I got to tour one of Guy’s upscale ArrowCreek listings last weekend. Man, it was BIG! There were some really nice details mixed with things even Centex gets right on their entry houses. It got me thinking about the poorly executed details in any house that drive me crazy.
Glue-on faux stone floating 6" above grade. – "Stone" is meant to connotate strength and permanence, but most of all weight and solidity. It needs to meet the ground or it looks goofy.
Clear glass shower enclosures – Who ever came up with the idea that having to squeegee your shower after every use to prevent spotting was a good idea?
5′ long, 16" deep bathtubs – Just do a (non- clear glass) shower. You can’t really soak in these mini models anyway.
Stone counter tops with toasted oak corbels – If you are spending the bucks for a high end counter finish, PLEASE spend the money to support them invisibly without the Home Depot corbel braces. It is actually really easy to do with a little angle iron. I see this corbel detail at all price levels. Even Toll Brothers seems to think it’s OK. I don’t.
HUD minimum bedrooms – Why are there 9×10 bedrooms in 5000 SF houses?
HVAC distribution grilles – Linear diffusers that become architectural elements are easily available. The 2×2 white louvered return air grilles dominate the room they are in. They can be hidden with a little creativity.
6′-8" doors in a 10’+ space – That’s just cheap. Go at least 8′. And 1-3/8" doors don’t’ cut it. You need 1-3/4" to be solid and to control sound transmission.
45 degree angles – Why? Though I must confess I was dubbed "hexagonalge" once in the distant past.
These are a few of the many construction details that get me going. What are YOUR pet peeves? And more important, what IS important to you? I think the builders need to rethink their offerings to meet what you and I want and would be willing to pay for today. Are any of them doing it well and meeting your expectations at your price point? Let’s tell them what we think.
chewgumm
How much do you ahve to make to post here?
Sheesh, what is with th Home Depot bashing? how many posts are you going to make trashing something that is from Home Depot.
I think I am getting a complex.
Can someone provide a link to where the peasants talk about the housing market? I think I am in the wrong place. I shop at Home Depot.
longerwalk
I want: Houses that actually FACE the view with an appropriate window.
I want: Windows one can reach. (What’s with these garden windows I have to waltz through the tub to open/close?)
I want: Less square footage, better design for everyday usage. How many people really USE a formal dining room to dine in?
I want: Better workmanship. Line up the doors, finish the miters, make the seams straight–don’t depend on caulk to fill everything. If the kitchen counter is Formica, fine, but put it in right. Act as if the house will be there 100 years from now, and your name is on it.
Too many houses have too many ‘touches’where one would suffice.
Tom
“How many people really USE a formal dining room to dine in?”
We do, and we want MORE square footage, not less. But we don’t want it in a large number of small rooms; rather, we want it in a smaller number of larger rooms. Without exception, the Reno area new tract home communities have SMALL living rooms, smaller dining rooms, and the so-called Great rooms aren’t so great. Instead they offer a bunch of bedrooms, with large to the point of silly master bathroom spaces, many nooks and turns and alcoves, all apparently to look stylish. We have given up the search and are going to build our own.
Grand Wazoo
I want: Jack Hawkins to design something interesting that makes economic sense to own, somewhere close to downtown and UNR.
There was a previous project along these lines in a not so desirable neighborhood close to UNR, which went nowhere. Probably for good reason.
One floor per residence, please. No humping up and down the stairs, as previous JH residential designs have required. If you are old enough to afford something like this, a narrow three story residence is probably not what you’re looking for.
OK Santa, make it so.
Incline JJ
Lets see I bought my house in 2001..did the down to the stud remodel and finished the house about 6 months later..
I have used my dining room maybe 3 or 4 times since..
Waste of space..I should have expanded the kitchen out to this area..live and learn
konarina36
We don’t use a dining room either and consider it wasted space. Why not combine a dining room with a library, office or study, if you want one at all.
I also agree that builders are trying too hard to make master baths a “grand space” but just end up wasted space. In fact, I would not bother to have a tub; no one in our family uses one & certainly not one that you have to climb down into or up into at risk of a broken leg or hip. And who wants a clothes closet in a bathroom where they can get moldy?
Not enough houses are elder or handicapped friendly either. Narrow hallways and steep stairways are not what over-55’s are looking for.
I also agree that the workmanship is shoddy in most of the houses we saw in Reno, with cheap materials masquerading as stone, brick, wood, etc. Guess I’m just old-fashioned but I’d rather pay more and have the real thing.
