More details on crowdsourced Houston Inner Loop residential projects

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When Surge Homes Development LLC hatched plans for nine new residential projects inside the Inner 610 Loop, the Houston developer had one tough question to answer.

What do you build?

Surge Homes knew it wanted to build single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums that people wanted to buy and neighbors would appreciate. But instead of imposing its own vision and designs on prospective homebuyers and neighborhoods, Surge Homes set out on a bold new design-build approach:“crowdsourcing” opinions for each of their projects.

Since November, Surge Homes founders Louis Conrad and Ben Lemieux have been collecting and analyzing online and in-person surveys from nearly 3,500 prospective buyers, Realtors, architects and neighborhoods about their home designs, floor plans and amenities.

“Over our 26 years in this business, we have learned that we should not assume what people want,” Conrad said. “We’re not Nostradamus.”

Conrad and Lemieux received feedback from thousands of people. Some were positive, others negative. But all were treated as constructive criticism, Conrad said.

“We listened to everyone,” Conrad said. “We wanted interact and collaborate with our buyers so that their homes will be more their taste.”

Armed with input from thousands of people, Surge Homes set about tweaking,refining and even completely redesigning some of their initial plans. It recently broke ground on its first three projects last month.

Here’s what Surge Homes learned from its surveys:

• Buyers want classic home designs in Upper Kirby. Surge Homes had initially planned a modern-style townhomes and single-family homes in Upper Kirby. However, survey respondents wanted a more classic design for the Upper Richton project, because of its proximity to tony and historic River Oaks.
• Buyers want modern home designs in the Museum District. Surge Homes had initially planned classic Tuscan-style townhomes and single-family homes in the Museum District. However, survey respondents wanted a more modern design for the Museum Blvd project, because of the modern artistic feel of the neighborhood.
• Buyers want yards in the Heights. Many homebuilders are trying to maximize residential space on expensive land in the Heights by building townhomes and single-family homes with small yards. However, buyers and neighbors wanted larger yards, in keeping with traditional Heights homes. So Surge Homes is including larger yards and green space in its Heights projects.
• Some buyers want elevators in their homes. Guess where? Upper Kirby, near River Oaks. So Surge Homes has options for elevators in its Upper Richton project in Upper Kirby.

Paul Takahashi covers residential and multifamily commercial real estate for the Houston Business Journal. Follow him on Twitter for more.