THE WASHINGTON POST.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021EZ10
construction items are taking
longer to get. “Additionally, a
number of products have been
discontinued by manufacturers
to streamline their production so
we have to thoughtfully select
substitutions that remain in line
with the style and function of our
designs,” he said.Builders respond
Cindy Plackmeyer, a Maryland
Buil ding Industry Association
board member and vice president
at UrbanBuilt, a general contrac-
tor in Baltimore, said, “Smaller,
more nimble builders with fewer
national restrictions in design
responded quickly to buyer pref-
erences by creating outdoor op-
tions they wanted.”
Tri Pointe is putting more ef-
fort and creativity into the initial
design of its homes. “We’re mak-
ing outdoor spaces as important
as the interior. We want them to
be memory points for our cus-
tomers,” said Blank. “With more
time being spent in the home,
decks, patios and rooftop terraces
have become top of mind for
buyers.”
They’re also incorporating out-
door kitchens, fire pits and fire-
places, special lighting, and land-
scaping into their models.
The newest Tri Pointe outdoor
designs will appear early next
year in the Amalyn community in
Bethesda and Brookland Grove in
Northeast Washington.
Pulte Group architects are in-spaces that’s clearly tied to the
pandemic. Instead of carving out
additional space in basements
and attics, many recent clients
have expressed a desire for more
exposure to the elements, a
broader visual horizon and per-
haps a sense of escape from being
cooped up,” he added.
“Sheltered spaces with radiant
heaters, windscreens, comfort-
able furnishings and fire features
provide added space and flexibili-
ty year round in mild climates
like ours,” DeForest said.
Demand has surged for pools.
“I can’t tell you how popular they
are now but you can’t get one till
next year. We can’t get materials
and don’t have enough skilled
labor,” said Smith. “Product de-
mand for pavers, cultured stone
and low-maintenance decking is
so great we can’t always secure
enough of the items needed.
Covid has created a double
whammy — supply challenges
and demand.”
Product supply problems span
the country. A c olleague of Smith
has a waiting list of 10 pools and a
friend is No. 75 on a list to get a
dock built. That’s in line with
Caruso Homes’ Alan Shapiro’s
viewpoint. “We have seen a surge
of buyers who are purchasing lots
on the water and they have grand
plans for the outdoors,” said Sha-
piro, division manager for the
company’s On Your Lot-East
Coast division.
Brad Blank, president of the
D.C. Metro Division of Tri Pointe
Homes in Potomac, agreed thatcluding porches in most of their
new homes in the communities at
Potomac Shores in Northern Vir-
ginia, Mason Park in Fairfax and
Bull Run Reserve in Centreville.
“Porches provide not only ex-
tended living space but charm
and character to the streetscape,”
said Rian McClevey , vice presi-
dent of sales operations for
Pulte’s Mid-Atlantic Division.
Demand for porches, patios
and decks predated the pandemic
but accelerated because of it, said
Paul Emrath, National Associa-
tion of Home Builders vice presi-
dent for surveys and housing
policy research. Citing NAHB
surv eys he said 65 percent of the
approximately 990,000 sin-
gle-family houses built in 2020
were built with porches, up from
63 percent in 2010; and 61 per-
cent were built with patios, up
from 45 percent in 2010.
“There’s no question that the
pandemic enhanced the outdoor
living trend and we’ll enjoy living
outside even though the health
motivation might not be there,”
said Baker of AIA.
“The pandemic has drawn at-
tention to what people already
knew even if only subliminally,
namely that we derive great ben-
efits from interacting with na-
ture,” said Theo Adamstein, sales
associate with TTR Sotheby’s In-
ternational Realty. “A grassy yard,
a porch swing or deck chair, a
beautiful garden, can help clear
their mind and induce a state of
calm.”
[email protected]joined emotionally and spiritual-
ly; but the pandemic crystallized
their desire for geographic prox-
imity, too.
They decided to build a duplex
in Northeast Washington — on a
lot originally purchased by Ze-
ndzi Curry-Neal’s grandmother
in the 1940s. There will be two
homes side-by-side with shared
outdoor space in the backyard
and at the house front. One walk-
way will lead to steps up to a
porch shared by both houses. One
entry door will open to a vestibule
with a private door on each side
leading to two living spaces.