We have twice looked in earnest for a house in Reno; never found anything worth what the owners were asking. Everyone thinks their house is so special or so different that someone ought to be willing to pay more. Believe me, the houses in Reno are like everywhere else and are not any more special or different. Get over it, folks! If you want to sell, price it accordingly and get on with your life.
longerwalk
Tom wrote that he does use the dining room. That was a rhetorical point . . . so do we (though I know few people who do), but we don’t use the ‘breakfast nook’–instead, we have our home office there. Better view than the 4th bedroom!
The point, well made above, is more flexible and useful space–great room would be my approach as well. Fortunately our vintage mid 80’s tract home isn’t too bad that way.
I’d guess that many home-seekers aren’t really sure exactly what they want, just that they want it all. Therefore, they don’t take the time to really consider their real needs/desires, which makes home builders just throw in as much as possible to make it all look good.
Of course, one can actually pay for a custom home, or, as JJ above there did, gut & redo something that makes sense.
Eric Wright
My pet peeve – hanging an overhead lamp in a dining room/nook that is in the center of the room – but not in the center of the useable space!!
Incline JJ
Hey Eric are you the Eric Wright who played for the Niners?
Shoddy worksmanship..hmm can we say using too much unskilled labor..
another peeve of mine..are houses in Tahoe without the Tahoe feel..If you wanted Atherton, or Hillsborough gaudy go there..
I walk in some of these houses and think wtf..
I really dig the old style Tahoe house..
I did my downstairs first then did the upstairs..the bones of the house built in the mid 60’s where fine..the inside was tired..Did the siding outside put a fence around it and now I am done..
Would like to do a down to the stud’s remodel at the Lake..
Just sitting and waiting..
Transplant
pet peeve, cavernous “great” room with a kitchen huddled in a corner, made worse by lack of a window over the sink and, god forbid, a stove on the island. What, you think I’m going to start doing my own cooking show?
stjoe56
I hate 20 foot ceilings. Especially when they have a cam lighting installed. How in the heck is a homeowner supposed to change a burned out bulb.
SJ
3 wombats
I hate no entry way – just walking into the great room/ living room / kitchen is yucky. Take a little space from the huge master bath and give me a little privacy at my front door.
I also hate cheap kitchen cupboards and low end appliances. I use mine everyday and want somthing that works and works well.
And please do we all have to have granite and stainless steel?
EYESWIDEOPEN
“I hate no entry way – just walking into the great room/ living room / kitchen is yucky. Take a little space from the huge master bath and give me a little privacy at my front door.”
HEAR HEAR! I totally agree.
This faux pas can make even the grandest home feel like a motel.
smarten
My pet peeve? Stay with me now.
For you skiers/snowboarders out there, the ski lift on Lookout Mountain at Northstar has just been extended by about 500 vertical feet. It now ends [or starts] in a new upscale Truckee master planned real estate development known as Martis Camp. Today my wife and I decided to check out the development and its layout in relation to the ski lift on our way down to the Bay Area. But we weren’t successful, and that’s the genesis of my peeve.
This is a gated [and guarded] development [ala Montreux and St. James Village]. We were told by the guard we weren’t permitted to drive the streets of Martis Camp unless property owners or escorted by an [exclusive] agent. I wasn’t happy and told her not to pull a Montreux on us. The guard apologized and explained “they” don’t allow unescorted guests in.
I told the guard to tell “them” their attitude stinks and it has turned off at least two potential purchasers. I wonder what kind of people are these [especially in a market line the one we’re going through]?
Transplant
3 wombats — you are correct, sir.
MKchick
New construction beefs (for those of us who slum it in the middle class):
1. Moulding around windows — half the windows in my house don’t have window sills, let alone moulding around the windows. Have to find a carpenter or buy the tools and learn how to do this myself.
2. Second floor laundry — This is included in many of the two floor plans, it eliminates them from consideration. Yes, they are conveinent as you aren’t lugging laundry up and down the stairs, but it is one of the top sources of fire and floods in the home.
3. Media niches — these things are terrible. Just give me wall.
4. Formal living & dining room combinations when you have a great room / family room — get rid of them easily by walling off the kitchen and installing interior French doors in the formal living room entry way. Now it can be a den/home office/playroom.
5. Wall of mirror in bathroom — this is a waste when everyone takes them down immediately. Same for medicine cabinets. Bathrooms are so big nowadays, they have plenty of storage.
6. More home automation and energy efficient fixtures options — is it seriously that difficult to offer solar powered exterior lights that adjust on their own to brightness? And with all the X10 stuff available, why isn’t that an option of everything installed wirelessly at the same cost of a hardwire?
Mike Porter
I build in Truckee north lake tahoe and i agree the workmanship in most houses is terrible. A culling of the herd of contractors and realtors will be a good thing in the long run for CA and NV..
BanteringBear
Are you the same Mike Porter from Reno who I played baseball with… a left handed hitter?
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