AO's comment is a very good one that poll statistics will not ever get to a custom fit program or home for exactly the individual. In any product design whether it is in housing or consumer products intelligent broad stroke assumptions and stereotypes have to be made to best describe the idiosyncrasy of a particular consumer group.
Even company like Apple has made some mistakes on its product such as the I-Phone. Targeted group was initially under 40 year old but it quickly learned that its consumer audience really encompasses older consumers. Its keystroke screen was designed too small for the vision challenged older folks while other brands recognizes Apple?s mistakes quickly introduced copycat version with large key screen trying to capture the older executive consumers.
In order to tailor fit a home to consumer one really has to buy a custom lot and design a home with a specific lifestyle or habit program. For this production home exercise the intent is to arrive at a solution that address the livability and price base on a realistic land price. Land price is really the main driving factor for the price of a home while the size of the home to certain extent is another contributing factor. Cookie Cutter housing is the economical method in delivering housing to the masses. A custom home of similar size will cost 3 times higher. Unfortunately there is a huge price gap between custom and production homes. Custom fee expenditure is often high due to a stricter design guideline and having the various professional involvements such as architect, landscape architect, builder, structural, civil, mechanical, and electrical engineer.
During the 1920?s there were no production homes but the lots resembled cookie-cutter lots. In Floral Park the home buyers were greeted by builders and architects before the homes were built. The buyers specified a program and their preferred architectural style. 18 months later the families moved into their dream homes. Back then there was little government involvement so the streamlined process cut out many disciplines and did allow monetary profit for the developers. The maturity that we see today in Floral Park could never be replicated. The Department of Interior in DC is currently designating Floral Park as National Historic Landmark. The Department of Interior recognizes the land economic in OC that owners in prestigious neighborhood must add on to their homes to reflect today?s RE prices. OC has just a few historic neighborhoods and most have already been McMansionized such as Newport Heights, Old Tustin, Main St Huntington Beach, and Balboa Peninsula. They lost some or most of their historic charm. Floral Park and Old Town Orange both being farther away from the greed of developers were spared. Homes in Floral Park will be protected under its Historic Landmark designation and additions will be allowed only through a rigorous review by historic review board.
In today?s home market many model homes are designed with different lifestyle elements. The goal is one or more should address the needs of the buyers. The survey although is not comprehensive but it?s nonetheless an approximate gauge in meeting the buyers on this board.
