaller home prefer less yard space too?  We’ll find out next week!

Imagine building a house the same way would put together a jigsaw puzzle?  WikiHouse lets people design and share home designs and “print” the pieces for as little as a couple thousand dollars.  A free online resource designed as an open-source construction kit, WikiHouse leaps into what is being called the “3^rd Industrial Revolution” as the WikiPedia for home design.

WikiHouse is a community library of 3D home design models that can be downloaded and used to create a set of “cutting” files, essentially puzzle pieces for the home.  Builders can use their own building materials and the design can be cut into pieces using technologies such as 3D printers and CNC machines.  The pieces are assembled like a large 3D puzzle, without the need for construction skills or power tools, using wedge and peg connections and mallets.  The lightweight frames are lifted into place, like traditional barn raising, ending up with the basic mold of a house that windows, wiring, insulation, skin, plumbing, etc. can be added on to.  Two or three people can construct one of these small homes in about a day.

A few prototypes are being experimented with around the world and there is a move to set up construction teams in the shanty towns ofBrazil.   As well as in slums around the world the WikiHouse could also be applied to disaster relief housing and rebuilding scenarios.  The future of the WikiHouse may be a way off but the ideas and experiments being developed presently are a good sign of things to come.

For more on WikiHouse visit this website:

http://www.wikihouse.cc/

Oversized lots with plush green lawns are synonymous with suburban sprawl.  In our survey, called The Space, we aim to find out if, given their current situation, people would prefer to have more or less yard space.

Also, as part of this analysis, it will be interesting to see if the same people who prefer larger homes also prefer more yard space.  We’ll get to that, but for now, let’s find out what percentage of respondents preferred more or less yard space.

Overall, about 75 percent of all respondents would prefer more or the same amount of yard space.  Only about 25 percent stated they’d prefer less.  You might remember we found that 35 percent of all respondents stated a preference for a smaller home.  Therefore, people were more likely to prefer to downsize their home as opposed to their yard space.

So what demographic characteristics drive someone’s preference for yard space?  We found that as household income rises, fewer people seemed to be satisfied with their current amount of yard space.  Age seemed to play a significant role in determining preference for yard space.  Starting at the 30-39 age range, the preference for less yard space increases for each succeeding age range (i.e. from 40-49, 50-64, and 65+).

The number of household members under 18 seemed to have some impact on preferences for more or less yard space.  As the number of household members under 18 increased, there were a greater proportion of respondents with a desire for more yard space.  However, a corresponding preference for less yard space as the number of household members under 18 decreased was not as evident.

So, do those that would prefer less yard space also prefer a smaller home?  By sorting the data accordingly, we can see that more than 60 percent of respondents that preferred less yard space would also prefer to downsize their home.  Meanwhile, about 40 percent of respondents that wanted more yard space would also prefer a larger home.

Check back with us soon to find out the most commonly noted reasons as to whysomeone would prefer more or less yard space.

And here’s something to think about for next time:

What do you think was the most commonly noted response as to why someone would prefer lessyard space.

A) Less time spent maintaining the property

B) Desire to be more environmentally conscious

C) To be more connected to the surrounding neighborhood

A, B, or C, what do you think?

OK, so let’s recap.

In December, Newport unveiled its newest project called, Revisioning the American Dream.  The project would allow us to gauge how consumer preferences for housing have changed.

The project is composed of four separate parts, or surveys.  Last month, we finished up our survey on The Space.  As part of this, we gathered information on preferences for housing unit size and yard space and explored the rationale for why an individual would want a larger or smaller home.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve discussed some preliminary findings.

After asking respondents if, given their current situation, they’d prefer a smaller or larger home than the one they’re currently living in, they were directed to one of the two follow-up questions.

• If they selected a ‘Smaller’ home, we asked them to tell us what room they’d most like to decrease in size.
• If they selected a ‘Larger’ home, we asked them to tell us what room they’d most like to increase in size.

No follow-up question was asked if they selected a home that would be the ’Same size’.

Over 40 percent of respondents that would prefer a smaller home than the one they’re living in said they’d like to decrease the size of their living or family room the most.  It’s worth noting that over one-quarter of these respondents would reduce the size of their dining room.

No respondents stated that tehy would reduce the size of the master bedroom, kitchen, or bathroom(s).

Meanwhile, about 40 percent of respondents that would prefer a larger home than the one they’re living in said they’d like to increase the size of their kitchen the most.  In addition, over 20 percent would like to increase the size of their living or family room the most.

This blog entry wraps up our findings on the space inside the house.  Next week, we’ll move onto significant findings in regard to the space outside the home, the yard space!

We hope you found last week’s discussion on The Space’s findings on preference for a larger or smaller home interesting.  It served as a good way to develop a sense of consumers’ relative preference for home size and, better yet, to learn about what demographic characteristics influence those preferences.  In other words, in business, it’s really important to know what consumers want.  But what can really set you apart from your competitors is to understand what factors drive those preferences.

Anyway, let’s move along and discuss a little more about what else we’ve learned.

After asking respondents if, given their current situation, they’d prefer a smaller or larger home than the one they’re currently living in, they were directed to one of the two follow-up questions.

• If they selected a ‘Smaller’, we asked them to tell us why they’d prefer to downsize
• If they selected a ‘Larger’, we asked them to tell us why they needed the additional space

No follow-up question was asked if they selected ‘Same size’.

The most commonly noted rationale for why respondents would prefer a smaller home than their current one was because there would be less unused rooms or space and they’d be able to spend less time on cleaning and other types of maintenance.  Less than 15 percent of respondents preferring a smaller home noted that expected savings on energy bills would support their decision.

The most commonly noted rationale for why respondents would prefer a larger home was the benefit of added living space.  This response was much more commonly noted than the other two responses; an expected increase in household members and the prestige associated with owning a larger home.

With a better understanding of the reasons behind the preferences for a larger or smaller home, we’ll turn our attention next week to what parts of the home respondents would most like to increase or decrease in size.