PURGULA

The Other Side of Adaptability October 26, 2026 Hi Reader, Last week’s featured home, Tri Pointe Homes’ LivingWell concept in Holladay, Utah, was left roughly 20 percent unfinished on purpose, so its buyer could decide what comes next. By contrast, most of the homes we currently live in are largely finished, and many of them have stairs. Roughly half of America’s occupied housing units have more than one floor, while three in four adults 50 and older say they want to stay in their current...

The Human Side of Resilient Homes October 19, 2026 Hi Reader, Most model homes are finished down to the last throw pillow. Tri Pointe Homes’ LivingWell concept home in Holladay, Utah, deliberately wasn’t. Roughly 20 percent of the first “completed” home in the six-lot Pavilions community—a featured home in the 2026 Salt Lake Parade of Homes—was left unfinished when it reached the market, so the buyer could prioritize and choose the remainder of the finishes. Tri Pointe looks forward to...

Fiat Lux, Continued October 12, 2026 Hi Reader, Our recent deep dive into lighting got us thinking about many things, including the lighting in our grandparents’ homes: a switch on the wall, a bulb in the socket, perhaps a lamp by a favorite reading chair. Its job was simple. Let people see. Modern lighting has a much longer job description, and we’re optimistic it’s up to the challenge. It still helps us to see, of course. But we also expect it to save energy, create ambiance, light a...

Fiat Lux September 30, 2026 Hi Reader, Quick question: What's the difference between a "lamp" and a "portable"? If you guessed that a lamp is the thing on your nightstand, you're actually using homeowner vocabulary, not trade terminology—in the lighting industry, a "lamp" is technically the bulb, and the object you'd call a lamp is called a "portable." It's a small thing, but it's a good example of why lighting conversations with a contractor or electrician can go sideways quickly. That's...

Fall is Your Driveway Moment September 21, 2026 Hi Reader, You wouldn't take a long winter road trip without checking your tires, brakes, battery, wipers, and emergency supplies. Not because any one of them is likely to fail, but because you'd rather discover a problem now—in your own driveway or at a local mechanic— rather than later, on the shoulder of a rural highway during a snowstorm late at night. Every fall, your home faces the same winter trip. Your home heads into a season that will...

Rediscovery Is Only Half the Story September 13, 2026 Hi Reader, Landscape trade shows have largely been about two objectives: how a yard looks, and how to keep it looking that way—decoration and upkeep. This year's FutureScape USA 2026, however, got us thinking about more meaningful topics and trends. What resonated with us wasn't so much "new" information, but a renewed sense of rediscovery, with modern twists of innovation and unique perspectives. Soil health, water quality, native and...

Call Me Trimtab August 16, 2026 Hi Reader, Peter Tobia is 80 years old. Decades ago, he built geodesic dome homes—one of them featured at NAHB’s National Builders' Show in Las Vegas around 1979—during the brief American moment when domes looked like the future of housing, with the energy crisis and counterculture optimism fueling the appeal. That moment faded. Financing grew difficult, insurance turned unpredictable, and the shape became a punchline. Tobia never stopped believing in it. “The...

PCBC 2026: What We Took Away August 9 2026 Hi Reader, Every industry likes to believe innovation comes from the top down—bold builders, visionary architects, a keynote speaker with a big idea. What we kept noticing at PCBC 2026 was closer to the opposite. The homes getting real attention right now—the ones winning pitch competitions, showing up in valuation frameworks, driving what buyers will and won't compromise on—aren't being handed down by the industry. They're being pulled forward by...

Home Is Where the Calm Is July 26, 2026 Hi Reader, Home has always been where we recharge—but for a growing number of people, it's also become the place where every kind of stress now converges: work, family, health, home maintenance, even neighborhood friction, all under one roof. A home with that many competing demands on it needs to be resilient, flexible, and adaptable—and increasingly, so do the people living in it. The numbers make the case. According to the National Institute of Mental...

The Cost of Owning, Not Just Buying July 19, 2026 Hi Reader, America's housing affordability crisis isn't only a story about who can afford to buy a home—it's increasingly a story about who can afford to keep one. According to Census Bureau data, roughly 20.7 million owner-occupied households—nearly a quarter of all homeowners—were burdened by housing costs in 2024, spending more than 30% of their income just to keep the lights on and the mortgage paid. Much of that strain correlates to the...