Valentine’s Day PROMO | Get Sales Suite FREE before 2/14!
Ready to transform your business?
Plumbing Industry Trends: Maintaining Functionality While Designing a Dream Home

Plumbing Industry Trends: Maintaining Functionality While Designing a Dream Home

June 8, 2022

The plumbing industry is highly relied on when it comes to executing your dream home, whether it’s a new build or flipping an older home. It’s important to identify the key features you’ll want to include in your forever home, but what’s more important is ensuring your design preferences are second to creating a home that functions properly in your day-to-day life.

The Importance of Functionality & How to Obtain it

When designing a home, the functionality should always be kept at the forefront. This is especially true for building a new home but is also a key in renovating/flipping homes as well. Ensuring that the home is functional will ultimately be the reason you fall in love with it. Even the most beautifully designed homes will never be as loved as ones that function correctly.

 

The bathroom and kitchen are the most important rooms to ensure are set up for success. This is due to the fact that you spend a lot of time here and both of these rooms need to be set up to achieve tasks efficiently and effectively. Tasks may include doing dishes, cooking meals, practicing self-care, etc. The purpose of the space should be considered when designing each room and picking out finishes. These things can sometimes be forgotten about but can make or break your relationship with your home.

 

One thing that can be easily overlooked is plumbing. It’s one of the most important parts of the home and should be focused on in each room that it affects. Determining where you’ll need plumbing for water and sewage is essential and will make a big impact on the design of your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room.

 

With this knowledge in mind, you’ll be able to make the right decisions to achieve ultimate functionality. Your design and structural decisions will be different than others too when determining the features you need and what will seamlessly fit with your lifestyle. Think about the features and design of your current home and what works versus what doesn’t. Make the changes necessary to ensure your dream home is a place you could stay forever.

Functional Features to Include

There are many features to consider and these will vary depending on lifestyles and personal preferences. Trending features related to plumbing include a bidet, bathroom vanity, and over-the-head & walk-in showers.

Bidet

There has been a surge in the acquisition of bidets due to Covid-19. This has been a strong buy for new homes and renovated bathrooms, specifically the primary bathroom. There was a study done in 2019, prior to the pandemic, showing that 63% of people want a toilet cleansing feature in their bathroom, and this figure has only increased since.

 

There are many reasons why bidets are becoming increasingly popular in America. One of the main reasons is because it is simply a better way to clean and does a much more efficient job than toilet paper. It will leave you feeling much cleaner and even refreshed after one use.

 

Before the rise in search, Bidets were expensive and much harder to find. Now that the demand is up, there are a variety of different bidet models, many of which are very affordable. They’re also very simple to install and many people will add one to their bathroom several years after completing. 

 

With people having a hard time getting toilet paper in 2020, a bidet was the obvious next choice and is a very sustainable one. Not only does it save paper products, but many are very efficient regarding water usage. Bidets are also looked at as a luxury product and can have an impact on your home and its design.

Bathroom Vanity

Your bathroom vanity is an essential part of the space. Not only will hide your plumbing, it will also make a design statement while providing ample space for personal care and cleaning items. When choosing your vanity, you’ll again want to keep functionality in mind. There are several different types of bathroom vanities, so choose the one that works best with your design preferences and lifestyle.

 

Some trendy options include floating vanities and wood vanities with a minimalist design. Many people are moving away from the farmhouse-look in new homes and want to keep it simple with larger fixtures. This will allow one piece to evolve over time as design style changes. Because it is the focal point of any bathroom, you’ll want to keep up with bathroom vanities trends in 2022 to help make your decision.

 

Wall-mounted vanities are highly sought after due to their clean design as well as providing just as much storage and countertop space. They age well and can fit multiple different design styles based on how you style them. This makes them very customizable and can look completely different in two different houses.

 

With the increase in people staying at home, bathrooms are also growing in size. They used to be smaller spaces with little focus placed on them but now they’re becoming much more prioritized in new builds and house flips. The bathroom is also becoming more customized to the individual and family’s lifestyle. This makes the vanity heavily focused on the individual as opposed to design style alone.

Walk-in Showers

Walk-in showers are very sought after due to their functionality and luxurious design. When designing your dream home, this very well may be a feature you’ll want to consider including. If so, be sure to have at least one bathtub; this can either be a stand-alone tub in the same bathroom or a bathtub shower combination in another bathroom in the home. This not only will appeal to potential buyers in the future, but is also functional for families with pets and small children.

 

For your walk-in shower, it is important to identify how large you will want it to be in order to plumb it properly. Include a hidden drain in the shower to give it an even more elevated look. As far as showerheads and hardware go, you could match this to the hardware on your vanity, or in your light fixture to give a cohesive look throughout the bathroom. Or, pick something flashy that stands out and draws the eye in.

 

Showerheads are a hot topic and ultimately one of the more important things to pick out in the bathroom. Over-the-head showerheads are very popular as they provide a wide stream of water making it easier to shower and completely rinse all the suds away. This is another preference that varies from consumer to consumer, but it is very easy to pick out a few different ones to try out and swap them out until you find one that works for you.

 

In 2022 it is very common for people to include various spa-like features and products in their bathroom. Take a look at these different bathroom trends and try out the ones that appeal to you.

Other Trending Features to Keep in Mind

Sustainability is a huge focus in home builders as well as in the plumbing industry. People are always looking for new ways to reduce waste at home and be more eco-friendly. Water waste is very common, especially in chores around the home such as doing the dishes, laundry, long showers, etc. One way to ensure you aren’t wasting water is to not let it run while washing your hands or brushing your teeth. 

 

To aid you in being more eco-friendly around the home, there are appliances that are energy efficient as well as water-efficient. Choose a dishwasher that uses less water or a washing machine that has an eco-mode or feature. You can also invest in faucets at your sink and bathtubs that save water. A lot of faucets can actually use much less water and won’t be very obvious when using it.

 

A tankless water heater is another great investment that helps your home become more efficient and sustainable. These will heat the water you use on-demand rather than ahead of time and also never “run out” because with it being on-demand, it turns on only when you instruct it to, rather than using energy to heat the water all at once and store it in a tank. These are a bit more expensive upfront but can ultimately help save over $100 per year and have a long life expectancy compared to standard water heaters.

 

After doing your research and keeping in mind that not every trending feature will work for your lifestyle, take some time to come up with a “wants and needs” list and your budget. Don’t let plumbing slip to the wayside as it impacts so many different features in your new dream home.

fieldpulse free trial

Ready To Upgrade Your Trade?

FieldPulse was created to help trade businesses achieve rapid growth through automating their operations and maximizing efficiency. With powerful integrations and features thoughtfully designed to support every trade, our field service software simplifies the daily work allowing owners to run their businesses whether they’re at the office or in the field. Book A Demo for a free, customized walkthrough of the FieldPulse platform, or start a Free 7 Day Trial to tour the platform at your own pace.

Get The Highest Rated FSM Platform.

7-Day free trial // no credit card required.