This year’s Homer Awards, presented by the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association on October 16, were a bit of a surprise. In a market that has been dominated by large, upscale homes in recent years, the Home of the Year was awarded to the 1,423-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath Residence Two The Allen Group created at its Sedona development at Mesquite Vistas. The home won for its efficient use of floor space, for the floor plan itself and for finding solutions to the challenges of a small lot, such as using raised walls between homes in the community to protect individual privacy. The private courtyard entrance to the home and the covered porch also favorably impressed the judges. Sedona is a small community located in Mesquite, and the Residence Two is targeted at active retirees and as a hoods where everything looked alike. You’re starting to see some new designs already showing up, possibly some detached garages -that’s one of the trends now.”
Despite the Home of the Year winning for a creative answer to the challenge of a small lot, Smith expects lots to begin increasing in size as municipal entities start looking to move away from density. Smith also expects Southern Nevada will see more emphasis on landscaping from the marketing standpoint with builders. “I think you’re going to see that because they’re trying to emulate the new luxury master-planned look of Anthem and Summerlin. The new Southern Highlands master plan will have a lot of landscaping, and Linbrook will emphasize different types of landscaping.”
Marketing is just as important as the homebuilding process. Great architecture, Bottfeld says, makes the builder capable of marketing the product better and marketing it faster. In today’s market in Southern Nevada, moving product rapidly is not a luxury but a necessity. “The marketing procedure starts with great architecture and an architect who understands the target market. It begins with a product that focuses on the specific market, and continues with targeted merchandising.”
In the end, the Homer Awards are an indication of where the market is, and only a partial indication of where the market will go. They’re a marketing tool for the builders who win, and an indication of what judges are looking for, and maybe what buyers are asking for, though not always. “The home of the year,” Smith muses, “one time one home got that award and the builder discontinued it the next year because it didn’t sell.”
But as Christopher Stuhmer of Christopher Homes says, “[The award] is great for people at our company to get recognition by their peers. We’ve garnered a reputation as continued recipients of local and national awards, which reflects on us as a design leader in town and on the West Coast. Hopefully the reputation of being a design leader eventually translates into sales.”
“The Homer Awards continue to tell us that Las Vegas is improving in merchandising, and in product promotion,” concludes Bottfeld. “This is simply the best place in the world to be marketing and building product right now. That’s what the Homers tell us.”