Q & A Episode 30 - Beyond Aesthetics: How Luxury Homes Are Prioritizing Health
Episode #30 | Q&A with Mark D. Williams | Beyond Aesthetics: How Luxury Homes Are Prioritizing Health
In this episode of The Curious Builder Podcast, host Mark Williams chats about the latest buzz in luxury homes—wellness suites! These are all about blending saunas, cold plunges, and good vibes with smart home designs to boost health and happiness. Mark also dishes on the importance of choosing materials that are kind to both us and the planet and how storytelling can really help clients get on board with these wellness trends.
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About The Curious Builder
The host of the Curious Builder Podcast is Mark D. Williams, the founder of Mark D. Williams Custom Homes Inc. They are an award-winning Twin Cities-based home builder, creating quality custom homes and remodels — one-of-a-kind dream homes of all styles and scopes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your current space or start fresh with a new construction, we build homes that reflect how you live your everyday life.
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Mark Williams [00:00:01]:
For me, I like physical separation. It's very helpful for me. And so I think this wellness suite, it's like you leave the house. Just like sometimes people need to leave their home to go to the gym. Maybe you need other people to be in this environment. That's great. But in the home setting, if we can create a separate sanctuary, maybe have some moving water. I love the sound of water.
Mark Williams [00:00:20]:
Now you feel like you're in a different place in the way we've designed it. In this upcoming home, you can't really even see the main body of the house. It opens up to the backyard into the pool. You have these great long views. And I'm thinking whether it's winter or summer, it's going to be a great place to do exercise. Welcome to Curious Builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host. Today is our Thursday Q and A.
Mark Williams [00:00:48]:
And one of the questions I was asked recently was what are we seeing in the luxury market in terms of what our clients are looking for in their homes? And it's actually a great timing of the question because right now we are designing our first spec home home in 16 years. I've spoken a little bit about it on the podcast and I think I'd say one of the top things that we see and that we're hearing a lot of, and it's been the last couple of years for sure. But I'm calling it a wellness suite and I think it shows up in many different places. I think we're seeing it a normal move in a basement exercise room for, if you will. And I like the wellness space because I think it can mean a lot of different things. But the saunas and cold bludges are definitely having their day. I'd say over the last two years, you cannot scroll anywhere on Instagram and and not see someone getting in an ice barrel or out of a sauna. And I'm not.
Mark Williams [00:01:38]:
I'm definitely for it. I'm here for all of it, but it is everywhere. We just did sauna camp through the podcast here a couple weeks ago and it was a blast. But it was really captivating on a needed retreat in your home space. A place to get away from work sometimes. Maybe it's a communal place for family, for friends. I've spoken previously on the podcast too, just about some of the benefits, but it seems like the clients. Someone asked me the other day how often I put asana in our homes and I think it's above 90% at this point.
Mark Williams [00:02:11]:
In fact, I can't think of a home that I've built recently where Asana wasn't part of the design or I have one client who wanted to do it themselves. They had some reclaimed redwood that they reclaimed from their old home and he was a bit of a tinkerer and just wanted to do it himself after we which is very rare. But I like pretty much everyone. Every home that I've done recently, I can think of only one home that they didn't want it. And I certainly pushed it. And I think the response was someday when we build a pool, we'll have the sauna out by the pool. So I think wellness takes a lot of different forms and I think maybe it's just because I'm more attuned to it right now. Just looking out.
Mark Williams [00:02:50]:
I actually just had a conversation with a friend of mine in Minneapolis. There's a well known brewery called Surly Furious and he was there for a birthday party over the weekend and he just remarked at how empty it was. And I had just flippantly said, unless they're pivoting to THC or CBD drinks or some sort of infused drink like it seems like alcohol is definitely changing, especially with the younger generations. And I the reason I think it's relevant right now is we're seeing a ton of requests for these wellness suites. And I think as people are more and more aware of their health and the things that they eat, the things that they drink, the things that they breathe, I think they're depending on us as home builders to help guide that. And I mentioned before that it's been very common for a long time. We want to obviously be formaldehyde free and we, we, there's a lot of green washing that happens. We don't talk, we talk a lot about maybe what we touch, the things that we ingest.
