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The Tracewater Homes Podcast brings you inside the world of modern homebuilding, market trends, and the partnerships shaping the future of residential construction. Known for their innovative steel-frame homes, Tracewater dives into what today’s buyers want, how the industry is evolving, and the experts who help bring every project to life. Whether you’re a homeowner, agent, or builder, this podcast delivers insights, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes conversations from the front lines of construction.
Hey everybody and welcome back. I'm Brent with Tracewater Homes and this is the Tracewater Homes podcast. I am joined today by Matt and we have a special guest, Paul Giorgio, our architect that has put in so much time and effort into designing all of the plans that we offer. Paul, thank you so much for joining us today. If you wouldn't mind, just go ahead and introduce yourself and maybe just tell us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got into architecture to begin with and what drew you specifically towards residential design.
Sure. Hey, good morning everyone. Happy to be here. Hey, good morning. I grew up in a neighborhood that experienced a lot of growth in construction in the 80s and that kind of gave me a curiosity about housing. So, I decided to go to architecture school and, you know, not a lot of architects want to focus on just residential design. There's maybe not as much glamour or maybe money in that compared to commercial architecture, but it was my passion. That's what I grew up around. So, my buddy and I, we'd go to model homes. We'd ride our bikes and grab their plan brochures and we'd come home and start designing our dream homes, you know, based on these brochures. So, it really kind of ignited a passion for home design.
So went to architecture school and got out and decided, you know, I want to go work with a builder. So I spent almost, well more than 30 years at this point, mostly in builder's offices running the design department, kind of being the creative idea guy and then bringing that together with the technical aspect of good solid construction drawings to communicate all the little things that a builder needs to have on a set of plans in a quality document. So that's kind of a quick snapshot of how it started for me and I just followed that passion, always sticking with home design and in the builder's office usually or for architects who focused on residential design. And anytime I stepped away from that across my career, it didn't last long. I just kept coming back like a moth to the flame. Like it's where my passion lies and I love working with homeowners and builders alike to see the evolution of a plan design.
Yeah, that I love that piece of it because your journey in the architecture world and my journey in the building world are very similar and actually follow a similar timeline, both of us growing up in the 80s. And I was the one that would be, you know, taking the lumber out of the dumpsters and building forts out of them. So yeah, we had the same path growing up and just, you know, the passion around it and I've just never gotten away from it. So it's cool to hear your story on that. And plus we had the greatest music so probably helped fuel that passion.
Very true. Man, that was pre-internet. Y'all had to figure out some way to entertain yourselves. Take lumber out of a dumpster. Nowadays, kids build stuff in Fortnite or Minecraft or something, you know? Yep. Garbage. They're missing out.
Well, Matt, I guess maybe I'll let you answer this question because you had a relationship with Paul before, you know, we started Tracewater Homes. So, how did you come to know Paul and then, you know, how did you decide to bring him into Tracewater Homes? Oh, wow. Yeah. So, Paul and I met through a builder that we both know and had worked with and just resonated. Like Paul's design style and everything just resonated with me so much because I've always been such a firm believer in, you know, using square footage efficiently and figuring out ways to be creative in the design process. And from the first time I met Paul, which was about 10 years ago now, that just struck me right off the bat that you know, hey, this guy gets it. And so when we decided to move forward with Tracewater Homes, there was just no doubt in my mind who needed to draw our plans. And you know, that it just kind of evolved from there.
Yeah. Awesome. Well, I agree with everything you said. I mean, I didn't know all of that about Paul prior to working with him at Tracewater, but I would agree, you know, now having gotten the opportunity to work with him as far as the efficiency and design and, you know, the passion for what we're doing. I mean, I see all of that. And so, I guess Paul, I'll push this over to you now. What drew you to working with Tracewater Homes when Matt first approached you with kind of our initial concept of the five plans and various square footages, the second story options? Like what was intriguing about that to you?
