Show time: a show home can put your company in the spotlight

Custom Home, July-August, 2002 by Gerry Donohue

Once he lined up the American Cancer Society, Dannenbaum says the project flowed just like a spec house--a $2.3 million, 7,500-square-foot spec house. Classic Stellar had complete control over the project, using its own design team to create the house and teaming up with a furniture store to furnish it.

Dannenbaum and his team outfitted the house with things he wouldn't put in a model home, such as more custom cabinets, intricate custom stonework, and the latest in technological innovations. The temptation is to put more in the house than the market will pay for. Dannenbaum had to tight the tendency to go overboard, and for the most part was successful. Soon after the open house, the home sold.

Show homes have to be more than just big houses with lots of features and amenities; they tend to come with a mission statement that may or may not mesh with a builder's market. For example, Better Homes & Gardens' 2000 Home of the Year was a "Healthy House," built with materials and products that promoted good air quality. Lowell White's last Southern Living show home was designed to showcase lakeside living.

With all this focus on bigger goals, the basic goal of designing a house that people in the market will want to buy can get lost. It's the builder's responsibility to keep it at the forefront. "Our biggest input was on floor plan issues," says Tom Hall of Renaissance Homes, which built Sunset magazine's first show home in Colorado in 2000. "We knew they had to display the home, but we also knew somebody had to live in it."

One of the biggest potential conflicts between the mission of a show house and its marketability is the magazine's advertisers. The magazine wants to showcase as many advertisers as possible in the house because that participation increases ad sales, but some products may not be appropriate. "I was responsible for using certain manufacturers," says Koger, "but I worked my own deal as to which products we used. I would say between 30 and 40 percent of the materials came through sponsors."

The challenge comes in using what has to be included while still maintaining architectural integrity, marketability, and budget. "We had 15 different colors of paint on the walls because they had a paint sponsor," says Hall, "and they selected a bright palette. In the end, we were able to pull it off."

In most cases, manufacturers who want to showcase their products will forgo a portion of their cost. For example, Koger went to Marvin Windows with his window budget and told them that if they wanted to put in a higher-end product, it was their choice. "They came through in a big way," he says.

The challenges of a magazine show home don't go away when construction starts; they actually intensify. Most show homes are built on schedules that are so tight that they could be measured in minutes and hours rather than days and weeks. Koger's experience is not uncommon. "We got involved nine months before the house had to be open," he says. "And then it took three months before the plan was ready. It was an enormous undertaking."