Has anybody been to the 2009 Parade of Homes?

[wCat]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

Yeah...the dog room....not thrilled with that one, but hey, it's memorable, right? And I had to find a new way to celebrate Labor Day without my chaps. I'll get 'em back next Monday.

I'm sure you saw me. I'm usually wearing my Australian leather hat, so I'm pretty easy to find. I've run into quite a few CDers before. Saw 01Snake and the wife there on Sunday.

We won the Realtor's Choice award today, so we're jazzed about that. We're in the running for the People's Choice too. Find out about that later. Those are the only two we wanted.

Super exciting Kev! Congrats on everything! I probably won't make it this year...bummer!

[majormadmax]

Does this explain all the tour buses on Babcock and Heuermann roads this evening? My son and I ran over to The Rim and took the back way though Helotes and Grey Forest, and saw a bunch of coaches...

Cheers! M2

[kevcrawford]

Yeah. The normal route is up Camp Bullis to Babcock, but Babcock has some low water crossings, so they were using Heuermann.

[majormadmax]

Thanks Kev, it was strange seeing those huge coaches on such small roads; but I have to say they were driving very safe and one even stopped to let us back on the road after we pulled over to put the Jeep top back up (due to the rain). At first we just couldn't figure out why they were all back there!

Cheers! M2

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

...

I'm there on Sunday... will keep an eye out for you on the tour.

[kevcrawford]

Will be there all day. I'm at the first house. Look forward to it!

[scuba steve]

My thoughts - a post that will probably go way too long or stir things up. That seems to happen a lot...

re: Kevin - cool hat. Wife liked it too.

The good:
- I voted for #3 as the best all around. Closest to my style, although still a bit on the conservative side. But the big thing - best construction quality / fit and finish.
- LOTS of great ideas for landscaping. Dunno how well no edging works once springtime comes for instance, but there was a lot to think about. Some plant selection that will really get me thinking.
- Got confirmation that a project I'll be doing this winter will work out (building a path with stones on a crushed granite base + water feature in the back yard). One of the houses had it done nearly the same way I've envisioned for my place.
- People working there were generally really cool. I got lots of great notes about all kinds of things from door hardware to who makes appliances I liked to undercabinet and stairway lighting. I only mention it because one time a few years ago an old guy got out a camera and you'd think someone just stole the blueprints to a spy satellite. Wanna know who makes something or what sub did what work - just ask and you'll find out.
- Decent amount of variety on the interior - spanish, cowboy, average modern, gothic. Even if I wasn't a fan of the decorating or style I still was able to walk away with something from each place.

The not so good:
- On all houses but #3 I'd see small things that weren't done quite right. Like tile fit and finish - alignment between sections of backsplash that's off by 3/8 or so (you can see the seams). And switches being mounted crooked in the switchplate. One probably didn't have the jacuzzi tub installed properly (no access panel). Dunno why the small things jump out at me but they do, especially at this price point.
- One house had a small drain in the laundry room floor to wash a dog with and a faucet in the wall. But someone had run the faucet for a second and it was clear that the water doesn't run towards the drain - it runs under the cabinets that are right next to it! What were they thinking with that one
- Not as many wood flooring ideas as I'd have liked, but I'm looking for something much more modern (a mix of chocolate brown with some lighter pieces in a bout a 3in board width). I still walked away knowing where carpeting is going.
- Could use more exterior variety in terms of colors and style. The orange trend keeps on going...

Neither here nor there
- A trend continues - since the 2000s or so the houses I've seen on tours were *huge* even though these weren't the biggest I've seen by a wide margin.
- I was hoping to see some very contemporary building but still walked away with great notes and it was well worth the trip out there.

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

My thoughts - a post that will probably go way too long or stir things up. That seems to happen a lot...

re: Kevin - cool hat. Wife liked it too.