“I visualized scenarios of
shared spaces especially outside.
Our children playing together in
the yard and coming home from
school in the rain and kicking off
their wet shoes on the porch,”
said Rachel Curry-Neal.High demand
The trend in outdoor living
predates the pandemic, said Ker-
mit Baker, chief economist at the
American Institute of Architects.
“It really started to take off
around 2009-2010 and stayed
strong for well over a decade.”
“Last year there was a surge
throughout the country. We
found a dramatic uptick in de-
mand for features like outdoor
living spaces as a result of the
pandemic,” he added.
In September AIA released its
home design trends survey for
the third quarter of 2021, focus-
ing on home features. “During
that time period we saw another
significant increase in interest for
outdoor living space,” said Baker.
As outdoor entertaining be-
came popular, the purchase of
accompanying accoutrements
rose in tandem.
“Demand for outdoor accesso-
ries has been exponential. I’d say
the interest has increased at least
50 percent with the pandemic.
Our call level is higher than in my
entire career,” said Joseph Smith,
partner at Owings Brothers Con-
tractors in Eldersburg, Md.
“People are asking for decks,
covered porches, screened porch-
es and pools. They want outdoor
kitchens under overhead roofs,
grills, cabinets, sinks, refrigera-
tors, pizza ovens,” he said.
John DeForest of DeForest Ar-
chitects in Seattle said when the
pandemic first hit, many archi-
tects thought they’d get requests
for adding or remodeling spaces
for home offices.
“But instead people craved a
connection to the outside in the
form of large windows and doors
opening to covered decks and
patios,” he said.
“I do think there has been a
surge in demand for outdooredible flowers like nasturtiums
and chamomile,” she said. Suardi
and her husband, Enrico, live in
Northwest Washington on a
small lot not far from Wisconsin
Avenue.
When the pandemic broke out,
“Suddenly the ordinary things
became precious and our garden
started to feel like a wonderland,”
Suardi said. She began writing
short essays, poems and mini-
memoirs in an online blog. After
seven months, she had enough to
fill a book. “My Beautiful, Terrible
Pandemic Life” was published
last year.
This is an excerpt:
“We bring an old bench under
the cherry tree near the rosemary
plant that has grown shaggy and
sloppy... We trim off minty,
muscly rosemary branches and
fill empty pesto jars and leave
them outside the front gate for
neighbors.”
Across the country, Michele
Grace Hottel, a San Diego archi-
tect, watched people create their
own pop-up outdoor spaces.
“I saw people set up outdoor
rooms in the front, side and
backyards and even their drive-
ways. They put down dining ta-
bles and chairs and added fire
pits. They reimagined places for
small gatherings with family,
friends and neighbors,” she said.
Brendan Doyle, owner of Plan-
terra, a landscape design-build
company founded in 1985 in D.C.
and now based in Portland, Ore.,
said the pandemic enhanced peo-
ple’s desire to be close to nature.
“During covid everyone want-
ed to get outdoors because it was
a safer place to be. Clients asked
me to make new outdoor spaces
and plant four-season flower and
edible gardens,” he said.
One client favored a Clematis
collection — a flower in the but-
tercup family with 300 varieties.
Another sought his expertise to
create a children’s play area and
outdoor dining room. “I designed
and planted a yard for a guy who
was barely conscious of the out-
doors before the pandemic. Now
he ambles across the lawn with
handheld clippers trimming his
grass blades,” said Doyle.
“Even I bought a wheeled trug
planter, stationed it on my ter-
race and am growing leafy
greens. I go out and pick fresh
salad every night for supper,” he
said.
Two self-described queer cou-
ples, Lauren and Jessie Garner,
parents to an 18-month-old son,
Kendall, and Zendzi and Rachel
Curry-Neal, who have 7-month-
old twin boys Johari and Jadzia,
are longtime devoted friendsOUTDOORS FROM T8Cover Story
Outdoor spaces are prized real estate assets amid the pandemic
BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POSTMark and A my Suardi fill jars with sprigs of rosemary from their f ront-yard garden. They “leave them
outside the front gate for neighbors,” she wrote in h er book “My Beautiful, Terrible Pandemic Life.”