Photo: Supplied<\/em><\/p>\nHow do floorplans differ between for-sale units and rental units?<\/b><\/p>\n
In many markets for-sale developers have been required to pre-sell a certain number of units, so that forces them to go out and get feedback right away. Often units are built so that people can come in and customize them themselves, with different aesthetics and design elements, so developers are required to get customer feedback to have a very specific target profile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn rentals people sometimes build demographic profiles, but they\u2019re generally done with a design philosophy based around offending as few people as possible. That\u2019s one of the reasons why walls are white, there are three different cabinet colours and two different countertop colours, to prevent people from hating it, and in my opinion that\u2019s a terrible design choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI think it\u2019s better to design products with people in mind to try and delight them, rather than try to make the fewest people possible hate your product. That doesn\u2019t mean it isn\u2019t risky to do pink walls and green subway tile, but I think it\u2019s better if you start from a philosophy of making something beautiful that people will love.<\/span><\/p>\nIf you look at a new construction two-bedrooms in particular, each bedroom is designed to be as equal in size as possible, because developers know a large portion of their tenants are going to be roommates. However, units designed like that aren\u2019t the best for downsizers or families. So that\u2019s a big difference in the philosophy between for-sale and for-rent, just being closer to the user.<\/span><\/p>\nFrom a value perspective, what are some design elements that impact rental rates?<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the most powerful correlations to higher rent per square foot is higher surface area to volume ratio, which is a fancy way of saying more large windows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAnother important dimensional ratio is the bedroom square footage to the overall unit square footage. Bedrooms have this interesting effect where it\u2019s almost always positive to make them smaller. Rent per square foot is going to go down as the bedroom size increases because it makes the rest of the unit unfurnishable or less efficient. However, if the bedroom is large enough that it can have a second use as a home office it will bring a little of that value back.<\/span><\/p>\nThe rent per square foot for a one-bedroom plus den has been climbing because people have wanted a separate space in order to work from home. Apartments that have actual home offices are doing better relative to their counterparts, having that defined office space rather than using bedrooms or trying to utilize other space.<\/span><\/p>\nThe data also shows that flexibility of use is positively correlated with rent. Where that can make a big difference is in more efficient urban kitchens, giving people the choice to have a fixed island or movable island. If you\u2019re going to include an island it should always be movable, so that it doesn\u2019t constrict the flow of the apartment.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat are some of the changes you\u2019ve seen since you started examining floorplans?<\/b><\/p>\n
What you\u2019ll see in new two-bedrooms are living rooms that are narrower than bedrooms, which makes them very difficult to furnish. If you have the perfect furniture for the space that\u2019s fine, but since apartments aren\u2019t being built to be furnished people have to replace their furniture to fit the space.<\/span><\/p>\nThat\u2019s why flexibility is the most important, particularly in living rooms, where width is a big factor. It\u2019s important to avoid having an apartment that\u2019s locked into a certain kind of use without being furnished. You could mitigate some of these issues by having furnished apartments. Europe is far different than North America because they\u2019ve adopted the practice of furnished apartments.<\/span><\/p>\nLeasing agents spend a significant amount of time being asked by tenants if their couch will fit in the living room or bed will fit in the bedroom, making sure everything is oriented the way they want it. In the future I would hope that a larger percentage of apartments are delivered furnished.<\/span><\/p>\nFor movers, the most stressful part of moving often isn\u2019t finding a place, it\u2019s moving everything in and out. It blows my mind that people make decisions on an apartment based on their second-hand furniture.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/AdobeStock_247709565.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Adobe Stock<\/em><\/p>\nWhat are some of the mistakes builders commonly make when designing floorplans?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think the biggest philosophical one is not showing their floorplans to enough people. Real estate has a lot of different issues with equity and diversity, and that problem gets magnified when the people making the decision are older and much less diverse. Most of the people building an apartment project haven\u2019t lived in an urban one-bedroom in a very long time, if they ever did, so they should show it to more people to see if they like the layouts.<\/span><\/p>\nFor instance, I was speaking to an architect recently and she said that nobody builds a shelf in the shower for shaving, which makes things more precarious. So builders should dramatically increase the number of people weighing in on different units.<\/span><\/p>\nThe other problem is that closets are too large. Real estate developers invest a large amount of money before the plans are even developed and walk-in closets have a positive correlation with higher rent, which makes it a priority item for some developers initially, but once it reaches the design stage and costs need to be reduced it becomes a slightly deeper closet. When there isn\u2019t any data to direct the project it often comes down to what\u2019s the most efficient to build, and that has a ripple effect on the rest of the units.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, there are very few circumstances where I would recommend a sink in an urban island. It\u2019s much more expensive, and it\u2019s always going to make for a less efficient layout. In my opinion it\u2019s done because it looks good on Instagram, but it\u2019s not a good decision if you\u2019re looking to maximize rent.<\/span><\/p>\nDevelopers have begun tinkering with kitchens, offering less cabinet space and even omitting ovens entirely in some cases, and there\u2019s been a shift toward Murphy beds. What do you think of these recent changes and what have you seen as far as space-saving trends?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think having Murphy beds, or there\u2019s a company called Bumblebee Spaces that offers beds that come down from the ceiling, are terrific ideas. Airbnb has proven that hotel rooms and apartments are going to keep bleeding into each other. To me this is a natural extension of that. Murphy beds make units a lot more efficient and smaller, which can increase affordability in major urban centres since most of the costs are tied to square footage.<\/span><\/p>\nIn the kitchen, there are some interesting oven-microwave combinations or smaller convection ovens that help reduce space. The data shows that people, particularly in urban areas, should go with non-standard sized appliances. One of the things that really hurts kitchens is a 36-inch-wide refrigerator and a 30-inch-wide stove that takes up a lot of space.<\/span><\/p>\nTypically, people who live in a 350-square-foot studio aren\u2019t cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving, so it\u2019s better to opt for 24-inch-wide appliances. One of the reasons people don\u2019t is because those smaller appliances are more expensive, and so in order to save money people will make their living rooms 12 inches smaller because they\u2019re trying to save $500 on an appliance without recognizing the negative consequences of their reduced living space.<\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/a>Photo: Adobe Stock<\/em><\/p>\n