Episode 42 _FINAL_LOUD

[00:00:00] Eric: A lot of people who work from home, they could get by in like a small, like 10 by 10 cubby, or they could want a room that’s maybe 12 by 12, something similar to the corner office, or, you know, a lot of them, buy a products and have it sent to their house. So they, they need a spot for, you know, stuff to be dropped off, shipped to and, and, and, and the other thing too is when you’re working at home, and let’s say, you know.

Before we come out of it. You’re working home. Your kids are home too, and who knows how long they’re going to be at home, but you got to deal with the sound and, and when you’re, when you’re on a zoom meeting or something like that, and your kids jumping in and out, that may be funny to watch a watch on TV for a little bit, but that, that, that won’t work in a corporate environment.

You have to have a nice, secluded, quiet place. So a lot of people have to have that room located far away from. For where the main family lifestyle is going to be.

[00:01:00] Matt: hi, and welcome to building perspective with Matt Riley and Mollie Elkman we’re here to bring value to you and your team by

Eric: exploring. All things

Matt: sales and marketing related, all from different perspectives. All right, and thank you guys for joining us on another episode of building perspective. And this week I’m super excited to talk about the covert impact.

On our floor plans and there’s really nobody else more qualified to do this. Then, our guests this week, Eric Taylor, who was the vice president of design of Frank Betz Associates, an architecture firm out of Atlanta, Georgia, and a lot of our builders and listeners will be very familiar with the [00:02:00] Frank Beth’s team and their product.

So Eric, thanks so much for coming on the show and chatting with us.

Eric: Well, you’re very welcome. I’m looking forward to it.

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. So, well, Eric, why don’t you, just in case someone doesn’t know who you guys are, why don’t you take a second tell, tell us a little bit about your background and then, your companies and what you guys do, what your main focus is, and then we’ll just kind of dive in and talk about, talk about floor plans for a bit.

Eric: Okay. Frank bets associates. Let me just get a little background. As a 40 year old company, we’ve been around for a long time. We used to service all the major builders, did all their design work, their drafting work and stuff like that. That’s really how we got started 40 years ago. I joined a company 35 years ago.

worked my way up through just being your, your basic draftsman to being the lead designer for probably over 20 years. Probably 20, 25 years now. we do mostly predesigned plants, but we do large segment of what we do is custom design. [00:03:00] our target market generally is builders. we look to service builders.

Everything they need. We, like I said, being, doing what we’ve done for so long, we understand their, their, the way they think and what they’re looking for. you know, so that’s pretty much what we do is design plans. The predesign is what we’re known for. And like I said, we work with builders constantly to help improve their portfolios all the time.

Matt: Yeah. And, and so, and that’s why I felt like this was going to be such a great conversation. Diving in because you guys do, you do work so heavily with home builders and markets all across the country. and we know that how those, those consumer trends or what requests, what they’re looking for can and can vary market by market.

Right? So, you know, if you’re in the South, it’s been like, Hey, we want to cover patio area. Or, you know, if you’re in the Northwest, it’s, it may be, it may be something a little different. And each thing [00:04:00] tweaks. Based on, based on the market that we’re in. And so you guys having such a broad footprint, really lends itself to a really wide scope of information.

And so really what we want to talk about today, and I’m really interested to hear your take on how, how do we feel like, or do you feel like I shouldn’t put words in your mouth? Do you feel like. This, this whole covert era with stay at home orders, whether it was short lived in your area or still going on in certain areas of the country.

What type of impact do you see from your all’s perspective and what you’re looking for on maybe the type of floor plan or the offering, that maybe a home builder should be looking at for themselves.

Eric: Well, I think you touched on it before. One of the things we see is a big, big, big push to have a home office located in the house.

And you know, like in the past it was always taking that what was an [00:05:00] a, let’s say, a living room and putting some French doors on it and that that’s what you’re calling your home office. But now the way people live, we’re seeing much. A bigger push to two different designs where the home office may be in that living room, but then it may have a small cubby located in a house that could be like the home management area, or it could be somewhere totally located different than a house, let’s say, in a bonus space.

