iNest Newsletter

How to Speak and Understand “Builder-ese”

Dena Kouremetis
A veteran of the homebuilding industry, Dena Kouremetis is the foremost real estate columnist specializing in new home issues, trends, products and designs. Her columns appear in the New York Post as well as other newspapers throughout the U.S.

Your visit to a new home community will no doubt include the eventual receipt of the builder's fancy marketing brochure, containing the homes' floor plan designs and their options, a page with lots of descriptive words, scenes of happy families enjoying homes built by that particular homebuilder, and, last but not least, a pocket stuffed with a price sheet to refer to as your stroll through their model homes.

This marketing piece contains a sophisticated list of amenities buyers may or may not be clear on. For your touring pleasure, an attempt will be made here to translate "builder-ese," - the language of homebuilders. After all, it's always good to learn something of the language before visiting a new and foreign locale, is it not?

An included feature is a fancy way of saying "standard. " These are the amenities the homes comes with, as is indicated by their base price (without upgrades or lot premiums). Many production homebuilders consider their included features a point of pride and feature nearly all them somewhere within their model homes. Others will only mention them in their sales brochures and will display mostly upgrades in their models, making it difficult for buyers to understand just what the base price of the homes really means.

Optional Items are really "upgrades" or extras and have now been lovingly termed "opportunities." These are items not included in the base price of the house. They are, however, eminently available at the builder's design center or studio. To distinguish between which items are upgraded and which are included in a particular floor plan, you may find it necessary to have the salesperson take you on a personally guided tour and point them out. Confident sales people do this without even being asked to do so as part of their sales presentation.

A disclaimer, sticker, or plaque pointing out a decorator item refers to something available only through an interior decorator, and not through the builder. (In other words, it's not available at all.) Model home decorators use infinite methods to furnish model homes within a builder's budget, including both case goods, garage sale items, and catalog items to match the style and colors the builder has chosen for their model home palettes. These are not things we, as commoners, may be privy to.

Radius Corner Walls are also referred to a "rounded corners." Builders curve corner wall edges to soften them, as opposed to the knife-edging them. They must apply a special flashing before applying drywall to get this effect.

Usually used in formal areas like living rooms or dining rooms, coffered ceilings are given a box-like effect to add a custom touch to the ceiling area of a room. Coffering can utilize one to several steps of the ceiling cascading down the walls in various configurations.

Vaulted/High Volume Ceilings: Ceilings that are vaulted are usually expanded inside to roof level, with pitched, angled features. In contrast, high volume ceilings are usually tall, flat ceilings, nine to ten feet in height in production homes. Higher ceilings can give the feeling of more volume even in smaller homes. Many homebuyers who see vaulted varieties as a waste of utility bills have welcomed the high-volume changeover many builders have now adopted.

Entertainment/Art Niche: Some homebuilders now designate a wall meant for entertainment and locate cable TV or extra electrical outlets there. Media niches built in by the builder can offer encased or raised balloon wall platform areas for television sets or monitors and even extra cubbyholes for stereo components. Art niches are recessed areas in wall areas designed to feature art objects. Some are deeply indented for statues, baskets, or memorabilia, and others are slight recessed areas of drywall. And some can even contain directional wall lighting for better display effects. These areas are attractive and useful only if you don’t have other plans for the items that are supposed to be placed there. For instance, if you have a big screen, it probably won’t fit into the spot, since it is probably meant to sit on the floor. In that case, you’ll have huge empty cubbyholes in the wall and will need to find a great statue to fill the space, add shelving or add doors to it. You may check with the builder to see if they can delete these areas if they prove to be impractical to you.

Pre-wired/pre-plumbed for . . . The house is “prepared to receive” an upgrade, such as a ceiling fan, Jacuzzi tub, security system, or central vacuum. Be sure to ask if these electrical and plumbing preps are not designed to receive only the builder’s design center upgrades, making it impossible to add your own systems later on, or they just may not be worth any extra money you are asked to invest.

Den/Office: This room is usually the size of a bedroom, but lacks a closet. It is not a room meant for beds and will not be appraised as such if you go to sell the home unless a closet is added. (Note: To retain the appraised value bedrooms add to your home, keep the closet doors stored in your garage if using a bedroom as a home office or any other non-sleeping use.)

Loft: A second-story, door-less area that is open, lacking walls on some sides is commonly referred to as a loft. It may be bordered by a “pony” or short wall, or by banisters, lending drama and architectural charm. It is meant to be an extra living or recreation area, but many builders offer an enclosure to create another bedroom as an option. Or they can reverse that, offering a bedroom conversion to a loft as an option, and you may be asked to pay option money for either one. Builders may also refer to these areas as “media centers” where they will display a home computer and desk set-up.

The exterior variety of styles offered by the builder for a particular floor plan is referred to as the builder’s homes’ elevations. When you view the builder’s sales office renderings (drawings of the home facades), you can notice the differences. Sometimes subtle exterior treatments, such as siding, stucco, or masonry distinguish the variations. Window shapes and sizes, roof gables, color combinations, and pop-outs are also popular variations builder use to make houses along a street look less cookie-cutter and more interesting. Most production homebuilders strive for a “blended” look among their elevations, so that they will not be left with, for instance, a colonial style next to a Spanish Mediterranean. Most new home neighborhoods’ elevations must also be approved by the local architectural planning offices, so that they are neighborhood-friendly and acceptable to surrounding areas.

Powder rooms contain only a toilet and a sink and can also be referred to as a half-bath, while a ¾ bath can have a shower stall included, but usually lacks a tub.

HVAC is an industry term for a Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning unit or system

Shear Walls are structurally designed load-bearing walls. Without these the house would “tweak” and not be structurally sound. When scanning blueprints, take note of shear wall locations, since these are walls that can never be removed, and if altered for a remodel, must pass a structural inspection.

A cooktop is a built-in burner unit set into a kitchen countertop. Cabinets support it, and ovens are placed in a separate cabinet. In the past, cooktops have been considered more costly and “custom” than slide-in ranges, which are self-contained units including stoves. The current upscale trend, however, is for oversized restaurant-style ranges in stainless steel, now offered by most major brands.

These are but a few of the terms used by builders and their sales and building personnel. Whenever you see a term that puzzles you, no matter how simple it sounds, don’t hesitate to ask the sales consultant to explain just what that particular builder means when using it. Semantics in homebuilding can differ from builder to builder. For instance, “energy efficient windows” to one builder may merely refer to the fact that all their windows are dual-paned. To another, it may mean that they are not only dual paned, but also the newer “low-E squared” glass with vinyl frames, making their energy efficiency ratings higher.

Just keep in mind that a back yard will never be referred to as small, but rather as “modestly sized.” A kitchen without lots of cabinets and counter space may be dubbed as “efficient.”

But let’s be fair here. Homebuilders are not unlike any other industry in presenting their products in the most euphemistic terms. So, next time a new home salesperson asks you, “How did you like our homes?”, you can reply in builder-ese, “I thought they were elegantly designed, lived larger than their square footage, and were appealing to a broad range of lifestyles and family groups!”