In the building trade there are many different names and titles for different things. One of those things is the different types of houses. You may have heard builders, real estate agents or investors refer to different types of houses as custom or as spec, but what’s the difference?

What is the difference between custom homes and spec style homes? The answer to this question can vary and sometimes blur together. If you look on the internet you will probably get many different answers. In Victoria, when people think of a custom home, they are thinking of the big house on water front with a three-car garage and a gate in the front and for a spec style home, they are thinking of the new subdivisions in Langford or Sooke. For the most part, that’s correct, however, what do the terms custom home and spec style home actually mean? In this blog, we will dive right into the definitions so the terms won’t be a mystery to you.

Custom Homes

Custom homes are almost always designed and built for the home owner. A custom home is really the same as a custom anything. A home designed and built specifically for a single person or family is what is known as a custom home.

When the client is ready to partake on the project of designing and building their own home, they usually start with some simple research. They learn what styles they like – both interior and exterior – and possibly a basic floor plan. Then comes the time to hire a professional to work with them and put their ideas onto paper, achieving their vision. That’s where a professional home designer comes in.

The designer works with the home owner through the design process to determine exactly how the client’s house will be laid out and look from the exterior and interior. Different designers have different approaches and methods to achieve this depending on how they work and what the client is looking for. For the most part, several concepts are provided to the client called preliminary designs. This is the major part of the design process for a custom home. The designer works closely with the client to amalgamate all the client’s wishes from many different forms of inspirations into a single structure that meets all the zoning regulations and the applicable building codes. Once a first draft is completed, an important step has been reached. The client now has their ideas out of their head and on to paper; a starting point and something to point at and refer to.

Now begins the fine-tuning to really customize the structure to the client’s needs and wants. Is the master bedroom big enough? How about the closet? Does another room need to be added? Any special features? The client and designer work together until the client is satisfied with the design. Once that satisfaction has been reached, it’s time to turn the drawings into construction drawings for permits and to convey to the builder not only how to build the structure, but all the different elements that the client wants incorporated into their new custom home. The more items that can be addressed at the design stage will relieve the client of further clarification later.

How We Do It:

At Impact, we are able to take the design process to another level. Through exceptional service and next generation technology, we ensure the client is confident in the high-quality design they will be receiving. We start by learning about the client and what they will need in their new home. It sounds simple, but this step is important to make the design practical with the client’s needs. Also, we pin-point the client’s style by navigating through an endless supply of inspirations that we can incorporate into the design. Once we have an idea of what the client needs and what styles the client likes, we can begin rough space planning, layouts, massing plans and colour concepts.

When the client approves and is confident that we understand what they need in the design, we move on to the preliminary phase. The preliminary phase is where we design up the structure completely and work closely with the client to ensure their design is exactly how they want it – by adding, moving or removing items along the way. The goal is to create a flawless layout with an exciting exterior. Once the client is happy with the layout and the exterior, we can move into the more detailed exterior materials/colours and interior design. This is where our next generation technology shines. By showing exactly how that prominent center feature in the living room will look, first by concept, then by 3D photo realistic colour renderings, the client becomes submerged into the design of each room. We strive for the client to be enthusiastic about every aspect of the design, after all, people want to know in advance that the space they will be living in is perfect.

To take the design a step further, we can provide fully rendered animated fly-throughs of the structure and/or fully controlled panoramic renderings of specific areas. Yes, the things seen on TV can be created specifically for you. With the rise of technology, we can place the client directly in the design to understand exactly what it will look like and how much space they can expect. Nothing does it better like the right software in the hands of dedicated designers. Once the client is completely satisfied with their design, the preliminary drawings will be turned into construction drawings including everything that the client has approved. Now it’s time to turn the visuals into reality!

Spec Style Homes

Spec Style homes are by far the most common houses built in Victoria at this time, especially in Langford and Sooke. A spec style home is a house designed and constructed by an investor under the speculation that they will be able to market the home for sale to a wide variety of potential buyers. Where a custom home focuses on the needs of one single person or one family, a spec style home focuses on the most common needs of any person or family. Spec style homes can range from a traditional basic design to a more modern and complicated design, however, the intent of the design remains the same, to create a house that suits almost any person or family while keeping cost of construction down. You won’t see a seven foot cantilevered floor or floating concrete slabs on a spec style home.

Spec Style homes now-a-days can have a range of exterior looks, however, have mostly the same interior items. An entry with a coats closet, a one or two car garage and possibly an office off the foyer, an open living room, dining room and kitchen area with either an island or peninsula for bar stools is standard. Upstairs consists of a master bedroom with an ensuite and a walk-in closet with at least two other bedrooms and a common bath room accompanied by a possible laundry room. If there is a lower floor, a laundry room may be located down there with a rec room and a secondary suite. These common attributes are what investors are looking to build as they hit all the selling features that buyers are looking for in today’s market.

How We Do It:

At Impact, we know what sells and how to get the most value out of the design process, limiting waste and material usage through clever design techniques to save the investor on costs of construction. With rising costs of construction, margins can be thin. We make sure that the investor knows all possible angles about the design by constant contact during the design stage. If a decision involving cost of materials needs to be made, the client will know about it. We can work via multiple preliminary designs sent by e-mail and marked up digitally by the client or we can work in-person on a laptop brought to the client and iron everything out together. Laying out the floor plan with the client gives a lot more control of the design process in a shorter time frame, because time is money.

Semi-Custom Homes

A term that not many people speak, a semi-custom home, is another way of approaching the design of a new home. An experienced designer can take multiple different layouts and exterior designs and merge them into a single design that the client is looking for. It’s not uncommon for a client to provide several different samples from stock plan books and ask that certain features be blended together into one design. For the most part, in order to design, inspirations are required to transmit the client’s wants and style to the designer. That is usually done by images of already completed houses – both interior and exterior. That system is slightly different than the semi-custom home. A semi-custom home is taking an already completed design (floor plans, elevations, etc) and customizing it to suit the client by adding or removing rooms, shifting walls slightly or expanding the kitchen. However, the general completed design remains the same.

In this way, the client knows basically what they are looking for and already has something they can point to. This design process works similar to any other process except that a big part of the first preliminary design is done. The client can take a finished design and add or move rooms with a red pen until their desired layout is complete, then the designer can draw up the changes into a new structure. This method works great and can save time if the client sees a design they love but needs some minor tweaks and can be used for both spec homes and custom home, hence the term, semi-custom home.

Conclusion

As you can see, the definitions are distinct but can still blend together slightly. A custom home can have all the attributes of spec homes and still be considered custom. A spec home can look like a custom home but is still created specifically to sell. The terms mostly exist to put a label on what the client is looking for in the design. When one term is told to the designer, they know what to expect moving forward.

Now that we’ve gone over the specifications of each type of house, you’ll be able to stroll down neighborhoods and label them successfully.

Thanks for tuning in!