Like the house but wish the ceiling was higher? The master bedroom was bigger? Need an extra room over the garage? Custom homes have traditionally been the province only of the most affluent buyers. But a new program at Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. is bringing many of the same choices to middle-income buyers as well. This month the country’s largest home builder cut the ribbon on its new DreamHome showroom, the first in the Los Angeles area, offering buyers of its homes some 16,000 choices to tailor their new abode to their individual needs and tastes. The first L.A. DreamHome in Ontario will be followed by a second facility in the Santa Clarita area at the beginning of next year. “The choices weren’t there for the homebuyer before,” said Jay Moss, president and regional manager of Kaufman & Broad’s greater Los Angeles division. “Before, most of the choices were already established in construction and room configuration and all the buyers’ choices really had to do with carpeting, colorization and counter tops.” The program works this way: Kaufman & Broad sells its new homes with a basic floor plan. Then buyers go to the showroom where they can modify the home to their own specifications. That way, company officials say, buyers on a budget can pick and choose the elements that are most important to them. Say a buyer would rather have a lush bathroom with separate shower stall than a fireplace. Or, perhaps a smaller family doesn’t need a fourth bedroom but would like a larger master bedroom. Maybe the buyer prefers vaulted ceilings or a brick facade. The home can literally be re-drawn to accommodate a multitude of different options. With the advent of the Internet and today’s more discriminating shopper, Kaufman & Broad felt that even homebuyers with modest budgets have become more selective about how they spend their money. “While a competitor may have vaulted ceilings and a fireplace standard for $10,000 more, we can say, ‘Our house is $10,000 less, and you can choose the items you want without having to pay for what you won’t use,'” Moss said. Moss likens the idea to buying a car, where customers buy a basic model and choose a variety of options to go into it. “The car industry for many years has let customers ‘have it your way,’ Moss said. “It’s a basic philosophy and the home building industry hasn’t found the keys to do that yet.” The showroom is set up with vignettes displaying the different options available, everything from architectural details to appliances. The Ontario facility measures 10,000 square feet. Santa Clarita, because Kaufman & Broad’s market there is somewhat smaller than the Riverside and San Bernardino market, will house a somewhat smaller showroom, but Moss said the company expects to move into a larger space as its business there expands. While homebuyers have always had the ability to choose such options as floor tiles, counter tops and appliances, the DreamHome concept goes several steps further. “I think the concept of having something that’s semi-custom makes sense,” said Jim Link, executive vice president for the Southland Regional Association of Realtors. “It’s a good idea.” The idea is too new in L.A. to reveal any patterns, but in Las Vegas, where Kaufman & Broad has been operating a DreamHome showroom for some time, Moss said he’s seen some surprising trends. “When we went to this program, only 5 percent of the people picked fireplaces,” Moss said. “If you think about it, how many times do you use your fireplace?” A fireplace accounts for about $5,000 in cost, and most shoppers would prefer to put that money into additional square footage, Moss said. “They want the biggest house they can get for the least amount of dollars, and whatever they have left, they’ll put into whatever.”
HOMES—Kaufman & Broad is bringing custom-made homes to the middle-income market