Or even a detached garage or different places, like it depends on the need of the person who’s going to be working from home and be in the, now. Even my company, probably 75% of our employees work remotely, and I anticipate that to continue forward after we come out of this. I just think that’s a huge game changer in the way things are being done.

Matt: Oh, I mean, totally agree. You’ve got, and you’ve got companies, Twitter, Facebook, these, [00:06:00] these Palo Alto, you know, tech companies out in San Francisco where that area become the most expensive place to live in the country. And they’re now telling their people that, Hey, you’re going to be able to work from home forever.

And so who’s to say that. Those people, if they’re making 150 grand a year in San Francisco area, they’re, they’re not going to be able to, or they’re not going to want to relocate to somewhere to Nevada or Texas somewhere, or Florida or Atlanta or, you know, or fill in the blank where. That $150,000 a year goes a lot further than it does out on the West coast.

Or even you think about New York city or you know, some of these more expensive urban areas in the Northeast, that really frees up how people and where people can live, which then really dictates the layout, right? Like what you have to have, when it comes to, to the [00:07:00] house. And I think that. This is one of the areas that we can re, when I say we, the collective, we have the new home industry can really just destroy existing homes on the market.

Because now you’re talking about building a floor plan that unless you gut this house, strip it down to the studs and completely remake a floor plan. That is true. These are truly things that. A used home just can’t compete with. Do you agree?

Eric: Totally agree. You know, as I spoke with you earlier, we talked about, when the downturn hit back in let’s say 2007, 2008, we saw major reassessment of lifestyle and rooms and stuff like that.

And this is just taking it to that next level. whereas like in, in my, my general market, which is Metro Atlanta. We see a lot of people who were, the younger generation that were really, dead set on living within the perimeter, the perimeter of Atlanta area, [00:08:00] and, and, and now with, with covert hitting and, and, and people being a little concerned about being around large groups and stuff, they’re becoming more apt to want to move out further.

and they’re fine with that. And, so now, Where you would be working with a small area there. They’re there. They’re more open to. Creating something new just for them, per their lifestyle. and, and, and that’s where we see things going really

Matt: well. It’s interesting. What shift did you see in the Oh eight era?

and floorplan in lifestyle.

Eric: Oh, we noticed, you know, like, like I, we, we saw, whereas. If you were to sitting here in your house at that time, and if you could add a dollar amount to each room in your house based on your mortgage, and you’d sit there and you’d look at that dining room and you say, you know, I’m paying $300 a month for that room.

I don’t even use a, what if I got rid of that room? Or, you know, and the nursing, another room in house I don’t even use. What if I got rid of that? so [00:09:00] that mentality is there so much. Area in this house that we do not use. how can our redesign it in my next home? What would I do differently? So we see a lot of consolidating and reassessment.

Now adding this work from home, idea into the mix has really changed it as well. And even with that one, one size fits all for home office is. It is not true. There are so many, you know, now with so many people that, you know, you watch shark tank and you’re creating your own work and home environment. A lot of people who work from home, they could get by in like a small, like 10 by 10 cubby, or they could want a room that’s maybe 12 by 12, something similar to the corner office, or you know, a lot of them, buy, products and have it sent to their house so they, they need a spot for, you know, stuff to be dropped off shifts.

To, and, and, and, and, and the other thing too, is when you’re working at home, and let’s say, you know. [00:10:00] Before we come out of it. You’re working home. Your kids are home too, and who knows how long they’re going to be at home, but you got to deal with the sound and, and when you’re, when you’re on a zoom meeting or something like that, and your, your kids jumping in and out, that may be funny to watch a watch on TV for a little bit, but that’s.

That that won’t work in a corporate environment. You have to have a nice, secluded, quiet place. So a lot of people have to have that room located far away from, from where the main family lifestyle is going to be. So, you know, one size fits all doesn’t fit for home office. It really is just a lifestyle.

Sorry.

