“Chrome is back in,” says Jeff Dworkin, president of JLD Custom Homes, a daltxrealestate.com approved builder. In the past, people wanted polished nickel fixtures and accents in their custom homes, but the trend in 2014 is something shiny and easy to clean – chrome. Custom home buyers these days are looking for homes that are energy efficient and “green,” too. Jeff says JLD builds all their homes to very high standards – Energy Star 3.0 and Green Built Texas, to be specific.
Buyers are also looking for well-laid-out homes, meaning a home that makes the best use of all square footage. “We try to design our homes with as little wasted space as possible,” he says. President of the Dallas Builders Association, Dworkin says buyers are currently looking for custom homes that are transitional — something that bridges the gap between traditional Texas-style brick and the more modern home. There’s no better example than JLD’s newest custom home inside The Enclave on Tucker Street, pictured here.
Gone are the rounded staircases — now they are angular or straight. In the kitchen, clean lines are becoming more prevalent. Dworkin says buyers want Shaker style cabinets with recessed doors, and that granite is still popular for counters but at the same time there’s a growing popularity for using other stone like quartz. Breakfast nooks or eat-on islands are becoming more popular for everyday, casual meals, instead of the formal dining rooms of the past.
Another trend Dworkin is seeing is the lack of requests for tubs in custom-built homes. In fact, he states, JLD has built a few spec homes recently without bathtubs and people don’t even realize there isn’t one in the master bathroom. Larger showers with multiple showerheads are really more popular, he says.
As far as style trends go, JLD is also building homes with tile — and the bigger the better. Additionally he’s been seeing a movement toward using tile that looks like hardwood floors. “It’s easier to maintain than real wood,” Dworkin says.
JLD Custom Homes has a lot of irons in the fire right now. Dworkin says JLD’s philosophy is to build more than one house at a time in a close area. Several years ago, the company purchased all the lots on one street in Lakewood Hills, tearing down all the existing houses to build several custom spec homes. With the growing number of corporations moving to Dallas, the close proximity to the Santa Fe Trail and Lakewood Elementary, along with the fact that buyers are guaranteed to have new homes on either side of their purchased home, Dworkin feels like they’ve got a good thing going on with The Enclave on Tucker Street!
One of these homes, 1803 Tucker Street, is closing this month, and the house is just gorgeous. The open floor plan, upstairs balcony off the master bedroom overlooking the trail abutting the backyard, and covered patio helped the buyers maximize their 3,000-plus square footage.
Dworkin isn’t a newcomer to the game of custom homebuilding, having been in Dallas more than 10 years. Dworkin previously worked for a well-known production builder in Austin, and decided to go out on his own. “The timing was right,” he says. “It was time to venture out on my own; I was tired of the corporate world and wanted to be my own boss.”
What neighborhood does Dworkin think is poised to really take off in Dallas in the near future? In Dallas, East Dallas continues to go strong, with Lakewood being the stand-out area. Bluffview, Preston Hollow, and even some areas around Love Field, sometimes referred to as the Oriole Streets, are also showing lots of activity. Areas around Northaven are starting to show some activity with homes being built as soon as buyers can teardown the 1950s ranches on key lots.
For more information visit Jeff Dworkin’s website at www.JLDHomes.com.