Well, I'll tell you, you know, Matt said something very complimentary a while back and it really stood out to me because, you know, when you go to engage people who have a history, a career path, you know, that you recognize. Like you said something to the effect that, you know, for a small builder starting out to have the wealth of knowledge in somebody that you wouldn't otherwise be able to have on staff in those early stages kind of solidified, you know, what it is that I try to bring to that builder experience, you know, for my clients. So, you know, and maybe some of the best words I've heard it said. I love that you think that way. So, I think the fit was natural because we had worked together in another environment and this is a small world. I mean, our industry, you get to know people. So, I mean, Matt could have chose from anybody across his, you know, lengthy career path. So I'm flattered that you know he would think of me to do the work.
And you know for me to have the opportunity to engage in a complete product line development is special. It's not just a one-off custom home, which is obviously special, but to take the importance of a young company putting together their dream, their product to go out and start this venture is something that I take very seriously, you know, for my clients and their resources and how they spend money. So, you know, to have that opportunity is not an everyday thing. So, you know, and for some reason, I embrace the challenge. I think that is what drives me because it is not an easy type of architecture to design. You know, we'll call it production housing, although it's very customizable the way you offer it, but to make all those parts and pieces fit is a challenge. You know, it's not like a custom one-off. So, I kind of take pride in having had a lot of that opportunity in my career and bringing that to Tracewater with a team that gets it. You know, that is the biggest factor, like you guys seek to understand. You already have an understanding of what I can do and we make the best of that.
Yeah, absolutely. And you brought up a really good point about it being a challenge and almost more challenging because you're trying to design one plan that could fit many different site-specific conditions. Whereas when you're doing a custom, you typically know the site-specific conditions that you're working with and we're trying to design for such an unknown with Tracewater. So we did have to put in a lot of time and effort and back and forth on, "well maybe we should change this because what if, you know, we encounter a situation like this and it won't work on that specific site or with that situation".
So, I guess would you transition into kind of how we developed those plans together and the back and forth? I mean, we spent probably two good years working together before we had solid plans that we were happy with. So, would you just kind of walk us through what that process looked like from kind of initial draft and then revisions and kind of how we developed the plans over time?
Yeah. Yeah, good points there because a lot of times on the design side I don't get the luxury to have the calendar days to make it come together because there's an evolution to a plan from the custom one-off to the product development of five plans that has to happen. And it's only going to come through, you know, thoughtful discussion and the sketching, the back and forth. And the evolution of that makes for a better product for the home buyer because we're thinking through details at a level that, you know, the more time you can spend to make that evolution happen usually results in a better product.
So you know the criteria that comes along with an unknown lot and fixed widths of the home and then trying to have a consistency across the options and upgrades that you offer. That's where a person can come in and, you know, take that base plan and know that we've provided the amenities and the lifestyle through that design that should reflect, you know, a favorable price to the buyer. And one thing that's always stuck out in my head is that, you know, if your buyer's not willing to pay for it, you should not be adding it into your plans. So, you know, that base plan, what I would call our lowest common denominator, has to be "wow". It has to inspire the buyer to want to purchase and live in that home.
And then from there, the way you let them personalize and offer options across every home plan that have to be repeatable. You know, you have to be able to offer value and the price for those options, which you do through keeping them consistent from one plan to the next. Like the outdoor kitchen is the same size on every plan. You know, the upgrades are the same upgrades whether it's the smallest footprint up to the largest footprint so nobody feels left out in how they can personalize and enhance their lifestyle through those options. So that all gets figured out on paper in what we did in design. So yeah, the two years that we took was very productive back and forth to deliver something to the buyer that should resonate through curb appeal, price point, and the fact that you can build on their lot and produce something that, you know, they're going to know what they're going to get.
Absolutely. I think one really cool aspect of all of that, you know, that iterative process that we went through and dialing all of that in is, you know, we originally started out from the custom world and we've been doing that in this market for quite some time. And as we moved into Tracewater Homes, the idea was let's get very systemized in product and process and all of that. And now we're actually moving, you know, the custom designs as a part of the Tracewater Homes brand. But the cool part about that is is we're able to bring the design features that we've worked on so hard into those custom homes and make that process smoother, much more thoughtful, and make that process much easier for our full custom clients as well.