Matt: Yeah. You touched on that, right when we first started chatting, which was, you know, Hey, it was basically the old, the old formal living room that, you know, your mom and dad or grandparents or whatever used to have, and you weren’t allowed to go in that room because that was the formal room. And don’t sit on that couch.

It’s covered in plastic. but, but now we’re like, Oh, we don’t need that. We don’t need that space anymore. Now we’ll just call that. We’ll make that same room [00:11:00] and call it a study. And it’s. Like the evolution. It’s like we got really fancy with our floor plans. They’re like, Oh, well this isn’t a formal living room anymore.

It’s a study. And like you said, we just slapped some French doors on it and it was the same dag-gone room as it was before. Same spot in the house. But when you think about the location and the privacy, and like you talked about the audible privacy of where it is, especially when there’s other people in the house.

That that room, that location isn’t as valuable anymore. When you’ve got kids in the house or you have another spouse or significant other that’s in the home, that’s also working from home. Like, cause you’re not sharing, you’re not sharing a 12 by 12 office off the foyer. like even. I was just sharing the story with a builder partner of ours, this morning on a, on a call, and we’re talking about this.

And so, and, the house that we bought was my, you know, the builder that I worked for, it was, it was, I bought one of our homes, and so we had a few, inventory homes on the, [00:12:00] on the street. When we were relocating to Raleigh, we were looking at the home that we bought, the one we live in now, and then the home next door and the home next door.

What was the draw to me was, Hey, that home has the, has a first floor study. Like we were just kinda talking about. but at the time I was like, I don’t really need. A first floor study. I don’t work from home. And to me it was more important. We essentially took that first floor study in the other floor plan and reallocated that space to an extra bedroom because all of our family lives out of town.

So like, Hey, having that extra bedroom is more ideal for us. Well, fast forward years and now here, you know, I now work from home. I was able to take a space in my house that was actually a large walk in closet on the third floor of our home, and convert that to an actual office. And that actually works better for us now because it’s up out of the way of everything.

And even with the kids being home from school during. [00:13:00] Coven and stay at home. It’s not been an interruption to my working hours and my working capability because they can’t hear me and I can’t hear them. So I think as we look at this, like. Pure location and this, I just think it can really change and re really reallocate the use of space within the same, you know, within the same building envelope.

Do you agree?

Eric: Totally. And like I said, we’ve, we’ve had some clients that actually, when they work out of their house, they actually, actually bring clients to there. To their location to meet with them and their desires. They need outside access so that when somebody comes, bought in, I’ll walk through their family home to get to their office.

They walk in a side entrance and they have, let’s say, a back set of stairs going into the space above their garage. And in that space, they’ll have a mini conference room and a shutoff office. So it’s [00:14:00] actually like its own, Office off site, but it’s above their garage. And then they also to there to kind of have to have something shipped to their house.

So they got an additional Bay in her garage set up that they could receive shipments to. So it’s, you know, it’s that entrepreneur, entrepreneurial spirit where you’re, you’re, you’re finding new ways to make your space work for your new job and then the demands of that job.

Matt: Yeah. And so are, is that something.

That type of layout, is that something that you guys already have in your like arsenal or is that something that you’re, because of this, you’re making sure you have maybe a larger presence in, based on the, the upcoming need, like w. How are you guys looking at that and what are you doing to prepare for that?

Eric: We’re, we’re now starting to add some plans that have those kinds of features in them. We have a few already and there have been some that built his model homes before and done exactly that [00:15:00] way. and we had a lot of interests with people who’ve seen the plan built and call us up and say, Hey, what else do you have like that?

we do have a lot of existing plans. One of the things. probably about 10 years ago, we saw a big desire was a master down with an additional bedroom down. and we’ve now taken that plan. And that additional bedroom down is, is, is the guest room when some people come and visit, but that, that additional bedroom down.

a lot of builders want to say, Hey, give me an option, a little window to the side. So I could offer it to my clients that convert that into a home office. Show me how that’ll work as a home office. And so we’ve done a little changes to our plans to allow for that and easily convert back to that guest room when a family comes to visit.

