About the Author: Kevin Reed is the owner and president of Bluestone Construction, with nearly 30 years of experience building luxury custom homes. He’s also a member of the NAHB’s Builder 20 group, where he shares insight on construction, finance, and building performance.
In the aftermath of the 2020 pandemic, home builders and contractors learned many valuable COVID construction lessons that continue to apply in the new era of disaster-ready home building. During Covid-19, construction was deemed essential, saving many jobs, but supply chains were disrupted by shipping delays, material shortages, and unpredictable costs, causing project delays across the industry. Home builders learned to prioritize supply chain resilience and actively source local and domestic materials whenever possible to reduce risk and delays.
The change in compliance standards elevated the need for repetitive and clear communication with jobsite signage, daily safety meetings, and redundant systems to keep everyone on the same page. Most importantly, COVID redefined how people live in their homes. Builders adapted by emphasizing designs with home offices, private retreats, better air quality, and multi-functional spaces. Post-pandemic clients now expect luxury home features that support work, wellness, and adaptability for future lifestyle changes. Bluestone Construction looks at the key features in the new era of disaster-ready home design.
Spending most of your time at home clarifies what works and what doesn’t about your space.
When we’re all stuck at home, the aspects of our space that seemed like mild annoyances now feel like major inconveniences. Your kitchen felt small when you were eating out multiple times a week, but now you’re cooking every meal at home, and it feels positively claustrophobic. You’ve realized that you need a home office, and private spaces to get away like a home theater. If you live in the city, the dream of carving out a space in the country where you can get away, or living in a luxury gated community may be topping your list. In lieu of other natural disasters like Hurricane Helene, you may also be wondering how you can be proactive in your home’s design. If you’ve been thinking about renovating or building your custom home in the new era of disaster-readiness, Bluestone Construction is here to help.
Design To Safeguard Against Disaster
Passive survivability describes how equipped your home is to keep you safe during the loss of utility infrastructure. Floods, blizzards, ice storms, earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, fires, and tornadoes all pose a threat (especially where we build in the Carolinas). If you’re in a floodplain, for example, there are construction and drainage choices that will keep your family and property safer.
Want your electrical appliances to stay on, even if the grid goes out? Tesla and other companies make rechargeable battery packs that fill from solar panels or the grid. If the power supply is disrupted, they switch on instantly. These are a good short-term solution, and with enough solar panels, they can be a longer-term solution.
A home standby generator can also be installed. If it’s natural gas, it will run off the gas line you already have. Generators are typically located outside, where they can be hidden with landscaping. If necessary, a generator could also be housed in a mechanical room that vents outside.
Working From Home?
Your home office is a key area to consider in the light of Covid construction. Where will your computer be? What other kind of technology will you need? Wiring can be placed behind drywall to avoid a tangle behind or under a desk. You also want to be intentional about how many outlets you need and where we place them.
It’s difficult to concentrate at “work” if you can hear your dog barking at the delivery person or your kids shouting. You can dampen sound with extra insulation.
Studies show that organized workspaces enhance productivity. Adding built-in file cabinets, drawers, and bookshelves to your remote office keeps things neat.
Entertain Yourself At Home
Game rooms, home fitness centers, craft studios, and grand porches make your home feel like everything. Who needs exercise equipment slick with other people’s sweat or a hip patio restaurant when you have a home gym and an elevated porch with a fireplace and mountain view?
You can also have a full theater experience from the safety of your home. Just wire and soundproof it and make sure it’s in a room without natural light, where people can enter and exit without blocking the screen.
Want to drink in an upscale lounge? One of our clients turned their basement into a bold, evocatively lit cocktail bar. Its ambiance rivals that of even the artsiest commercial bar.
Need to keep the kids or the husband happy and out of your hair all summer? A gorgeous swimming pool works well for the kids, or build an indoor putting green.
Grow Food Year Round
Eat local—from your own yard! Include a sunroom in your home or a greenhouse in your yard, and you can have fresh veggies even in winter.
Consider A Classroom & A Playroom
Whether you’re a full-time homeschooling family or you can’t wait for your kids to return to their classrooms, a kids’ workspace can help the youngest residents stay focused and organized. And if this homework station is in a communal space, it can help you monitor computer habits.
Kids also need a safe place to make a mess. Unless you want them to take over the family room, consider adding a playroom to your custom build. Easy-to-clean wall coverings, such as eggshell paint or vinyl grasscloth, are good options. (Avoid flat paint and real silk or vinyl—they show marks forever.) Carpet tiles are more sensible than rolled carpeting, since you can replace a single block if a stain refuses to come out.
Built-in storage is a must—shelves for books and board games, hollow cushioned window seats for bulkier toys. Bluestone uses slow-close hinges to avoid crushed little fingers!
Extraordinary Times Call For Extraordinary Spaces
But it’s also nice to have extraordinary spaces in ordinary times. Custom homes are about creating a space that works for you and your lifestyle, whatever may come. We build extraordinary custom homes in Western North Carolina, and Upstate South Carolina, and we’d love to speak with you about your family’s custom home needs in the Asheville, NC, or Greenville, SC, area.
