Tour showcases trends
Lawrence builders' homes up for viewing
Lawrence area home builders will begin showing off their work today as part of the Eighth Annual Spring Tour of Homes, sponsored by the Lawrence Home Builder’s Assn.
“We put this on every year because it is really an opportunity to show the public the latest in home styles and designs,” said Bobbie Flory, executive director of the association. “It’s kind of the premier chance for our members to show off what they can do.”
Builder Tim Stultz hopes that prospective homebuyers will check out one of his townhomes on the Eighth Annual Spring Tour of Homes. Stultz's home at 1550 Legend Trail Drive and 27 others will be on the tour of homes this weekend and May 4-5.
What they’re doing more regularly, Flory and several contractors said, is building homes with multiple living areas, building larger garages, wiring homes for luxuries such as home theaters, adding more closet space and building lots of bathrooms.
“I’d say almost all new homes in Lawrence have at least two-and-a-half baths, but most are three or three-and-a-half,” said Bob Santee, a Lawrence contractor and president of the Lawrence Home Builder’s Assn. “Having a lot of bathrooms seems to be a pretty big motivator for a lot of folks.”
Homes in this year’s tour range in price from $130,000 to $570,000. Several builders, who attended Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the event, said it was becoming more difficult to build homes in the lower price ranges.
“A new starter home in Lawrence can be kind of tough,” Santee said. “With all the new fees and regulations that have been applied, and with the land costs we have to deal with, it is hard to find many starter homes below $160,000.”
But Tim Stultz, with Highland Construction, said the industry was trying to address the affordability factor. He said townhomes continued to be popular in Lawrence.
He said townhomes had become the way some builders in the industry have attempted to deal with high land prices. Townhome construction allows for about seven units to be built on one acre of ground, compared to about 2.5 units per acre with traditional single-family home construction.
“In this town the price of ground affects the price of the final product more than anything else,” Stultz said.
Santee, though, said builders also were trying to address the affordable housing issue by making sure building regulations in the community don’t become too burdensome. He said builders were meeting on a monthly basis with officials at the city’s Building Inspections Department to improve communication.
“We’re not against all regulations because we know in the long run it makes for a better house and a better community, Santee said.
“We also want people to understand that every time you add a new regulation, it adds to the price of a home,” he said.
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