So it hasn’t been a stretch to create that type of home office. But, yeah, there’s, there’s different ones like, you know, especially in our [00:16:00] ranch plans, which were very popular. the ranch plans, you’ve got all that bonus space up in these big, big roof lines that we have, and, and above the garage always works really well.

we generally, when we design a ranch plants, we like to locate most of our finished space, above the living area. Because the heat loss, heat gain going up and down and, and, and then we, we’ve now been converting more of the space over the garage as that home office. and then some people who have been fortunate to have the Topo for a basement, any spot in a basement will work as well.

Matt: Sure. Yeah. So, it’s a couple things. I think it’s interesting. One, I want to hit on looking, should we be looking at. Just the simple naming convention of some of the existing rooms that we have in our floor plan are, you know, on our, on our lineup. That’s one thing I want to talk about. and the other one is the open concept.

and, and how alive [00:17:00] that may still be because we’re doing some interviews, some buyer interviews, people that are in the market. During COBIT have purchased during this, like and understanding why did you continue to move forward? A and B did your criteria for a floor plan change? And one of the things that came up was a, and from one customer was actually, you know, I had this wide open floor plan and now both myself and my spouse are working from home and like completely wide open doesn’t work for us anymore.

Like we need some separate space. So I want to talk about that, but should we be. Should we be looking at like just leaving purely from a marketing perspective, the naming convention of what we’re calling some rooms, like perfect example, a lot of times as a builder, you know, we’ve got that you go up a flight of stairs, you go up and say the second floor, and there’s a lot of times that little area up front that’s a larger landing area that you can’t use as a room.

You can’t wall it [00:18:00] off. and it’s kind of, most of the time it’s really. Kind of a wasted space. You can dress it up with some built-ins or something around the windows, but we call it loft. You know? That’s our default. I think sometimes that can be our default answer for hell. I don’t know what to say.

This is. So we’re just going to stamp loft on this room. but what if we were looking at renaming some of these? What if that was now your. Your yoga studio or your, you know, an area like a little small open, a home gym where you could put a treadmill or a Peloton bike or you know, whatever it may be. Do you think that there’s some validity there of like, let’s look at how we can even.

Start by just renaming from a marketing perspective, our four plans.

Eric: Yeah. We, what we’ve done is we just throw the catch all phrase flex room out there and then, and then you, at that point, you need to have a explanation on what it could be for different situations. Like you said, if it’s a gym, you gotta be able to show how it could work as a gym.

If [00:19:00] it’s an office, you got to show how it could work as an office and just what it is you’re trying to give a product to a builder. So that w whatever client he has come in there, you’ve got all the, the I’s dotted T’s cross, you got options for every one of those clients coming in on why that house will work for them.

And so, yeah, we try to think of those flex spaces in our houses. Lot of times we have that, the old dining room. And people are, you know, one person may come in and, and they, they still want that dining room. They’re holding onto it. So it’s a dining room. And then that could be the home office, or that could be that yoga studio, or it could be a lot of things, but have explanations on what those rooms could be.

And you’re right, we have always had the additional little spaces here and there. And if you could create a space for it, and, and, and. Learn a way to to to come, come, come up with a creative name. That does work, I think for marketing purposes.

Matt: Yeah. I mean, like you said, I think [00:20:00] showing, Hey, this is a flex space and showing on paper or on the screen.

What, how you can, what, how you can do or, or turn that flex space into a real usable space. But naming it, you know, like, again, I’m using these, these are things that are fresh on my mind, but, you know, Hey, this is our yoga studio option. This is our home gym option. This is our, our, private home. you know, private home office option unit showing how it could work.

and I know this isn’t necessarily floor plans specific, like talk about the floor plan layout, but. As you’re going through this going, Hey, if this is your home office, you may want to consider we’ve got some sound dampening drywall options that you can put in this room that’s going to help deaden the sound, you know, and give you that audible privacy, or just, I think there’s so much that we can do even with our existing lineup to really showcase.

We’ve got something different than what people are [00:21:00] think that’s out there.

