How To Sell Aging-in-Place

Business How-To: Sell Aging-in-Place

10 MIN READ

Observe the Everyday

Explain that you would like to see the way the homeowners use their space (see the Home Audit form on page 88). Then spend a few hours watching them cook, do laundry, and so on. “You’re collecting a lot of visual response,” says author and speaker Steve Hoffacker, whose e-book Universal Design for Builders lays out the fine points of selling aging-in-place projects. “Look at the traffic patterns,” he says. “Where’s the clutter? Can the homeowners move around freely?”

Hands-on information will give you a much better sense of what sort of modifications should be incorporated into the design you’re selling.

Compare Costs

FACT BOX

Percentage of U.S. Population 65+

1980: 11.2%
2010: 13%
2040: 20.4%

U.S. Census Bureau

Life expectancy in the U.S.

1950: 68.9 years
2009: 79.2 years

Population Bulletin, Population Reference Bureau

Median income for retirees in the U.S.

Males: $27,707
Females:$15,362

U.S. News & World Report

Percentage of U.S. households with someone 55 or older by 2020: 45%

National Association of Home Builders

Average daily rate for a private room in a nursing home in 2012: $248

Average cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home, 2012: $222

National average monthly base rate in an assisted living community in 2012: $3,550

MetLife Mature Market Institute

For boomers and aging homeowners, alternatives to modifying the home may come down to a nursing home or assisted-living facility. While the solution you’re presenting isn’t inexpensive, the homeowners should be aware of how the cost of your proposal compares with the cost of being in a nursing home or assisted living.

The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home last year was $248. That’s $7,440 a month and $89,280 per year. A semi-private room at $222 per day isn’t much cheaper: $6,660 a month, $79,920 per year. The average cost of an assisted living facility in 2012 was $3,550 monthly, which comes to $42,600 per year.

And say the homeowners simply opt to stay put without remodeling. Such a decision also carries unanticipated costs. For instance, if they aren’t able to use their kitchen, how much would it cost to order out every night?

Be the Local Expert

Not many contractors know how to do universal design work and how to do it well. Dave Mackowski, president of Quality Design & Construction, keeps plenty of high-quality photos on his iPad of the 30 or so universal design projects his company has built during the last 10 years. “That allows us to explain the need behind each project,” he says. Quality Design is one of the few companies in Raleigh, N.C., that specializes in UD. Both Dave and his wife, Peggy, are Certified Aging-in-Place Specialists. More than 5,000 individuals have taken the National Association of Home Builders’ CAPS certification course since 2002, the majority being builders and remodelers. Being CAPS-certified makes you the expert.

Call in Med Techs

There are situations that clients have no trouble describing. “Dad’s having a hard time getting in and out of the tub.” On the other hand, there are conditions, symptoms, and situations that they won’t feel comfortable talking about with a contractor. So suggest involving in the design process a nurse, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, or some other professional. Remodeler Greg Carpenter of Simply Home, in Charlotte Hall, Md., often calls in emergency-room nurse David Bacon or Bacon’s wife, who also a nurse.

Bacon’s assessment starts by taking a medical history. He then looks at the home’s layout, doors and access before making his recommendations. “Imagine you have a catheter bag for urine,” Bacon says. “You’re not going to tell a contractor that.”

Talk Marketability

If you’re selling a project involving universal design or aging-in-place alterations, the question of marketability will inevitably come up. At some point, whoever owns or inherits that property will have to sell it, and your remodel will affect that sale. Would the next owner have to tear out the ramp or the modified bathroom?

Here’s the response: “As baby boomers age,” Michael Thomas says, “they’ll be looking for houses and condos that already have UD features. If the remodel adds that to the residence, it will be more appreciated than that house down the block that doesn’t.”

GOING UP

Negotiating stairs becomes an issue for those with arthritic or failing hips and knees, and it’s out of the question for the wheelchair-bound. One option is suggesting that clients consolidate living space onto a single floor. But “Why have a three-story house when you can only use one floor?” is the question Peggy Mackowski of Quality Design & Construction had to ask herself and her wheelchair-bound client. For that client, the solution was a home elevator.

According to Home Elevators, home elevator sales have doubled in the last five years. Two trends have driven that growth: improved technology and an expanded market.

Costs can range from $20,000 to $100,000, depending on the product — size and weight capacity are two key elements — and the spatial limitations you’re up against in the home when deciding where to place the elevator shaft.

Home elevators are not cheap, and they’re not for every house. Mark Scott, owner of Mark IV Builders, in Bethesda, Md., went to the Remodeling Show in Baltimore last October and talked with three home elevator vendors, called all their contractor referrals, and then presented all three models to his client. The client ultimately went with the company that Scott recommended, even though that elevator cost $5,000 more. It took three weeks to install in a 6,600-square-foot townhouse.

—Jim Cory is a contributing editor to REMODELING.

About the Author

Jim Cory

Formerly the editor of REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR, Jim Cory is a contributing editor to REMODELING who lives in Philadelphia.

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