In this episode of the HousePlanGallery.com podcast, we’ll be continuing our talk about what are the most popular home design features that people are looking for in their new craftsman house floor plans.

In part 3 of this 3 part series, we’ll wrap this topic up by talking about a very important, though not often talked about, consideration of families when looking for a new house plan, and that is “ease of maintainance”…

Again, before we get started, we’d love to hear your feedback on what features you’d like to see in your new house plans, so be sure to give us a call at 601-264-5028 or send us an email via our contact page…

#4: Ease-of-Maintenance – The relative time constraints of today’s family unit is at an all-time high. Many families now include two full-time working parents, additional outside work commitments, professional commitments, family commitments, and 2.5 children of varying ages. Time is a extremely precious commodity for which home maintenance is ranked right below doing your taxes and going to the dentist for a root canal.

Today’s homeowners want a new home design that is, not only, aesthetically pleasing and functional, but also includes modern building materials and design features that utilize the most current research developments and minimize the amount of maintenance (i.e. cleaning, painting, replacing, etc) needed over time.

One example of these type low-maintenance building materials is hardi board, which is a type of exterior covering similar, in look, to wood siding but made from an extremely durable concrete base. Hardy board/plank is the trade name for one brand of concrete fiber siding, however there are numerous other similar brands.

The product does not rot or deteriorate, and with proper installation and maintenance, appears to last for very long periods of time without deterioration. Additionally, the hardy board siding does need to be painted or re-finished, as any dirt, etc. can simply be washed away with minimal effort.

These type products can help to improve the quality of life of the home owners by minimizing the time and related costs associated with maintaining a home.

The simple house floor plan trends and “most-requested features” listed in this podcast convey the general interests of today’s current stock house plan purchasers. It should be noted that certain parts of the country will include construction practices / demographic profiles / disparate geographical characteristics which is in stark contrast to those same characteristics evident in a different part of the United States.

In these instances, you can be assured that a designer, like House Plan Gallery, has already developed a stock home plan design to fit your needs. A design that provides an excellent value, with all the features, and at a more affordable price than that of a fully-custom set of houseplans.

If you’re looking for a specific example of an Award-winning house plan with a very low ongoing maintainance needs design, you can check out one of our most popular home designs – The Morgan Landing – at http://www.houseplangallery.com/HPG-2067-1

This particular craftsman style home design has become very popular with our customers and has a tremendous amount of usable space, not to mention including many of the most requested floorplan features in 2,067 square feet of living space.

Again, you can view this plan online at http://www.houseplangallery.com/HPG-2067-1

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast. Join us for next week’s episode, where we’ll be de-mystifying the house plan buying process and will be talking about the different plan packages that are available, and how to decide which plan package is best for your particular needs…

Finally, we’re always here to help you find a house plan for your family, and you can always feel free to visit us online at http://www.HousePlanGallery.com or give us a call at 601-264-5028 if we can help you with your new house plans.

Thanks again, and let us know if we can help!

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