Eric: Right. And you know, with the amount of builders we work with, a lot of times, you know, we, we will offer new plans for them to look at and review and see if one of them may work for them. But a lot of times. we’re, we’re, we’re teaching them how to take the existing plan as in their portfolio and rework it and create these options.

So, you know, if the house has got curb appeal and, and people still love that plan, it’s just take that plan and make it, be able to work with a lot more people. How can you do that and still keep that, that same house plan that seems to work over and over and over. And at that point too, you know, all the numbers on that house.

You built it over and over and over. That’s a great thing to know. But to give them the options to work on that existing plan. That’s a lot of things that we’ve been doing as well.

Matt: Yeah, totally. So do you see any change, or, I mean, do you predict any changes to the desire of that quote unquote open floor plan where [00:22:00] it’s just literally wide open now?

People are like, Hey, I like some open, but. I still, I need some privacy now. I need, I don’t know. Is it too early to tell? you know, I don’t know if that’s something that you guys are looking at or, you know, make recommendations.

Eric: I have not heard one single client. Anything more closed down? exact opposite.

I see more desire to have the openness because you know, even at that point, the one thing you always want your house to feel bigger than it really is. And one way to achieve that is it open it up more often. It’s just these new rooms that we’re talking about is how to locate that so that it doesn’t. To turn that open feeling, and move those rooms to the perimeter.

Keep that open space wide open. you know, a lot of times I equate that sometimes when I hear people talk about one to close things. And I equate that to fashion designers telling you that, Oh, something else is new and this is old. And, and I, and I always equate that to them just trying to sell a new [00:23:00] product.

not necessarily. That’s a trend. Like I said, from what I understand from all our builders, we deal with that. That’s, that has not been a request.

Matt: Yeah. Okay, good. That’ll be it. It’ll be interesting to see, how it plays out. Now when we talk about one of the things you’re talking about, you know, showcasing what those rooms, how they can, how they can function within the floor plans.

One of the things you had mentioned to me too, was really like showcasing even. Even wire, even down to the wiring packages. w w what do you, what do you mean by when you’re talking about really focusing in on, even updating wiring packages?

Eric: Yeah, I think a lot of times people’s, computer stuff, the equipment that they have requires certain kind of wiring, stuff like that and cat five and whatever.

And I think that’s just a discussion to have with the builder to say, have this. Ready with your, you’re a low voltage person being ready to put this in for that special buyer, or maybe even put it into that flux [00:24:00] room with the knowledge that, Hey, that that may be what this room is. It may be the home office and this person needs that kind of wiring.

So it’s just kind of thinking ahead for that buyer. And like I said, trying to make, make a reasonable why every house that you have can fit every buyer that comes in there, how you can manipulate it to give them what they want. Yeah,

Matt: absolutely. Are you seeing, we talked about, you know, we’ve talked a lot about the inside of the house, but what about the outside, right?

Like what about that. Really extending the inside, living to the outdoors. And that’s something that I know marketing purely from a marketing perspective, during like the peak of the stay at home, whenever it was, like everybody was on lockdown, like, golly, I wish I had at least like an area where I could go hang outside and feel like I was getting some fresh air.

are you guys looking at and seeing or focusing on really kind of. [00:25:00] Revamping what that outside taking the inside outside basically is what we’re getting at.

Eric: Yeah, it’s huge. We’ve about every new plan that we put out now has a very, very large, outdoor living space, and there’s so big that it will be almost two rooms together.

It’ll be like a outdoor dining space and outdoor living space, and it’s usually covered. It has the option to be screened. And in most cases I designed in an area that would be an outdoor builtin grill space that you can put a refrigerator in and, and a sink. And, you know, there’s always room on the wall too for that TV to be put out there as well.

So you can enjoy the game on a nice crisp night. You can sit outside and watch it used to, The demand for houses with front porches. People have always had that belief that they, they would, they loved a big front porch and they were going to sit on our porch and they were going to wave at their neighbors and everything was going to be great.

