Discover What Custom Home Builders in Hickory, North Carolina Are Seeing Trend in 2024
With a significant transformation in residential living in recent years, custom home builders in North Carolina and across the U.S. are seeing a major shift in the types of homes people want to have built. That shift is driven by a newfound commitment to living more sustainably and making wellness a priority while balancing work, life, and relaxation in the same space.
While homes built in years past may have had more of a singular focus, the trend for custom homes in 2024 is about creating a habitat that is holistic, eco-conscious, multi-generational, and provides room for a variety of interests and activities. Up next we are going to tell you about the top trends in custom home building we are seeing in 2024.
Wellness Space
Custom home builders are seeing a heightened wellness trend in 2024. More and more custom home clients view wellness spaces as a necessity in the home rather than a want. While in years past, requests for these types of additions may have been in the domain of the luxury home builder, in 2024 they will become quite common for all sorts of budgets and builds.
Popular Wellness Space Additions
- Spa room
- Yoga studio
- Meditation/prayer room
- Indoor garden
- Hobby room
Biophilic Design
In keeping with the theme of wellness in 2024, incorporating biophilic design into custom-built homes is becoming increasingly important for home construction companies in North Carolina. Biophilia means ‘love for nature’ and describes human’s innate desire to connect with nature. Biophilic design corresponds to that need by bringing nature inside to create a calming and rejuvenating home.
How Custom Home Builders Are Incorporating Biophilic Design
There are a variety of ways home builders and designers are bringing nature indoors including the following:
- Interior courtyards
- Living walls
- Fountains
- Water walls
- Aquarium separators
- Skylights
- Floor-to-ceiling windows
- Enhanced natural ventilation
- Natural building materials
- Colors found in nature
- Calming natural shapes
Green Building
There is a big movement toward sustainable living, and custom home builders are seeing that trend move into the way new homes are designed and constructed. From sustainable materials for construction to eco-friendly and pocketbook-conscious design decisions, homes built in 2024 will be greener than they’ve ever been before. These greener homes hit two birds with one stone by creating a low carbon footprint while also protecting against rising costs.
Incorporating Passive Solar Design
Building homes in a way that allows the passive use of the sun for heating and cooling is gaining momentum for custom home builds in 2024. Passive solar design does not require the use of mechanical and electrical devices but rather focuses on the build and materials to harvest the sun’s energy. Important elements include windows facing south and optimal thermal mass.
Adding a Rainwater Harvesting System.
Rather than paying for the city’s water system, you can choose to install a rainwater harvesting system in your house. This allows you to make full use of the rain that lands on your roof and redirect it for personal consumption. There is the option to have the city water system as a backup, but if you want to go completely off-grid that’s possible too.
Utilizing Eco Materials
More and more custom home building clients care about the impact their home build is going to have on the environment and to mitigate the negative effects, they are making material choices based on the sustainability of the material rather than just aesthetics or cost. Below are some of the most popular sustainable materials.
Reclaimed Wood
Wood is a popular material for home building, however using reclaimed wood, which is wood that has been used before, is far more sustainable than harvesting new timber. Custom home clients are increasingly requesting reclaimed wood for not only its sustainability value but also for the unique character it brings.
Cob
Cob has been used as a building material for thousands of years and is making a comeback due to its eco-friendly nature. The material, which is made of a combination of sand, clay, and straw, is all-natural, recyclable, and biodegradable. And because the material is locally sourced, the building process leaves a minimal carbon footprint. Cob is also quite malleable which means interesting design choices can be made.
Cork
Cork is made out of the bark of a cork oak tree. Harvesting the bark causes no harm to the tree, and the tree can regenerate its bark, making cork a highly sustainable material. It’s durable and absorbent allowing it to be used in a variety of applications including for walls and flooring.
Bamboo
Bamboo plants can reach maturity within seven years as opposed to trees which take decades to mature, making it an eco-friendly building resource. Bamboo can be used in beams, scaffolding, walls, and flooring, making it a great eco-conscious material for home builds.
The Smartest Homes to Ever Exist
The introduction of AI and other advanced technologies is changing the way custom home builders in North Carolina and around the world are approaching custom home design. Clients want a house that is intuitive, connected, eco-friendly, and cost-effective.
Thanks to the use of AI, homes are actually becoming smarter with learned sensing to understand homeowner needs and with that knowledge, control things like smart thermostats, lights, curtains, music, and appliances. With the help of IoT (Internet of Things), appliances and electronics are interconnected, creating a home that is fine-tuned and can even tell you when you’re low on milk and butter.
