Sign Up for News Updates
The third wave of the America at Home Study polled nearly 3,000 adults to learn about how our domestic lives were shaping up post pandemic. No surprise, many adults are still working from home at least part of the time, but what has changed is how people feel about their homes.
Increasingly, home is where people are experiencing the most freedom – that’s freedom to work, play and shop how they want to. That’s a remarkable turnaround from the pandemic’s peak.
“Most people have gotten comfortable with a new hybrid everything life and the ‘freedom’ that comes with it. When required to shelter in place in April 2020, just 58% of survey respondents said home meant ‘freedom.’ When asked in October 2022, that number ballooned to 77%, an increase of almost 20% and more than double the percentage increase for any other factor describing home. This has been the biggest shift in how people describe their feelings and lifestyle at home since the pandemic,” Builder reports.
This newfound freedom has also changed our desires for the amenities just outside our homes. The most popular features people want to see in their communities include nature trails, parks, playgrounds, and green spaces.
However, when it comes to built amenities, survey respondents ranked a coffee shop or casual eatery as a highly desired “third place” – a destination that provides connection outside of home and work where people can relax and socialize.
“As our hybrid patterns of life set in, so do varied schedules and opportunities to spend time in the community. There’s white space and a huge opportunity for designers, architects, and developers to create new third spaces and rethink amenities beyond the typical and expected,” Builder notes.
Built amenities such as these can benefit from clean-burning propane. Propane can fuel high-efficiency appliances such as tankless water heaters, furnaces, and standby generators so that a retail establishment can provide services during emergencies.
Builders and developers can also meet the demand for expansive green spaces by building farther beyond the suburbs where land is more plentiful. Because these areas aren’t typically served by natural gas, propane can be the fuel source for homes in these communities.
