Lawrence builder Neal Ezell is proud of the little details that his company is designing into area homes.

His company, Ezell-Morgan Construction Co., will have one of 30 homes on this year’s Fall Showcase of Homes, which begins today. He boasts of new design features like lockers near the garage for children’s coats and shoes and larger laundry rooms that allow people to fold and iron their laundry in a single spot.

“These days people are thinking a lot more practical about their homes,” Ezell said. “Ten years ago people only cared about square footage and how big it looked from the curb. People are over that now. They want a home that functions well.”

But what Ezell isn’t proud about is the price that new homes are fetching in the Lawrence market.

“The minimum-priced home that we’ll build this year probably will be $350,000,” Ezell said. “Three years ago it was probably $225,000.”

This year’s tour — which runs both today and Sunday and Oct. 2 and Oct. 3 — features single-family homes ranging from $184,900 to $830,000.

“Unfortunately, $180,000 is what’s considered an affordable new home in Lawrence,” said Bobbie Flory, executive director of the Lawrence Home Builders Assn., which organizes the tour.

Builders said the Lawrence market was especially struggling with pricing issues now because of a shortage of available building lots. Ezell said the market continued to feel the effects of 9-11, when land developers became nervous and put future housing subdivision plans on hold. But he said an extraordinarily long approval process by city officials made the situation worse.

“We have had a severe, severe shortage of lots this year,” Ezell said. “Normally, our company would do about 20 homes in a year. This year, we’ll do about five.”

This home at 3206 Calvin Drive will be one of 30 houses on the Lawrence Home Builders Assn.'s Fall Showcase of Homes. The four-bedroom home with an unfinished basement was built by Salb Construction Inc. and is listed at 74,750. The tour is today, Sunday and Oct. 2-3.

According to city statistics, the number of new homes started this year in the city is down about 20 percent from the five-year average.

City commissioners plan to try to get to the bottom of the issue. Commissioners have agreed to appoint an affordable housing task force and are reviewing possible appointments to the board. City Commissioner David Dunfield said that was a necessary first step.

“We have to learn more about the scope of the problem,” Dunfield said. “We talk a lot about affordable housing as a problem, but I don’t think we’ve ever done a very good job of defining what we mean.”

City Commissioner David Schauner said he wasn’t sure the city had an affordable housing problem as much as it had a shortage of housing for low- to moderate-income residents.

“You could make the argument that all the houses in Lawrence are affordable because they’re all selling,” Schauner said. “We have to figure out who we’re trying to serve. Are we trying to serve people who make $8 an hour, or $50,000 a year or $100,000 a year?

“My sense is that we need a range of housing and we probably don’t have enough low- to moderate-income housing.”

Flory said that was a definite concern for the home builders association.

“We’re a community that is trying to build up our business community, but if we don’t provide housing for a work force, it isn’t going to work,” Flory said. “People should be able to live and work in the same community.”