FOX 17 speaks with Sable Homes about how they are adjusting house plans for buyers to better accommodate those working from home

SPARTA, Mich. — Sable Homes General Manager Bryan Burnham told FOX 17 they were just entering their busiest time of year when the governor’s executive orders forced them to shut down for seven weeks last spring. And when they started back up, they found material was very low.

“While residential construction was shut down, remodeling was still open,” Burnham said during his Oct. 4 interview with FOX 17. “A lot of people took their time off of work to do home projects that they had been putting off. So, a lot of materials that were in inventory are gone.”

Related: Sable Homes’ Karin Kay offers insight on building supply shortage

Burnham explained as the supply chain of materials slowly returns, the company is seeing something new pick up steam from customers.

“People are using spaces in ways that they’ve used them before,” he told Fox 17. “They’re trying to mold spaces into what they need it to be.”

With so many people at least temporarily working from home, Sable Homes is helping them by adjusting what they offer within 14 different floor plans.

“We are very adept at customizing these to customers. We never used to, we used to primarily be track builders or spec builder,” Burnham explained, saying they are seeing people add extra doors in rooms for more privacy.

Sable Homes recently had a customer design an entire kitchen around the idea that they would be sitting and working at their kitchen island.

“A lot of our floor plans are already equipped with home offices or flex rooms that can be turned into an office. We’re definitely getting asked for a lot more nowadays,” Burnham told FOX 17, saying that they are also having more requests for ethernet jacks to be installed in every room of the house.

Burnham said Sable Homes has about 75 homes in some stage of building right now compared to what would normally be about 50. And thanks to a booming housing market and Sable’s willingness to adjust their floor plans, the company is on track to reach 10 percent growth on the year.

Watch Burnham’s full interview with FOX 17, below: