People like for their material goods to be a reflection of themselves, or, at least, a reflection of how they view themselves. If you see a pick-up truck with massive off-road tires and a camo-colored gun rack on the back, odds are the owner isn’t going to be a vegan with a penchant for wearing clothes made out of hemp.
Homes are no different; no one likes a cookie-cutter home that just anyone could have. For most people, a home is the largest purchase they will ever make in their lifetime, is it too much to ask that the design be unique and have something to say about their personality? Unfortunately, customization often comes at a cost. Take the architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen, for instance. If you want the prominent Washington, D.C. area architect to design a house for you, in its full glory, you will need to put down at least $300,000 to cover his fee. That puts him out of reach for just about everyone.
However, while it isn’t a completely original design like you would get for the $300,000, it is possible to now get a Jacobsen-designed house for a fraction of the cost. As the Washington Post reports, for $3,000 anyone can purchase an updated and improved home design that was once available through Life magazine.
In 1998, Life magazine published a Dream House series in which several architects designed attractive and affordable homes for the middle-class homeowner. Jacobsen was one of these architects and his home plan sold for about $600. The house itself was estimated to cost about $200,000 to build. Over 900 Jacobsen plans sold and were constructed around the world.
Now, after constant emails to the architecture firm asking about the plans, the firm revived the plans and licensed them to Herring Bay to sell. The Hugh Newell Jacobsen Dream House 2.0 has been revised to adhere to the most rigid building codes in the country and has been updated to modern living standards. Once only available in two options, the floor plans now allow for more than 15 variations.
Building the house can range form anywhere from $380,000 to $900,000 depending on the features selected, the size, and, most importantly, the location where the home will be built.
