BUILDER Magazine

As a result, ZE builders focus on the attributes of a higher quality home, which provides the homeowner with a healthier, quieter, more comfortable, and more energy-efficient home. A key message is the ZE home provides peace of mind, as well as a hedge against future utility bills, as the home is built with better components and with higher construction quality. Overall, customers indicate a willingness to pay more for high-performing homes. A Parks Associates survey of US broad ...read more

The home builder is making it easy for set up and for ongoing management. In a 2017 Parks Associates report, Smart Kitchens: Intelligent Planning Shopping and Cooking, one-fifth of smart appliances owners had problems during the set up process, and 62% wanted professional help. With that in mind, KB Home plans to provide in-person support services for orientation, and ongoing support for six months.

From the article "Starving for Kitchen Technology" by Jennifer Castenson.

A new industry report from Parks Associates released Thursday shows that construction of zero net energy (ZNE) homes increased by 75% from 2016 to 2017.

According to Home Energy Management: Road to Net Zero, this growth aligns with increases in expressed consumer demand, as Parks Associates' consumer segmentation regarding energy efficiency estimates 42% of all U.S. consumers classify as energy-efficient techies.

From the article "Net-Zero Home Construction Up 75% from 2 ...read more

For home builders, home technology ranging from security, safety, comfort, lighting, and environment systems, to appliances, to infotainment, to linkages to others (humans, things, networks, etc.), the prefer-vs.-pay-for debate includes a subtle though powerful third factor, a triangulatior question. Namely, beyond the question of what people say they'd prefer, and what they'd agree to pay for, it's more and more often going to be a question of what they expect.

Parks Associ ...read more

How will such evolving functions, an increased emphasis on community "walkability," and neighborhood "programming" around trails, proximity to grocery, schools, health, etc., and social connections, etc. create an impetus for new designs, materials, and features in what has been a fairly standard structure to shelter human-driven vehicles.

Already, affinities between smart cars and smart homes are the subject of more and more research, as we see here from Parks Associates, w ...read more

Parks Associates released an important first last week just before the Labor Day holiday when the Dallas-based research group reported that home builders sold $11 billion worth of technology products in 2004, with sales expected to increase another 10 to 12 percent for 2005.

The sales number includes the following products: home theaters, speakers, structured wiring, and home control systems. Although the $11 billion number is just a fraction of the more than $125 billion spent ...read more

Structured wiring has a limited audience now: "high-income households and new houses," said Michael Cai, senior analyst at Parks Associates, a Dallas-based consumer technology marketing and research firm. "The value is more for entertainment packages and connecting devices to share movies, music and computer files," Cai said. But the market is growing fast.

"About 4 million homes have structured wiring now. By 2008, we predict there will be just under 11 million," Cai said. Bey ...read more

Home theater is one hot ticket.  In 1999, 20 percent of homes had some type of home theater, according to Parks Associates, a market research firm in Dallas.

From the article "Command Performance," by Lisa Montgomery.