Livability

The dream is to design and build a house that's perfectly designed for you and how you live. It supports your lifestyle and daily rituals. It's in a style you love and feels like home.

This kind of livable house doesn't just happen. Working with a talented and experienced architect and GC is a good start, but their work is based on you and your ability to explain what you need and want.

Livability is the domain of the homeowner. No one else on the project knows your lifestyle or how you'll use the house better than you. For this reason, it's important to see yourself as a member of the team and an advocate for your future needs.

• Livability is an approach to designing and building a home that makes the homeowner's lifestyle and needs a priority.
• In order to build a livable house, you will need to collaborate with the architect and builder and be an advocate for what fits your lifestyle.
• This collaboration requires planning and foresight. The best results come when there is a shared understanding of how you plan to use the house.
• You'll be asked many questions. To be a productive member of the team, it's best to understand the products and process, be able to make decisions quickly, and be comfortable asking questions and sharing your ideas.

Sarah Susanka, the author of the Not So Big House, is a big proponent of this idea.

A Simple Example: Making Coffee

You probably drink coffee or tea on a regular basis. It's a consistent part of your daily rituals and comes with multiple steps:

• Making it
• Pouring it into a cup
• Discarding the grounds or leaves
• Cleaning the pot

These steps all create opportunities to make a mess. With a bit of planning, you can design for a cleaner, more convenient coffee station.

In building a livable home, you have an opportunity to design for activities. With a bit of planning, your future kitchen can make this daily activity, and many others, easy and convenient. Here's how:

1. Take an inventory of what you need to perform the task (coffee maker, coffee cup, water, coffee grounds, filter, trash/compost).
2. When it's time to design the kitchen, consider the location of this activity and share it with the architect.
3. Work together to be sure that the specific location has what you need: an electrical outlet, faucet/sink, logical space for a coffee pot, and accessible places for storing coffee grounds, coffee cups, filters, and trash/compost.

This is the BIG IDEA. You are the only person who understands your daily life and how to make the house work for you. Your builder and architect can build you a beautiful home, but only you can make it livable.

More Ideas to Consider:

You don't need to think through every possibility right now. We'll get to that later. For now, I want to plant some seeds in your mind so you can start considering the options for better livability.

Laundry - Every home does it. You have an opportunity to make it work for you. Where will it happen? Will you need space for special supplies? Where will you keep the detergent? What else happens in the laundry room?

Kids - Where will their stuff be stored? Will you be able to keep an eye on them when they're out in the backyard? Where will their drum set live? What will be the dining scenario?

Pets - Where will they eat? Where will you store their food? Where will they do their business? How will you dispose of their waste? Where do they get cleaned? You can design spaces to work for you and them.

Work - Will anyone in the home need to work from home? Where will the room be? Are there enough outlets and an internet connection? Is it in a quiet part of the house? What else happens in that room? Could it be a backup bedroom for guests?

This is just a starting point and I realize you may feel a bit overwhelmed. There is a lot to consider, but you don't have to do it all at once. This guide is your companion to understanding what's possible and making these decisions with confidence.

What matters now is having the right mindset.

Factors of Livability

Livability is not a single strategy, but a perspective that can be applied to a wide variety of design and construction decisions. We've focused on the design of the home, but livability is much bigger.

Let’s look at a few factors that go into livability:

• Budget - A livable house is one that you can afford. An essential part of planning is understanding what the house is likely to cost and how that relates to your budget. 
• Design - A livable house is one designed with your input. No one is in a better position than you to anticipate how you’ll use the house. To make it livable, you’ll be a part of the design process.
• Sustainability - A livable house is one that reflects your tastes and priorities when it comes to the use of sustainable materials. 
• Comfort - A livable house is one that is designed for your comfort. This might relate to heating and cooling options, flooring materials, window and wall placement, and more. 
• Efficiency - A livable house is one that is built with efficiency in mind. Often, this means selecting systems and materials that operate with durability and/or a low carbon footprint and low energy costs. 
• Convenience - A livable house is one that supports your daily rituals and habits.
• Maintenance - A livable house is one that requires little maintenance or as much maintenance as you're willing to do over time. 
• Networked- A livable house is one that is typically connected to the internet and designed to support the work and play of the residents.
• Privacy - A livable house is one that is designed according to your desired level of privacy. 
• Special Needs - A livable house is one designed around any special needs of the residents.

As you begin this process, consider what factors matter most and how you can plan ahead to ensure those factors are present when you move in. 

Mindset

Now is the best time to develop a livable house mindset. This is not a specific idea or design, but a realization that you have the potential to make your house livable and built around your needs. 

Having the right mindset will help you deal with uncertainty. A livable mindset can provide a foundation for your decisions. You can ask: 

• What is the most livable option?  
• How does this relate to future livability?
• Are there trade-offs in terms of livability?

As you'll see, this idea is a thread throughout the entire guide and I hope you now have a clear picture of how it can influence and hopefully improve your approach.