Mark Williams [00:03:45]:
We don't talk a lot about what we breathe. And I think that's going to change. I'm starting to see signs of it. It'll be very interesting to see at the upcoming International Builder show what kind of new initiatives that we're starting to see. But I, I think we're becoming much more aware of the space that, that we're in. And we had Andy Pace on the podcast recently from the Green Building Design center. And if you haven't listened to the episode, it's pretty fascinating, especially if you're a builder listening to this and not just an entrepreneur, because he goes into great detail about all the things that we ingest and all the things that we touch inside of a home. And as builders it's up to us to educate ourselves first and then secondly is to educate our clients.
Mark Williams [00:04:30]:
And I was in a design meeting today, and they client or the designer was talking about the furniture and the rugs and everything like that. And it brought back to memory something that Andy had said in a podcast that he was asked to go review a homeowner that was getting sick in their home, and they thought it was something that the builder had done, or maybe it was a paint, or maybe it was some sort of a finish that they had on the woodwork. It turns out the home was fine, but. But all the furniture that they had bought and all the rugs was off gassing terribly. They put all of it, all the furniture and all the rugs in the garage and they instantly felt better. And I just thought that was wild. It never would have dawned on me that you spend all this time thinking about what kind of coatings you're putting on your wood floor and the chemicals that are in your paint or stain or varnish or things like that, which obviously, if the people applying them is wearing, are wearing respirators, that's probably a telltale sign that there's some gas happening here that we need to be aware of. But no one really is taking furniture and wearing a gas mask when they go and unload into a home.
Mark Williams [00:05:34]:
So it was real eye opening for me. And one of the questions now that I'm going to be asking my designers is what sort of certification do we have on the furniture that you're supplying? Where are these fabrics being sourced from? Do they need to be tested? Are they sustainably used? And I like what Andy brought out. He said, not only do does a product have to. Can be good for the environment and bad for humans, and it can be good for humans and bad for the environment, and maybe we can find something that's good for both. And it was just really, really interesting, that narrative. And I think that one thing that I'm pretty passionate about is telling a story. And I. It's been taken me a long time and I'm not an expert on it, but I definitely am trying to get better.
Mark Williams [00:06:14]:
But I think storytelling is something that we're seeing happen again and again. I like, why is a wellness suite so important? Why are saunas important? It's telling a. The story that it's trying to say is, if you want a healthy life, if you want a life where you feel better, you look better, you can live longer, then these are the things that you need to adopt into your lifestyle. In order to that happen, you're telling a story. Because if you just tell someone going to a sauna or jump in a cold lake or an ice barrel, what's the why? And I think a story better than maybe anything else can explain what the why is. And I think, like a lot of things, if. If something makes you feel better, you're getting this instant feedback loop. And I know we're going pretty deep on this particular subject, but this is what I think we're educating our clients about, and especially.
Mark Williams [00:07:02]:
And I can't tell if it's something that I'm really excited about so that then the clients are attracted to the homes that we build. Because I talk about it a lot, or is that a common theme? But I just had. I'm part of a builder 20 from builders around the country. And one of the builders asked, they said, hey, what's a good estimate for the cost of asana? And I think it was as low as 12,000 and as high as 20 around the country, depending on your fit and finishes. Obviously that's a pretty good investment, but honestly, pretty affordable one for your health, especially if you use it. And so anyway, the other thing to consider too is this has to happen early in design. Yes, you can build saunas and things like that outside, but I think we're also seeing it show up earlier, the design process, and it doesn't take up a lot of room. We built a sauna during COVID outside in our backyard, and it's like five by seven.
Mark Williams [00:07:50]:
I use it three, four times a week. It's not a dedicated room. I wish it was that there's a definitely a remodel aspect or a backyard aspect that you can incorporate as well. I think, too, that a lot of people, yoga, peloton, rowing, running, I think a lot of it depends on what climate you're in. But even if you're not, it's pretty rare at this point that a home doesn't have some sort of exercise room. I like wellness because I think focusing on that word helps us think about other things. It's not just about exercise. Yes, I'm a huge fan of exercise, and to quote Peter Atia, I don't think there's one single thing that will have more benefit to your life and its longevity than exercise.
