If there’s one phrase that can make me stuff my credit card right back into my wallet it’s one size fits all. I’ve been suckered by that claim more than once and can assure you that one size does not fit all. It may fit a few people very well, but the rest of us are bound to be pretty uncomfortable.
One size fits all is not just a claim a few clothing manufacturers use to get people to buy something that doesn’t fit them. It’s also an implied claim by some businesses—car manufacturers, airplane-seat makers, steak restaurants, even production home builders—that try to make people fit their products instead of making their products to fit people. Unfortunately for mass producers, people tend to come in an inconvenient variety of sizes, shapes, abilities, and predilections.
That diversity can be a competitive advantage for custom builders. Your specialty is to fit the product to the customer—to build a house that is not one size fits all, but one that fits the owners like a Savile Row suit. You and your architect are the ones with the expertise to measure an individual client’s needs and transform them into a house with that sought-after perfect fit.
You’ll see what I mean by perfect fit in the houses featured in this issue. Their owners all have needs that don’t match a one-size-fits-all approach. For “Easy Now”), Bruce Snider shows how four houses built for owners with physical challenges fulfill demanding programmatic and aesthetic requirements. Each of these houses is beautiful in its own right, but once you read about how well they function, you’ll see that their beauty is more than skin deep. And Meghan Drueding takes us to Houston in “Double Vision” to tour a fascinating house that melds two cultures and several generations. It’s a lesson in how a home’s design can convey more than economic status; this house is truly a study in cultural, spiritual, and familial values.
You may have had clients who, like the owners of these houses, had requirements that were beyond those of mainstream house design. But if you haven’t worked for such clients yet, chances are you will in the future. As America’s population grows older and more culturally diverse, more clients are likely to want a house tailored to their particular situation, rather than some generic one size fits all plan. As a custom builder, you’re the obvious choice for any home buyer who is seeking a perfect fit.
