Winchester Homes - In The News

Your Home.Your Way. Is Still the Way at the "New" Winchester

Customization Enables Maximum Flexibility & Functionality for New “Lifestyle” & “Luxury” Home Styles

At the "new" Winchester Homes, the more things change with the introduction of the retooled "Lifestyle"and "Luxury" core product lines and expansion into new markets such as townhomes and Active Adult, the more one thing stays the same – the signature Your Home. Your Way. customization program.

According to Your Home. Your Way. (YHYW) Design Manager Jeff Reeder, "Even though our new core products incorporate many of the key design elements demanded by today's home buyers, people are still going to have customization needs that we can readily address through the YHYW program."

Reeder feels that the new "Lifestyle"and "Luxury" product designs "get us 80 to 90 percent close to what the customer wants. With YHYW, we can focus on the remaining 10 to 20 percent. No single plan is perfect for everyone."

No other production builder in the Washington metropolitan area offers a customization program such as YHYW as an integral part of the home buying process, Reeder points out. YHYW "helps make houses more personal to our customers," he says. "It lets their individuality come through."

Reeder estimates that 80 percent of Winchester buyers "do something" in the way of "non-standard options" (NSOs), which is the official company terminology for YHYW customization requests. In 2006, he explains, the company settled on 500 lots and around 400 of those buyers made NSO requests through the YHYW program. Out of that group of customers, about 10 to 15 percent did what Reeder calls "major redesigns."

To request YHYW customizations, customers can either come to the WHI corporate office in Bethesda, Maryland or make their request from the job site through the community sales staff. Weekend requests that come in on Monday must be turned around rapidly, so that initial sketches are received by the following weekend. The timeframe from date of sale to final drawings and pricing is approximately four weeks. This is half the time it usually takes with a custom builder, Reeder notes.

Reeder says that his four-person YHYW design team, which operates out of Bethesda, has seen a recent upsurge in customization requests from Winchester customers. In fact, he says, the YHYW team has received 50 percent more requests during the last two months. And the list of what buyers are asking for has also grown. "We’re getting more defined ideas from customers," Reeder observes. "We’re glad when we can help them address their 'Eureka' moments."

Reeder keeps an idea book of recent YHYW requests as a ready reference to help customers crystallize their thinking. Recent NSO examples include adding in-laws suites, expanding a sunroom from one to two stories, building walk-in closets off secondary bedrooms, and expanding the size of the shower to add "wow" in the master suite. Among the more innovative recent NSO requests are wine-tasting rooms, curved staircases and even a mud room expansion to accommodate a "doggy shower room."

Over time, says Reeder, some non-standard options requested through the YHYW program eventually become standard options in the Winchester production system. One such example is the curved staircase, which is now a standard option in select Winchester models.

Moving forward, Reeder says the YHYW program has the "wholehearted" support of top management. In the long run, Reeder sees YHYW as a valuable business development tool that can help solidify future sales. "When our customers move up," he notes, "they know that if they stick with Winchester they can continue to get their home, their way."

Apart from its importance as a fundamental part of Winchester’s corporate commitment to its customers, Reeder also says the YHYW program "builds a touch of fun and challenge into the home design process" for him and the members of his team. "On a day-to-day basis," he concludes, "it really does enhance our jobs."

About Winchester Homes

For more than 25 years, Winchester Homes, Inc. has provided home buyers in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area with the Your Home. Your Way. design customization experience. During this period, the company has built more than 17,000 homes in suburban Maryland and Virginia. Winchester Homes has 11 single-family and townhome communities in Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and 12 single-family and townhome communities in Loudoun, Fairfax and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia. Winchester Homes was named 2006 Builder of the Year by the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association. For more information, visit www.winchesterhomes.com.