Remodelers can sell outdoor space projects when they present them as an alternatives to more expensive and intrusive interior room expansions, designer and landscape architect Jamie Gibbs, principal of New York-based Jamie Gibbs and Associates, told September’s Remodeling Show in Baltimore.

“Prepare a statement about the advantages of this type of construction over a room addition,” he advised remodelers.

Moving outdoors can expand the lifestyle of the home owner, he said, and it’s “cost-effective” and enhances the property value without increasing the footprint of the house or driving up property taxes. Also, the residents “aren’t living with plaster dust during the remodel.”

“Outdoor space is popular,” Gibbs said, and creating something beyond the traditional backyard has become more appealing to a new generation. Looking at the American Horticultural Society, where he is a vice president, Gibbs said that “five years ago most of the members were in their 80s. Now there is a huge new group of under-40 professionals,” who are discovering the appeal of being at home gardening and otherwise enjoying being outside instead of at the mall.

Younger home owners are a prime market, he said. “They don’t want screened-in porches and they don’t want to be cleaning the swimming pool.”

Dead Gardens

“Most of this stuff should be done by someone who understands real construction, not landscape designers who are not used to building things that last,” he said.

Gibbs said he has had experience designing gardens, and returning to them a year or so later he finds that 70% of them are dead. “I get sick of seeing people throwing their money away on landscaping” after seeing “pretty pictures in a magazine.”

He said he also hates grass, and reducing the lawn by 20% can be worth green building credits.

The challenge for remodelers entering this market is to bump up their knowledge of the green component; “otherwise, it doesn’t look good.”

Also, “there are different kinds of spaces for different uses,” he said. Most in demand are jobs that “let me enjoy my house” rather than those that make the house “look like it has a professional full-time gardener.”

The amount of maintenance that will be required by the home owner after the job has been completed is an important consideration, he said.

“A ton of new product” is available to remodelers for designing outdoor spaces, running the gamut from general-purpose goods to thatched roofing made from recycled coke bottles that meets fire code. Because these products are sold in a certain quantity, contractors can get them when consumers can’t.

“This is an awkward moment in time,” he said, with not as many sales representatives as there used to be to let builders know what’s out there. But these products are readily available; “it’s sitting someplace in a warehouse.”

“Make sure you have a current product list” you can provide your customers, he said, including recycled, reclaimed, salvage and vintage materials. “You can take anything and turn it into something.”

Expanding a Terrace in Indianapolis

Gibbs said his company was finishing up work on an 8,000-square-foot mansion in Indianapolis that was originally the home of an industrial magnate. It was sold a few years ago to a family that discovered that the large rooms on the first floor and the kitchen were less than ideal for wining and dining their guests.

A project that included turning the existing 18-foot square kitchen into a butler’s pantry and adding a new 20-foot by 24-foot kitchen to the back side of the house would have cost $250,000, he said, and added $7,000 a year to the tax base. That led to a proportionately correct outdoor entertainment space as an alternative.

The focus has been on enlarging an existing 9-foot by 24-foot concrete terrace that’s too long and short to function adequately as a gathering place into almost 1,000 square feet, at a cost of about $86,000.

For cooking, the new space is equipped with an all-stainless steel KitchenAid kitchen that won’t rust, including an ice machine, two under-counter refrigerators, a 72-inch, $8,000 grill and a special sink. For remodelers with clients on a tighter budget, “if they can’t afford these appliances, give them a Weber grill,” he said.

Lamps came from the Coors estate and a total of $2,800 was invested in outdoor furniture, which was “vintage stuff” that was stripped down and painted with automotive paint to match. “The home owner doesn’t necessarily like new,” he said, and heavy “teak furniture is too difficult to move.”

The 1950s wood furniture filling the terrace was culled from the likes of Goodwill, the Salvation Army, thrift shops and auctions for virtually no money, he said.

Beech Trees and Pea Gravel

Improvements included providing access from the home’s dining room to the terrace and running electrical, gas and water lines out to the area.

Some cosmetic touches on the home's exterior — including more auto paint — have helped restore the original historic integrity of the house.

Work on the grounds included removing some ugly, dying beech trees and pruning others and replacing as much pea gravel as possible with shrubs and perennials. In the pre-improved state of the property, Gibbs found that 1.8 acres of the three-acre grounds were covered with gravel or driveways.

The remodeler also built a wall around noisy air conditioning condensers and provided a major security upgrade, even placing sensors on copper shutters.

Gibbs recited a long list of possible outdoor remodeling jobs for those interested in moving some of their business into this remodeling niche market. “Outdoor playrooms have become a big deal,” he said, in lieu of decks, which obviously “are not a good play area for small children.”

Also on the list of possibilities are living rooms, pool rooms, audio/video and recreation rooms, health rooms, outdoor kitchens, cabanas, guest cottages, wet bar and cigar rooms and billiard rooms.

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