Mark Williams [00:08:26]:
But there's a lot of other things that have to do with wellness. For instance, one thing that I think is really nice is, what is this room? How does it feel? Most exercise rooms, at least in our market, are in the basement. Most of Them probably don't have natural light. I'm just glad they have an exercise room or a wellness suite, if you will. I think the next step is, would you rather have some natural light? So now you're making trade offs. Do you want it in the basement? If it's in the basement, is it on outside wall where it can get natural light? Is it a walkout? Is it a lookout? How are we getting natural light down there? Everyone usually feels better in natural light. That being said, a lot of people exercise early in the morning, so maybe natural light isn't as important to them. I would argue that if it's truly a wellness studio, what does that look like? And I one thing that I'm really interested in exploring in 25 and 26 is exploring with clients this idea of having a wellness suite that would maybe even be detached from the house.
Mark Williams [00:09:23]:
And right now, this misa whose project we're working on, our spec home in Deep Haven or sorry, cottage wood. Is we actually there? We have a pool in the backyard, but we're calling it the Wellness suite. And it's a room and a building that could be in many different things. We have a design with a sauna that opens to the outside. There's a cold plunge in between this kind of this little courtyard effect with an outside shower. So it's like this very private moment in urban setting. And then inside is big bifold doors with western facing glass to get all this light in. It functions as a pool house, it functions as an exercise center, it functions as a wellness studio.
Mark Williams [00:09:57]:
You could easily turn it into an adu, which is an accessory dwelling unit. So you could have a future bedroom or a little kitchen in there if you want. And so it's really multifaceted because who knows, whoever decides to buy this home, this thing might mean different things to different people. Maybe it's an art studio. And what I love about it is that it's like a departure from your house. What I would love about it if it was mine, and that's the thought process that goes into why I'm designing it this way is I would leave the home. So for me, I find a lot of power. Like, I actually don't like to work at home.
Mark Williams [00:10:27]:
I like to work at my office because I feel like I like to compartmentalize when I'm working and when I'm not working. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with this. We're excited to announce that the Curious Builder collectives are going into three other states. For those not familiar with what the collective is, it lives between what the contractor coalition is and a builder 20 group. What we do in each state is we have a group of 25 to 30 builders that get in a room and you break up into groups of nine. You spend 45 minutes talking about a set topic, whether it's branding, marketing, contracts, whatever that set topic is for that day. And then you talk for 45 minutes, you get up, you mix up the groups and you do it again and you're out of there. You'll be out in under three hours.
Mark Williams [00:11:15]:
We're going to be going to Phoenix, Arizona. Brad Levitt is going to be leading a curious collective in Phoenix, Arizona. We are going to San Antonio. We've got David and Angela Penske from Penske Homes leading a group down there. And we have Brad Robinson and Vince Longo in Atlanta, Georgia also leading a collective as well as obviously me in Minnesota as well for our second annual collective. So if you're interested in collaborating with other builders, if you really want to dive deep on your business in a person to person relationship, ask a lot of questions. The collectives are for you. We also have in Minnesota Interior Design Collective as well as the Architect collective, check out the events page at the Curious Builder podcast dot com.
Mark Williams [00:11:55]:
So I like the idea that for me, I like physical separation. It's very helpful for me. And so I think this wellness suites, like you leave the house, just like sometimes people need to leave their home to go to the gym, maybe you need other people to be in this environment, that's fine. I think that's great. But in the home setting, if we can create a separate sanctuary, maybe have some moving water. I love the sound of water. And anyway, I think once you're now you feel like you're in a different place in the way we've designed it. In this upcoming home, you can't really even see the main body of the house.
Mark Williams [00:12:26]:
It opens up to the backyard into the pool. You have these great long views. And I'm thinking whether it's winter or summer, it's going to be a great place to, to exercise. And also I like, we designed it with big bifold doors. So these doors I think maybe it's like 12 or 13ft. So those will collapse open. So on a nice day you could open those all the way up. So it almost be like you're, you're outside.
Mark Williams [00:12:49]:
I mean you could potentially bring out your row machine or you could bring out your free weights and you could actually exercise outside. It's actually just thinking about it. Seems like a good idea. We should prob go back and look at that a little bit. But I also think water filters. Are we doing ro. Are we doing dedicated? Everyone seems to have a, a thermos that they're drinking out of and so are we filling it up in the kitchen sink? Are we filling it up in the back hall? I've been in some homes where we have. You see it obviously at a mall or an exercise gym where they have that, your little water filler station, I could see that.
