There’s no denying that physical show homes are one of a housebuilder’s most important marketing tools; people will always want to touch, feel and experience a home. But when competition is high, how do you keep a show home current to maximise its value and therefore support sales? And how else can housebuilders use interior design as a marketing aid? Steve Hird, director at award-winning interior design specialists, Edward Thomas Interiors offers his insight.
Stand-out show homes
As one of your most powerful marketing tools, a show home is there to add value and help house hunters become more invested in a potential move. Ultimately a customer is buying a blank canvas, so a well-designed show home should make the buying journey more exciting, inspiring potential purchasers to think creatively. Not forgetting, of course, they can also be exceptionally useful tools for plots that are compromised or to showcase a new house type that people ‘don’t get’ on plan.
So where to start?
Before issuing a brief to your interior design team, think about longevity, location and layout. How long do you expect to be selling from this show home? The average lifespan is between two and three years, so its design needs to be as forward-thinking as possible. Furniture and fabrics typically follow fashion, so you can look to this industry for examples of trends that will be upcoming.
Location is just as critical. If a show home isn’t specifically designed for a location or house type, it can end up with furniture that doesn’t enhance the space(s), or a design that simply doesn’t match the neighbourhood. It needs to have relevance so draw inspiration from local landmarks, sports teams, heritage, or the environment.
Of course, presentation and styling are essential. If there are features of the layout you want highlighted, discuss these with your design team from the outset, don’t make them an afterthought. Pick out details that video and photograph well, this is essential not just for your own social media content but to encourage visitors to post and share their discoveries too.
Once a show home has launched, remember not to neglect it. This includes basic housekeeping like replacing room diffusers and hand soaps, and washing or steaming bed linen and towels to avoid sun damage, but can also incorporate more significant upgrades. Show home refreshes are popular right now, from big budget overhauls to more thoughtful alterations, and can be implemented for various reasons.
Some of these are simply age-related, a revamp to modernise colours, materials or lighting. Some are trend-led, so a children’s playroom might now be better suited as a home office or craft space. Some are about illustrating how a family can grow with a home, for example, we’ve updated nurseries to replace a cot with a child’s bed.
Then of course there’s customer feedback. We want to remove any negative obstacles. If a room layout is proving awkward or if visitors are struggling to visualise space, redo it. For example, we’ve replaced bunk beds with twin beds to better showcase the size of a room.
It’s important that refreshes are undertaken for a purpose though, not just the sake of change. A successful show home should maintain a healthy footfall, adding value to the housebuying process and translating into a strong sales rate.
But of course, a show home isn’t the only marketing tool to make a development stand out. Creative interior design can be applied in sales centres, retirement complexes and even digitally to help support sales.
Destination retail
As buyers are exposed to more choices via social media and online platforms, the expectation for an ‘experience’ or ‘journey’ is even more prevalent. High street stores and car retailers are creating incredible, ‘Instagrammable’ spaces for potential purchasers and housebuilders need to follow suit.
Taking cues from retail, this means everything, particularly options and upgrades, should be displayed to sell. Necessary choices such as cabinetry, tiling and flooring should be visible and easily comparable with each other and the standard range. Displays of any upgrades like electrical sockets, taps and shower heads should be included too.
We’ve taken this concept one step further recently, fulfilling a brief for a high street retail store. Our client had several developments in close proximity so to attract purchasers from a wider catchment, set up a retail store in the centre of a market town as a ‘hub’. A country chic design was installed, using furniture, wallcoverings and accessories that were representative of the client’s brand. The idea being it would be familiar but not corporate, and the hub would be as much of a destination as the town itself.
Family reassurance
In theretirement market, it’s not solely the new homeowner that needs to be reassured. Family and friends will often want to view and ask questions too. An increasingly popular tool is the ‘try before you buy’ suite. These are apartments designed like show homes but with a more ‘lived-in’ feel. The idea being that potential purchasers can stay overnight or for a couple of nights to truly envision themselves in the home, understand room sizes and layouts, test kitchen and bathroom appliances, and ultimately make a more informed decision.
Design for digital
Pre-marketing is essential. But what information can you provide over and above a basic floor plan and site layout?
When a client was releasing homes for sale 12 months ahead of build, they needed more marketing collateral. We were commissioned to produce a series of virtual show homes, devising three deliberately contrasting designs. Not only were these CGIs given to all those who pre-registered, but they were also used to attract overseas purchasers and investors. We then later designed three physical show homes, meaning interested house hunters could take inspiration from six different concepts, which greatly increased the sales rate.
As VR technology, video walkthroughs and interactive screens become more commonplace in the housebuying journey, space also needs to be accommodated for these. In sales centres, it’s advisable to plan these from the outset rather than adding later, as they require dedicated space and room to move. For interactive screens, a zoned space within the sales office works well as it allows house hunters to view while they wait but also means a sales advisor can be nearby to present or demonstrate if required. Where developers offer site tours through VR, separate cinema-style rooms can be designed to ensure these can take place privately and not distract from the main selling areas.
Successful interior design comes from collaboration, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach as every development is different. In our experience, housebuilders who engage their interior design team early often secure the strongest sales rates.