They’ve never thought about that private area in the [00:26:00] back. And now that mentality’s changed where yes, we still have a covered area at the front, but more emphasis is take that. That expense of that big wraparound porch. Take the expense and put it on a rear of the house where you’re going to get more use out of it, where you could sit there and your kids can play in a backyard and you don’t have to worry about them running in the road.

you could grill out in it and you know, here’s the thing too. Because of the coven 19, everybody’s cooped up at home. It’s kind of like that place that, Hey, we want to escape from the house. So let’s just step outside in the back. Let’s live in our little covered here. So it’s another escape area within the house to go to.

And really, there’s not a whole bunch you’re doing, to create that space. and it’s just create the space and show that buyer how to use it.

Matt: Yeah. And I think that’s important too, because when we look at, you know, you know, a lot of that when we get into the [00:27:00] production or semi production arena, you know, a lot of times you get constricted with lot with and, and even sometimes depth.

Because if you’re trying to build a 40 to 45 foot wide product, that’s typically means that the house is going to be, you know, 60 to 75 feet deep. And, you know, you’re getting into like, how far do I go into easements? How much backyard am I eating up by going way far out on the, on the rear, on the rear deck.

But like even focusing in on, if you know, you’re going to be tight on a lot space, H, you know, how do we make it, how do we make it where we can pull some of that indoor or that outdoors into the building envelope itself so it doesn’t eat up the entire backyard and we can still carry some of that inside.

Outside. I think that. One of the things that we’ve heard, especially in like the urban areas and people that are renting, is really, really wishing that they had some outdoor space that they could go in with some [00:28:00] privacy.

Eric: Yeah. I mean, that’s, you know, everything that we’re doing is going towards that, that outdoor living space, and it, like I said, it’s, it’s.

So, you know, in our situation too, we’re not just applying a big coverage area on the back. We’re recreating in most of our plants. Like I said, I’ve been designing so many with just one dining area, not a dining room and a breakfast room, but a big dining area that’ll culminate the big table for Alyssa, say your Thanksgiving dinner with the family and Easter and Christmas and all that, but also just.

In your casual area is at the big islands and the kitchen, but design the kitchen, dining space so that it has a giant outside wall where you can put that big sliding window. one of the things we’re getting so many people coming in and saying, look. I don’t care how much it costs. I want that big sliding unit on the back of my house.

It’s such a big impact statement [00:29:00] feature that they’re willing to pay the extra several thousand dollars to get that big 16 foot, 18 foot wide, four part sliding door. In, in, in, in, in, just just throw it wide open. It feeds out into the backyard and it’s, it at that point, the dining kitchen becomes one with that outdoor space.

So it’s like a big giant room at that point, but it’s not just design outdoor space, but design that back wall or the opening to that space as one.

Matt: Yeah. I think. It makes the home feel actually, like it’s got more square footage too, because that’s actual usable space. And I think it doesn’t make that perceived.

Alright, well this is the outside miss of the inside and that part doesn’t count in the livability of the house. I mean, we have off the back of our house, we have, a covered screened deck that’s about 12 feet off the ground below. And then, you know, [00:30:00] we expanded, the uncovered deck. to the, basically go all the way over to the other side of the home goes.

So our, our car, our deck goes, our deck slash uncovered deck essentially stretches the full width of the house. And so, like on the uncovered part, we have a really large table and umbrella and chairs and two grills and you know, then the inside is sectionals and we have a couple of recliners and tables and stuff, all outdoor stuff out there.

And honestly, that’s part of the, it’s like. For us, it’s like one of the most favorite rooms of our house. especially like when we’re really focused in and have been focused in on kind of chilling out at home and not trying to go as many places for us, that’s been a saving grace.

Eric: Yes. It’s wonderful.

Outside with fresh air. It’s, it’s, it’s a wonderful thing. And eating outside is becoming more joyful. I mean, I like anytime I can get outside and eat dinner, it’s just way better than sitting inside. So yeah, [00:31:00] we, we use are kind of the same way you do.

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so Eric, really quick, just like, so.

You mentioned at the top of the episode, you know, you guys do some consulting or you meet with people and talk through what their floor plans are. I want to make sure I give everybody an opportunity to, if they, if they wanted to, you know, as we kind of wrap up here is if they wanted to reach out and chat with you or your team.

do you so. What type of ways do, do you guys work with work with builders?