Mark Williams [00:13:21]:
I don't know why it hasn't caught on more. Maybe it's just the cost. But it seems like everyone as they leave, fill up your water bottles. Whenever we go to restaurants, we have small kids. We're const thinking about how to fill up our water bottles. Bring our water bottles with us. I probably drink four 30 ounce water bottles a day. So I'm constantly refueling water.
Mark Williams [00:13:39]:
And I think we know how good water is, you need it and how can we make it readily available. I think by having the thermos, by having the water, we're more, we drink more and more and it's just better for us. So that's one of the, one of the biggest trends that I've seen in, in home design for sure. I also think we're seeing a lot of organic material. It's something that I'm really particularly passionate about is what are the finishes that we are putting in our home. We talked a little bit earlier about filters. I think electronic appliances have come a great long way and someone explained to me recently that a lot of real high end chefs, they love the gas because they love to be able to take the. If they're sauteing it or flipping an omelette or they like that heat that's above.
Mark Williams [00:14:23]:
For people that aren't huge cooks or aren't gourmet chefs, conduction electric works great. You also don't have to worry about off gassing. And so I think being aware simple things, some of them are habits. You can still effectively filter out the byproduct or carbon monoxide from your gas. I heard, I read an article a couple years ago that gas appliances in the home. There's a high correlation between asthma and respiratory illnesses due to natural gas being in the home. And just a simple things is educating our homeowners that before you turn on your gas range, turn on the hood above it. That's the whole point.
Mark Williams [00:14:59]:
It's there to vent. And I believe if you do that, you'll be just fine. But wouldn't it be even better if you had, let's say, an electric range or a conduction range. So now there's no gas byproduct at all because even the most efficient gas appliances are maybe 90%, maybe a little bit higher, but that still leaves you 10% off burning carbon monoxide into the air or whatever the byproduct is. I also think talking to your H Vac team and talking to your plumbers, where are we venting all of our furnace filters and things like that to the outside? And obviously there's codes for very good reasons. You can't direct vent a gas range outside or, sorry, gas water heater or gas boiler and then have a window right above it. You could obviously have that window open on a nice day and that gas, those fumes are going to come right back in the house. So there's codes clearly for that reason.
Mark Williams [00:15:49]:
And energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is really important, but it's more than just being efficient. It's also being how can we create this home in a healthy way? So appreciate the question. There's a lot more we could talk about is triple pane windows. That's more energy efficiency. I don't see a lot of that in our market. In 20 years, I've had clients ask for it, but no one's been really willing to pay for the upgrade. I think the.
Mark Williams [00:16:14]:
I think if you talk about home health, I think people are going to gravitate towards that topic probably even more than energy efficiency. Because I think as people prioritize their health and their how they feel, and especially if we can create a story around it, I think that's going to be very captivating and very powerful because I think it affects a lot of things that the colors in your home, the orientation of your home to sunlight, to the outdoors, everyone seems to really resonate with the indoor outdoor living. And I think a big part of it is getting people outside. It's creating a space where you can cook, you have, you can sit outside and watch the sunset. But like, you're in and out of your home, excuse me, on a very regular basis. And so it really, I think it just feels better. And so that's why I've always been a big fan of natural light. And it seems like every architect and builder of note, they're constantly thinking about natural light because it has a huge impact on our mood.
Mark Williams [00:17:10]:
I was touring a house today with a prospective client and we were meeting with the interior designer and we actually were touring another builder's home and that 12 foot ceilings, beautiful home. And one of the things that they commented on because she's moving up here from the middle of the country is she's just concerned about the winters in Minnesota being cold and gray and today was pretty gray, but with 12 foot of glass, completely white room with very light furniture. It actually felt very inviting and very bright. And I think just being aware of that during design and during architecture is super helpful. So hopefully if you're considering building as you interact with your clients, these are some things that you're probably getting questions on and things that you should incorporate into your luxury home brands. Until next week, thanks for tuning in to the Curious Builder Podcast thanks for tuning in the Curious Builder Podcast. If you like this episode, do us a favor. Share it with three other business owners.
Mark Williams [00:18:05]:
The best way that we can spread what we're doing is by word of mouth and with your help we can continue continue to help other Curious Builders expand their business. Please share it with your friends like and review online. And thanks again for tuning in.
