Norfolk/Wrentham December 2016

Page 10 Local Town Pages www.norfolkwrenthamnews.com December 2016
Trends in Home Design
Doug Masters
By Doug Masters
Design Tech Innovations
We are in an age of technology.
The tech world is constantly
evolving these days--just when
you think they’ve done it all,
there’s a new app you can install
on your phone that makes
life a little easier. Rewind to forty
years ago-- computers and high
tech gadgets were just starting to
take off. Anyone from the 70’s
remembers PONG, one of the
first home video games. Now, the
technology has evolved so much
that you can now send a message
to somebody on the other side of
the world in a matter of seconds.
How cool is that? In our industry
of remodeling and design, we
have been able to benefit from
these technological advancements
as well. Here’s a look at some
cool technology innovations that
have improved the design and
remodeling industry.
Design Software
Home improvement shows are
all the rage right now, and one of
the star features is the computer
rendering of the proposed designs.
It’s incredible to see a designer’s
vision in striking detail in a video
rendering and then see that vision
come to life. While there are certainly
some embellishments on the
renderings you see on TV (many
of those programs are created
just for the TV world), in reality,
software used by most architects
and design build firms is coming
close to matching what you see on
slickly produced TV shows.
One outstanding example is
Chief Architect. While not recommended
as a DIY software
(although their website begs to
differ), this is a product used by
many local firms. Chief Architect
Software is computer aided design
software for the home design and
building industry. Chief Architect
was originally released way back
in 1992, but in the last few years,
improvements have made it much
more user friendly, and the graphics
rendering ability of the product
is outstanding.
Gone are the days of hand
drawn blue prints where design
changes can take multiple meetings
and weeks to deliver. Once
a structure is built as a 3D model
in Chief Architect, then moving
walls, windows, doors and interior
design elements such as furniture
and lighting can be done real time
during meetings with clients. This
literally saves months of work during
the design and development
phase of a project.
Chief Architect covers all aspects
of design from construction
and framing documents, cabinetry
and millwork, to interior design
elements, paint colors, counters,
flooring, and even furniture. Designers
can import custom items
and add them to the design for a
realistic vision of your project. It
is truly changing the design world.
Smart Phones
The mainstream introduction
of smart phones in the late 2000s
brought forth even more improvements
for our industry. Even
something as simple as the built-in
camera and ability to send a picture
instantly on a smart phone
has made managing construction
infinitely more efficient. Project
foremen can collaborate with customers
and designers who cannot
be on site “real time” when they
need an answer in order to keep a
job moving.
Moving to applications, there
are great new visual tools to envision
what your home will look like
with new siding and a new color,
or what a paint color might look
like on your walls. It is as simple as
snapping a few pictures and letting
the app do the work!
JamesHardie, manufacturer
of the #1 ranked cement siding
in the USA, has teamed with a
company called Hover. This application
will provide accurate
measurements and a rendering of
a home. This helps siding companies
provide accurate budgets and
a sneak peek at what your home
will look like with new JamesHardie
siding.
Production teams in the field
can install measuring applications
that will help generate materials
lists, assist with framing plans, calculate
angles or room dimensions,
and more.
And of course, there is the
flashlight app on almost every
phone these days. Simple, and
used almost every day!
Online Resources
Remember buying magazines
and marking pages or cutting out
pictures when planning a home
project? Well, maybe not if you
are under 30! Today, planning
your project starts online. From
finding a design build firm, to creating
idea books with inspiration
photos, to researching appliances,
furniture and other decorative
finishes, and everything in between--
everything you need is at
your fingertips online. As with design
software, online research and
shopping saves lots of time and
streamlines the design process.
If you are planning a home
improvement project or to build a
new home, one of the best websites
is HOUZZ.COM. Houzz
is a website and online community
about architecture, interior
design and decorating, landscape
design and home improvement.
The Houzz platform and mobile
apps [2] feature photos, articles,
product recommendations, and a
user forum. On Houzz, you can
browse over 12 million pictures,
find a designer or contractor, and
shop for finish materials for your
home. Finding inspiration photos
and sharing them with your design
time will make collaboration
a breeze and will help your designers
to understand your vision!
Online Collaboration
Let’s face it, everybody is overbooked.
Work, kids, gym, school,
church, friends … when do you
ever get off the “treadmill of life”?
For many, weekends are reserved
for kids’ sports or recitals. Nights?
You’ve got kids’ practices! It’s
hard to carve out time to focus
on a major home project--but it
is critically important. When I’m
dealing with a client who cannot
focus on a project or invest a little
of their time and energy, it’s a
red flag. Those are the folks who
rush through everything and then
end up complaining because they
think the project wasn’t planned to
their liking.
Fortunately, technology is helping
solve this problem. With Go
To Meeting and other live meeting
software, presentations can
be done from anywhere at any
time. This makes a world of difference
during the design and
development phase of a project,
and it ensures all parties are on
the same page. Sometimes, emails
and calls are just not enough to
solve problems and collaborate on
design details.
Speaking of emails, you’ll
also see a major reduction in the
amount of email used as online
collaboration becomes the standard
of the industry for project
management. While this has already
happened in many industries
with larger corporations, the
design and remodeling industry
is just now starting to embrace
this great technology. A perfect
example is the Microsoft 365
platform. With this product, each
project or customer has an online
“newsfeed” where all communications
and files are stored. The
communications are much like a
Facebook newsfeed, so it is easy to
track all communications among a
team of designers, project managers,
and customers and refer back
to the feed later if there are questions.
Clearly, the technology advancements
over the past ten years
have drastically improved the design-build
industry. We can’t wait
to see what the next ten years may
hold!
Doug Masters is the owner of Masters
Touch, located at 24 Water St.,
Holliston. For more information contact
(508) 359-5900, e-mail info@
MastersTouchWeb.com or visit www.
MastersTouchWeb.com.
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