Smart and Safe Homes
The smart home trend doesn’t just stop at creating an automated, cost-effective, comfortable environment, but also one that is extremely safe. Custom builders in 2024 will be including enhanced safety measures like facial recognition technology, doorbell cameras, motion detectors, and smart locks while also providing homeowners remote home monitoring and control access.
Flexible Spaces
With people using their homes in an increasing number of ways, custom home builders will be working harder to create flexible spaces in new builds in 2024. Instead of rooms that are targeted to a single function, spaces need to play a variety of roles to cater to an abundance of needs in a family home.
Popular flexible spaces
While flexible spaces will be unique for every home depending on what the homeowner or family needs, there are a variety of flexible spaces that are popular.
- Home office/games room/entertainment space
- Sunroom/outdoor dining area/reading nook
- Playroom/classroom
- Library/meditation room
- Yoga studio/gym
- Hobby room/storage area
- Basem*nt bar/family room
Multigenerational Home Building
More and more custom homes in North Carolina are being built with the idea of adult children and aging parents being a part of the plan. This means creating rooms and quarters that allow more generations to live together while also providing privacy.
Incorporating aging parents into the plan involves an elevated version of the in-law suite. The new in-law suite provides seamless living with the family and privacy in a large apartment. Adult children living with the family have also created a new need to design self-contained spaces within a home.
Outdoor Living
Custom homes in 2024 are made of both interior and exterior liveable spaces. That means bringing living rooms, kitchens, and dining areas outdoors. As people spend more time at their home property, expanding liveable space is necessary. Mirroring certain aspects of the indoor living space outdoors creates a larger home and provides another aspect of wellness living and connection with nature.
Popular Outdoor Living Additions
- Exterior kitchen with wood-burning stove
- Shaded Living Room
- Gazebo dining room
- Office shed
- Artist studio shed
- Covered Meditation Space
- Shower
Unique Custom Home Rooms and Home Additions
2024 is the year in which everyone is thinking out of the box and creating spaces that meet their needs rather than relying on cookie-cutter home designs of the past. Whether it’s for a custom home build or a home renovation, the types of rooms in demand in 2024 are unique and address the changing needs of today. Let’s look at some of the new room additions custom builders are creating in 2024.
Package Rooms
One of the biggest custom home building trends for 2024 is a package room. Now that more people are shopping online for many of their needs, package rooms have become a request. These spaces are designed to provide a place to collect packages and provide room for the items to be stored for each family member until they are collected, ensuring there are no pile-ups and clutter.
Game Rooms
Whether it’s a video gaming console or a virtual reality headset, gamers are extremely passionate about their at-home sport. And this sport has gained immense popularity in recent years. And that is why custom home builders are going to see a rise in game room builds in 2024. These game rooms are not the basem*nt dungeons of old, but rather spaces for gamers to create a customized experience and play in peace without interruptions from the rest of the household.
Sunrooms
While sunrooms are not new, they aren’t common and the number of requests for new sunrooms has jumped. Home renovators and custom home builders in Hickory, North Carolina saw an increase in requests for sunrooms in 2023 and this trend will grow in 2024. Sunrooms allow homeowners to create additional space at a lower cost. Sunrooms also serve as a nice indoor/outdoor wellness space that can be used in numerous ways from a breakfast room or dining room to a study or office space.
Glam Room Closets
Custom home builders and home renovation contractors expect to see the size of walk-in closets get even larger in 2024 with the inclusion of glam room space within them or alongside. Custom closets have been getting quite grandiose in recent years with floor-to-ceiling wardrobes and glass display cases, now with the inclusion of a ‘glam space’ they are becoming more like another room in the home rather than a storage place.
Your Custom Home Builder Trend 2024 Wrap-Up
If you’re looking into building a custom home on your land, you’ve got a lot of phenomenal new options in 2024. Whether you want a sustainable home, a smart home, or one that is both, you have a lot of choices. The overall trend for custom home building in 2024 is smart, sustainable, and tailored to lifestyle.
At Alair Homes in Hickory, North Carolina, we can guide you through the process. If you’d like to learn more, contact us and we’d be happy to provide you with more information to get started. If you’re looking to build outside of Hickory or North Carolina, we’ve got partners across the U.S. and Canada that we can connect you with.
