The Future of New Home Design: Are Design Centers a Thing of the Past?

Historically, one of the most painstaking aspects of building a new home was the dreaded design process. After selecting a floorplan and signing a contract, the final thing to do before construction can begin is selecting and finalizing all of the finish options that will go into a buyers new home. The typical process for this can involve countless hours looking through interior design catalogues. The advent of the internet and websites such as houzz has simplified this process, but with so many options out there, the process can be quite overwhelming.

Once buyers have a general idea of the styles they like, it is time for the design center appointments. This time intensive process can take multiple appointments, each ranging from 4 – 8 hours. While at the design center buyers can look at all the different finish options that a builder has to offer. Typically this includes thousands of different swatches of paint colors, cabinets, countertops, flooring, and anything else that can go into their new home. Even though they have a professional interior designer with them to help make the best choices, the ability to try and visualize what all of these little swatches will look like together in a finished home is incredibly hard for the majority of people.

Virtual Floor Plans and Unique Software

The past few years have seen technologies enter the design space that are making the process of design much more simple and effective for buyers. Using virtual floor plans software like the Roomored design platform, buyers are able to select their floorplan and see what it will look like in virtual form. Once they have selected their floorplan they can then fully customize it, even from the comfort of their own home. With the ability to pick all the different finish options and see exactly how they will look together, in the exact floorplan that they will be building, buyers can now make much more confident decisions. By giving their buyers the ability to do this online, at any time or from any location, builders are able to drastically cut down on design center appointments. This is saving the builder both time and money, leading to an increase in their bottom lines.

Where Online Home Design Software is Headed

While this groundbreaking technology is helping to cut back on the use of design centers, there will still be a use for physical design centers for years to come. The online design center, and design software is something that will help augment the current process, making it more efficient and easier for both buyers and designers. At the end of the day, buyers still want the option to touch and feel the actual products that will be going into their homes. Software like the Roomored design platform is helping to make the design process so much better by allowing buyers to make much more confident decisions. Perhaps one day the design center will be replaced by software, but for now the best solution is enhancing the current design process with this innovative new technology.

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