In the last video I mentioned how Keith and Chrissy were kind enough to arrange a brief sit-down with the most acclaimed builder in county history, Bill Davidson. We are scheduled to get together on April 24th.
You know I’ll be asking about my favorite – single-story houses.
What else? Do you have questions or comments for the luxury-home builder?
For those who are content to stay put, and not buy a new house – here are remodeling ideas from Better Homes and Garden:
I’m curious what he thinks about modular/pre-fab home construction. Seems to fit well with the trends of the smaller homes, and more intensive building standards.
I’m curious about lot sizes in general. Does Davidson have a rule regarding how big a lot should be for a given house footprint, how has that changed over time, and where will it be going forward?
Personally, I don’t mind a small lot so long as the yard is large enough to entertain a small group of guests (12) comfortably. But I also don’t want a lot so small that my voice echoes down “Stucco Canyon”.
I have two small kids with my oldest in kindergarten. I predict my weekends will be crammed with driving them to various athletic activities, birthday parties, and family outings for years to come. Therefore, I won’t have the time to tend to a large yard (i.e. lot).
I wonder if I am in the minority with this viewpoint? So yeah, I would be interested to here what Davidson has to say on lot size.
does he think new houses will be built for zero carbon or sustainability such as built in PV, SOlar thermal, etc?/
What differentiates a home from a normal builder versus a luxury home builder at the same square footage?
just some guy,
If you have a small yard then your kids will go elsewhere whenever they can. My parents made home the defacto neighborhood rec center and all the kids came to our place… so mom always knew where we were. 😉
How much buildable land is left within the 56 corridor? In the county?
What about giving the buyers option to include the MR payoff into the purchase price, or at least give the MR payoff info to the buyer at time of purchase.
How’s the financing environment for builders these days? is the lending environment making it more difficult for local builder like himself to compete with national builders like Toll or Standard Pacific…
two questions:
1) How have labor costs & material costs moved during the boom, bust, now?
2) Since the bust, has he seen a change in sentiment among his larger institutional equity partners regarding return expectations, and level of capital (as a % of total cost) that they are willing to contribute? Are more equity players coming back into the marketplace?
One word: “Basements”
Based on the comments here, Davidson will not know what hit him when JtR shows up!
@TJ and the Bear
I know you what you mean. Our house was the neighborhood rec-cen because my dad’s hobby was landscaping and pool construction. The jacuzzi was built above the pool and into the hillside. We would all jump off the top and into the deep end. A nightmare scenario for today’s nervous-nellie-helicopter type parents.
One great neighborhood was built in SE Carlsbad 12 years ago, “The Ranch”. Larger homes on spacious lots(ave. 1/2 acre) that works in every way. I would like to know from Davidson why this has never been copied and if it is even reasonable to do that in North San Diego County Coastal again. That hood retains all the value any owner ever put into it…the schools helped it too.
“My parents made home the defacto neighborhood rec center and all the kids came to our place… so mom always knew where we were.”
We were too poor to make our home the defacto home, but our parents always knew where we were any way, as we were the loudest by far.
I have seen HOA/MR fees trend higher and higher progressively now for the last 20 years but at the same time, homes with lower fees often times are priced a fair amount higher or offer fewer amenities. Does he see an increase in HOA/MR fees as an ongoing trend or does he see any sign that people are willing to pay a higher initial purchase price with lower HOA/MR fees?
I’m curious what his thoughts are on quality. What specifically sets his homes apart from the others? I’m sure he’ll like that question! But I’ve always wondered why other builders have a hard time matching his homes.
Is he going to go into smaller, semi-custom, luxury developments like Nantucket & Magnolia Estates?
What goes into the staging? Who is it run by? It is excellent! I’m not normally a fan of tract homes…but his staging is amazing.
And lastly, where does he see pricing going this year and into the future?
Following Bill’s answer to Jakob’s question, I would ask “why can’t modular/pre-fab home construction be done regularly for big awesome houses?”
It seems to me the construction company gets the benefit of doing most of the “building” in a climate controlled environment (the shop), the foreman can see the workers for many projects at once (since the workers are in the shop). the workers don’t have to work in the weather (thus cheaper labor), the inspectors are present more often (they come for one project and thus can inspect any other project while they are there), etc. All this regardless of the size of the house they are building; thus a bigger house means more savings to the builder.
Big luxury homes can’t be built from modular parts?
Buyers of big luxury homes can’t get past their ego to have a home built from modular parts?
Ask him what he thinks about this
http://northochousingnews.com/news/4374
“Metropolitan area governments are adopting plans that would require most new housing to be built at 20 or more to the acre,…..”
Jim, please tell Mr Davidson how much we appreciate his craftsmanship and how he put his passion for building first. It shows up in little things like the bigger baseboards and the wall fininishings. It also shows up in the styling and the open floor plan. We love how when the weather dips to the 40’s, we still stay in the 60’s indoor. And how when the weather hits the 90’s, the interior still stays within the 70’s. That is of course because of the insane amount of insulation he put in to his homes. It is this type of “behind the wall” difference that sets him apart!
We are over at Scripps Preserve in Stonebridge, and we know things were quite difficult for the entire building industry during the bust. Please thank him for keeping the community intact and insisting on staying true to his calling of building quality homes. We have seen absolute disasters from his competitors in neighboring neighborhoods and we appreciate the tough division he had to make on a daily basis.
Any hope for new developments to take on a modern design slant instead of the over-done Mediterranean look ?