Yeah. And the options that we're offering here in this product line you wouldn't typically see from most production builders. So, it kind of sets you apart to be able to offer these things and add value to the buyer. And I mean, outdoor showers, you thought of everything, things you would typically see. And it's maybe a regional thing, but you know the lifestyle there on the coast and you've nailed it through the product offering.
Yeah, we did put a lot of focus on outdoor living and how do people want to enjoy that home outside of coming home and going to bed. What are they going to do between those hours? And, especially in the south, it's outdoor living and figuring out how we best maximize that space for them and then also maximize their time together as a family.
Perfect. Yeah, we have a lot of outdoor options between the pool, the outdoor shower, outdoor kitchen, extended patio. You can screen the extended covered patio. Yeah. I mean, there are so many ways that you can spend time outdoors in a Tracewater home. Absolutely. Um, and obviously, I mean, for a buyer to be able to get that during the build, tied into a mortgage probably, and not have to go aftermarket, out of pocket, you know, taking that step to provide, I think, is huge for the buyer.
Yeah, I've actually been hearing that a lot lately, specifically about the pool and the fact that we even offer that to begin with. So many production-style builders would tell clients that they'd have to go hire their own pool company later on after closing. And so I've heard from a few people recently, "man, y'all offer a pool? That's amazing that we can get that in our build". Which how nice is that? You move into a new house and then you have to hire somebody to come tear up your brand new backyard to put your pool in. Or with us, you move into a brand new house with the pool and the backyard completed. You know, much better situation. Absolutely.
So Paul, would you mind going through, you know, we talked a little bit about the plans and how we designed them. Would you tell us, in your opinion, what makes a plan live well? What type of design elements from a day-to-day standpoint living in the home are really important in your design? That is such a good question. I can't wait to hear the answer. You've already seen the answer.
So that comes from a career of doing this, most often for builders. So, you know, trying to optimize the plan. Every square foot has to count. You really can't have waste. Um, so that's one of the biggest things is the value of everything, inclusive. So, with that, I try to minimize hallways, eliminate them where possible, and give that square footage to a more enhanced bedroom or space that normally you wouldn't get in the square footage of the plan that we put out there. So, the efficiency of the space, the hallways, and with that, of course, the traffic pattern. You have to consider how people are likely to furnish these spaces and where the best traffic pattern is to again not create wasted hallways or things that don't function. I like to have dual functioning consideration out of the square footage, so it has the most bang for the buck for the buyer as well.
And then coming in through the front door, you really want to have a vista out to the back of the house. So having an alignment where the open space and living area kind of explodes once you come in through the foyer and you can see windows out the back is important. Sight lines obviously are a big part of that. And traffic pattern so you don't have any walls that are wasted that can't be furnished conveniently. We've thought through that for the buyer. So when they move in, thinking about where their bed's likely to be and what that leaves for the window wall, maximizing their views, right down to the outlets being located by the nightstands instead of in the middle of the bed because we know that's the bed wall. And I know you guys have talked about this in other podcasts, and I love that you do because it demonstrates the amount of thought that went into this product line to enhance people's lifestyle.
So, those are some of the key things in design for me. And I already talked about the options and the upgrades and having a consistency through each plan so that if you're struggling between one plan to the next it's not going to be a decision between this option works here or it doesn't. We made them work across all of them. So that simplifies things. One of the main goals was to try to make those options as universal as possible. And you know I think you nailed it on almost everything.
And then other things in consideration with the size of the plan, from the entry level and the efficiency of it, what do you get when you're investing more into the bigger plan because you need the extra bedrooms for the size of the family? Well, with that, you're generally getting maybe a bigger kitchen, a few more cabinets, amenities that should also increase in their appeal because you are making a bigger investment in a higher square footage. So that should be reflected across those key spaces that are so important to your lifestyle.