Investing in street appeal with style

You’ve found the perfect block of land, an ideal home design and a fabulous builder. You’re thinking you’ve got it all sorted but there is still one big decision that can dramatically impact the appeal and resale value of your family’s home or investment property – the right facade.

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The facade is in effect the face of your home, the street frontage for your biggest life purchase, and ultimately the backdrop for your life. It’s where you greet family and friends as they arrive for BBQs and birthday parties. You stand back full of pride and admire it after mowing the lawn on a Saturday afternoon, and it’s what long to see as you turn into your street coming home at the end of a long day. It will also end up in quite a few family photos.

By building a new home, you make your mark on the streetscape and create your impression of who and what lies behind the exterior. For the secrets to creating street appeal with style, read on for Stylemaster’s top tips for choosing the right facade.

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Architectural Style

Classical or contemporary; provincial or even personalised. The type of facade you select should represent the character and style of the actual home design. It makes sense for so many people building new homes, with their clever space enhancing layouts and modern architectural appeal, to opt one of many stunning contemporary facades available. However, the preference for traditional style facades is on the rise and expected to increase. Relaxed charm of Hamptons and Coastal facades are proving extremely popular, while the refined elegance of Provincial facades are a favourite for those looking to make a sophisticated and affluent statement.

The specific style of your exterior may be reflection of personal taste, but achieving well-designed and beautiful facades in a range of signature styles is the mark of an experienced and versatile builder. Your builder’s range of facades should showcase architectural innovation and incorporate quality materials to achieve a unique and attractive exterior with enduring appeal.

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At Stylemaster Homes our extensive range of facades have been developed to offer a point of difference in the project home market. Our range is continually updated in line with international trends and localised requirements such as covenants and block widths. Evolving construction technologies and the opportunity to incorporate new materials, as well as catering to the specific and varied tastes of our clients are key to the success of our facade range.

 

Facade Investment

Well-designed facades redefine the perceived value of homes. Successful architecture makes narrow homes appear wider and a modest home command grander appeal. Obviously this translates into value on resale. It can be tempting to select cheaper facades believing that this is a cost effective approach to choosing the right one. But investment in your facade should be relative to your project’s overall cost and in keeping with the quality of home exteriors in your chosen building area. It’s about balance.

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Despite falling in love with the most beautiful and expensive facade available, it may not make good financial sense to select this option if you are building in a suburb with modest property values. A proportionate facade with quality materials and a tastefully chosen colour scheme will always retain appeal even without being the most expensive on offer. And depending on what you select, there may be opportunity to upgrade to an architectural cladding material, beautiful feature brickwork, higher windows, or even a statement front door further enhancing your facade. However, when building in certain neighbourhoods, greater resale profitability can be achieved when the facade investment and overall street appeal is specifically addressed to meet the market.

Our new home consultants will guide you on a refined selection of facade types for your particular home design that are well suited the property values and covenant suitability for your building area.

 

Material Selection

At Stylemaster, we know our expert advice makes all the difference for achieving a spectacular façade. Whether clients are guided through the selection process choosing their colours and materials with confidence, or deciding on one of our stunning preselected palettes, we know their colours and materials can be just a beautiful as their favourite display home.

When considering facade materials, it is important to research the current fashions in the building marketplace. Are you ahead of the trends, or so on trend that it could date and jeopardise resale in ten or fifteen years’ time? Innovative new products are an important driving force behind the most successful facade designs right now, and introducing these new materials is increasingly desirable for style savvy clients. In recent times the strong flat surfaces of painted render with the occasional feature colour had been a safe and popular option. But trends like time, move on.

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Cladding has been long used with great success in the commercial industry. And thanks to the contemporary, architectural lines and different surfaces available, it’s now a major player in the hearts and homes of suburbia. Lightweight cladding may carry with it a distant memory of the old weatherboards, but this fibre cement exterior panelling is right on trend with its stunning configurations of lines and patterning. Maintenance is minimal as modern cladding is both durable and rot resistant.

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Timber panelling can be applied to walls as well as ceilings and is popular with those wanting to embrace a natural and sustainable finish. Natural timber is stunning and its’ eco sensitivity is an important consideration. However, maintenance is definitely a factor as the timber protection staining or oiling may needed to maintain its beauty. You may need professional maintenance and scaffolding for those hard to reach places. An alternative option for those without the time to spare for maintenance, are new powder coated timber and synthetic timber look products that replicate the species and grain patterning of natural timber. These products are very realistic, durable and really clever.

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Stone and tile cladding, and feature brickwork are also popular materials to incorporate into your facade to add extra interest and personality. But remember that it is also important to consider the materials you use for your facade in relation to other areas of your property such as fencing, driveway, garden design, feature pots and even garden sculptures so the end result is harmonious. Get the combination right and the result can be breathtaking.

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If you want a home to make people stop and stare for all the right reasons visit a Stylemaster Homes display centre this weekend.