Eric: Oh, I mean, we meet, we like to meet with them. And like I said, we’ll work within your portfolio. If you’ve got your plants, we’d be more than happy to sit down with you and me. And, and. Show you what we could add. you know, now, so often we have a lot of builders that keep a draftsman on a staff and it just, your basic drafting, draw whatever you want, and they need some more design input, stuff like that.

We meet with [00:32:00] people a lot too. So sit down and help them change their portfolio, make sure they got plans and all the square footages, separate apart, make sure they’ve got, you know, the right ranch for that market or two-story or plans like that. and also too, if they don’t have that particular house.

Yeah, we may have it in our inventory. We give them a low cost option of, licensing one of our plans and putting it in a portfolio. we could design new elevations for that. and, and, and also too, if there’s something very unique that they need, though, we do new home design as well from scratch. So, we pretty much do it all.

Matt: And, and are you able to work with someone if they have some really specific needs going into, say, a new project and they’re like, Hey, I’m really limited on lot size here. Here’s my building pad envelope. you know, do you your, your, your guys can sit down with them and kind of work through what those requirements are and either see, a, how can [00:33:00] you retrofit some of the stuff that’s existing in your lineup?

Or, B. Let’s create a new, a flat out new series to that’s specific for. You know, the lot restrictions or the pad restrictions that you may have?

Eric: Yeah, we’re, we’re quite used to working with them, confined the constraints that builders have, whether it’s, it’s, it’s like inside a, you know, the city limit type stuff where it’s a little small postage stamp type lots we can work with that.

We can work with, moving out a little bit further. And you just had sky’s the limit and you want to take that 2000 square foot house and make it look like a 4,000 square foot house. So, you know. We, we, we used to work with builders to change things up, no matter where they’re building.

Matt: Yeah. Well, and I can attest, I mean, when I was, you know, over at Royal Oaks homes, you know, we actually used to, Work with you guys and buy plans out of your lineup. But we really felt like those were really scalable because it’s one thing you go out to, like I’d [00:34:00] go out to the Pacific coast builder conference out in San San Diego or San Francisco, and you go to, or some of the homes out there and you know when you’ve got, you know, three or $4 million to work with and you’ve got, you know, these gigantic wide homesites and it’s really hard to take some of that stuff that you see out there.

And. It doesn’t scale to affordability. And I think that you guys do a really, really great job of offering some, some scalability based on the lot restrictions and a lot needs that you have. So, or that builders have. So I, I’d highly recommend them. And from personal, personal recommendation, doing business with Frank, Beth’s is, always worked well for us.

Eric: Well, thank you very much. We appreciate that.

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. So, okay, so real quick, what is the best way, if someone wanted to reach out to you guys or to you directly, what’s the best way for them to do that?

Eric: you could email me@etayloratfrankbets.com or

Matt: that’s where [00:35:00] the Z

Eric: that is correct. B E T. Z. or you could, you could give us a call at our office.

It’s, seven seven zero four three one zero eight, eight eight. And we are located in Woodstock, Georgia, which is a suburb Northwest of Atlanta.

Matt: Yeah. And, I got family that live in Woodstock, so that’s a great area.

Eric: Yeah, it is. And, and, you know, but here’s the thing, with modern way of working with people, you know, we were digitally with so many builders where we don’t have to meet, we can meet, you know, like I said, the conversations over the phone or email.

So, you know, if you’re on the other side of the country, that’s fine. We can work with people like that. Yeah,

Matt: absolutely. Awesome. Well, Eric, I really appreciate your time and coming on and chatting with us about kind of the, the evolution of what we expect to see from four planes. The impact that Cove is going to have, or is currently having on our lineup is an industry.

So, I’m going to be, it’s going to be really exciting to see how, how this progresses and, I [00:36:00] really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to chat with us.

Eric: You’re very welcome. Thank you, Matt.

Matt: All right. Thanks, Eric. Have a great one.

Eric: You too. .