“New home builds have become complicated,” says David Belman, President of Belman Homes. By “complicated,” Belman is referring to how people are using social media for design inspiration: buyers want to replicate everything they see.

“The level of detail people are now concerned about is crazy,” he says, “Having to choose all the elements for the main house, plus customizations, and additions, lengthens the design process – because it takes people longer to make decisions. And often, they’ll make changes mid-build, which can complicate things even more.”

New home trends are changing homes inside and out, from colors and textures to finishes and fixtures. And, the same trends are changing windows and doors – for example, people want bigger windows and more of them – in custom colors.

David Belman: Second generation home builder

Based in Waukesha, WI, Belman Homes specializes in semi-custom, single family homes and side-by-side condos. “Semi-custom” means the company builds homes based on a plan but with changes from the customer. They also build fully custom homes from scratch.

Belman’s father started off in real estate and land development in the 1970s, and began building homes in 1981. “He ran the company out of our basement,” says Belman, “so I literally grew up in the home building industry. We always had people coming in and out of our home.”

At age nine, Belman was cleaning houses and cutting grass; by high school he was making deliveries. After graduation, he obtained his real estate license and moved into land purchases. In 1998, he built his first house. In 2017, he was named Metropolitan Builders Association (MBA) Builder of the Year. The award recognizes a builder’s integrity, business achievements, community service, and contributions to the MBA.

Today, Belman Homes employs nine people and oversees the construction of 25 – 35 homes per year. “The homes we build now are a lot bigger and a lot more complicated than when I started in the 1980s.”

For windows and doors, the look is modern

Interior and exterior black windows are super popular – as are more windows in general. “For one build, because the customer kept adding windows, we had to upgrade the entire insulation to pass code,” Belman says.

Bigger windows – with glass from ceiling to floor – is also trending, as are casement windows versus single- or double-hung. Instead of traditional colonial style grids, people are creating custom grid styles, such as a vertical grid on each side of the glass, and one along the top and bottom – essentially framing the center glass. Or, a top row grid is added for interest. Grids can be used in single and double-hung windows – and casements as well – and they can be painted in custom colors.

Belman is also seeing additions and customizations inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright – e.g. bringing the indoors and outdoors together – such as folding patio doors. For example, one customer created a nine foot, three section patio door to allow for a larger opening and more light.

Other people want three-season rooms or screened-in porches with large, full-view screens. Today’s three-season room isn’t your grandfather’s summertime bang-up job; now used for entertaining and living purposes, three-season rooms are bright, closed-in spaces that feature a casual, relaxed setting. Full-sized custom glass, roof or lunette windows, and French doors let in lots of natural light while keeping the elements at bay. A gas fireplace can keep things cozy in milder climates.

Influencer-based design

According to Belman, people are moving away from a cool grey-white color scheme to warmer earth tones for interior and exterior finishes. “Grey was way overdone,” he says. Instead of white painted woodwork, people are opting for natural or stained wood – which also evokes a warmer feel.

Texture is playing a big role, but in unexpected ways, such as applying molding to a wall in squares or rectangles and then painting the entire wall in one color – giving it a 3D look and feel. Referred to as “accent walls,” molding squares mimic traditional wainscoting; the treatment is one of many ubiquitous DIY projects found on social media platforms for creating a custom look in any room.

He’s also seeing a blending of finishes, such as black matte hardware with brushed gold (or wood with gold metal) for bath and kitchen hardware. Custom treatments include black matte sinks with gold faucets or black and gold cabinet handles.

Belman refers to these changing trends as “influencer-based design” – meaning someone posts a new design or room innovation project on Instagram, and then everyone wants it. For example, “vanity walls” became the 2024 design trend. Instead of a traditional bathroom vanity with a painted wall and mirror, designers now use quartz, tile, and other materials and run the backsplash up the wall and behind the mirror.

“Post-pandemic, people are spending more time at home and are willing to invest in these and other creature comforts,” sums up Belman. “Despite higher interest rates, for those who can sell an existing house, investing the profit in a semi-custom or fully custom new home makes sense.”

To learn more about David Belman and Belman Homes, visit the company website at www.belmanhomes.com. You can also find David on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbelman/] or listen to his Home Building Hero podcast [https://www.homebuildinghero.com/]

And, be sure to read our post about our supplier, ColorCoat, the company that paints perfectly good windows any custom color your customers want.