The good:
- I voted for #3 as the best all around. Closest to my style, although still a bit on the conservative side. But the big thing - best construction quality / fit and finish.
- LOTS of great ideas for landscaping. Dunno how well no edging works once springtime comes for instance, but there was a lot to think about. Some plant selection that will really get me thinking.
- Got confirmation that a project I'll be doing this winter will work out (building a path with stones on a crushed granite base + water feature in the back yard). One of the houses had it done nearly the same way I've envisioned for my place.
- People working there were generally really cool. I got lots of great notes about all kinds of things from door hardware to who makes appliances I liked to undercabinet and stairway lighting. I only mention it because one time a few years ago an old guy got out a camera and you'd think someone just stole the blueprints to a spy satellite. Wanna know who makes something or what sub did what work - just ask and you'll find out.
- Decent amount of variety on the interior - spanish, cowboy, average modern, gothic. Even if I wasn't a fan of the decorating or style I still was able to walk away with something from each place.

The not so good:
- On all houses but #3 I'd see small things that weren't done quite right. Like tile fit and finish - alignment between sections of backsplash that's off by 3/8 or so (you can see the seams). And switches being mounted crooked in the switchplate. One probably didn't have the jacuzzi tub installed properly (no access panel). Dunno why the small things jump out at me but they do, especially at this price point.
- One house had a small drain in the laundry room floor to wash a dog with and a faucet in the wall. But someone had run the faucet for a second and it was clear that the water doesn't run towards the drain - it runs under the cabinets that are right next to it! What were they thinking with that one
- Not as many wood flooring ideas as I'd have liked, but I'm looking for something much more modern (a mix of chocolate brown with some lighter pieces in a bout a 3in board width). I still walked away knowing where carpeting is going.
- Could use more exterior variety in terms of colors and style. The orange trend keeps on going...

Neither here nor there
- A trend continues - since the 2000s or so the houses I've seen on tours were *huge* even though these weren't the biggest I've seen by a wide margin.
- I was hoping to see some very contemporary building but still walked away with great notes and it was well worth the trip out there.

Good post and lots of good points. Keep in mind that the Parade homes are usually built on a VERY tight timeline, so there are a lot of very minor details that are usually not able to be 100% corrected before the crowds show up. This week a lot of that is spent. Things like those light plates, uneven tile, etc. Usually you've got all the time in the world to fix that stuff early on, but not during the parades.

For the Jacuzzi tub, sometimes they don't have access panels, because the entire tub is so easy to just pop right out now. You can just lift the tub to access the motor, put it back and re-seal the edge. It's a lot easier to work on the motor that way too. That may have been the problem.

Unfortunately for you, you're probably not going to see a ton of contemporary homes on any Parade. It's VERY risky to build a spec house with contemporary style in SA because so very few people want that style, and in addition to being Parade homes, they're also spec homes that have to sell. Need to make them "somewhat" easy to sell.

Glad you liked the house (and the hat!)

[dmarie123]

Kev,
I loved house #1, but I would never buy it (assuming I could afford it). All the extra bedrooms were on teh bottom floor, with direct access to the pool... I guess it's not meant for anyone with kids. I wouldn't want my kids having direct access to the pool, especially if they were young, while I'm on a whole other floor. I loved the spiral staircase off the dining room.

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

Good post and lots of good points. Keep in mind that the Parade homes are usually built on a VERY tight timeline, so there are a lot of very minor details that are usually not able to be 100% corrected before the crowds show up. This week a lot of that is spent. Things like those light plates, uneven tile, etc. Usually you've got all the time in the world to fix that stuff early on, but not during the parades.

For the Jacuzzi tub, sometimes they don't have access panels, because the entire tub is so easy to just pop right out now. You can just lift the tub to access the motor, put it back and re-seal the edge. It's a lot easier to work on the motor that way too. That may have been the problem.

Unfortunately for you, you're probably not going to see a ton of contemporary homes on any Parade. It's VERY risky to build a spec house with contemporary style in SA because so very few people want that style, and in addition to being Parade homes, they're also spec homes that have to sell. Need to make them "somewhat" easy to sell.

Glad you liked the house (and the hat!)

The more you know I guess - I had a suspicion they did a lot of repair work this week due to the foot traffic but never knew.

Also had no idea the tub would sometimes pop out. Never thought to do that... I'm going to be dealing with that sometime sooner or later because I've got a 17-year old one in my place with no way to access (or inspect) the internals without pulling the backsplash and then the tub. It's also that wonderful almond / cultured stone color... so yes one of the things I was taking LOTS of notes on this weekend was bathrooms. And door hardware and landscaping and...