Questions about building? Join our July 16th Webinar →
What Customizing with DEN looks like: 4 Recent DEN Customization Stories - Den
Exploring Customer Builds DEN Outdoors

What Customizing with DEN looks like: 4 Recent DEN Customization Stories

Author
Published
Reading time 4 min

Hey folks!

Mike here today with something I’m excited to share. DEN’s customers know all about our core services and products: Planning and Building packages (recently rounded out with our Prefab products - read more here). That said, some folks might not know about how DEN’s customizations work.

When working with DEN to come up with your dream house, you're not stuck with our default plans - you can spice things up a bit, and customize your house plans! Add or remove walls and windows, adjust your foundation - you name it. For newcomers to DENworld, see more about how the customization process works in the interactive demo below.

In practice, these customizations range across a wide spectrum; some folks want to add a window, change a closet’s location, or make space for a washer/dryer, etc. Some folks (as you’ll read below) run with the customization options, and completely change their base design. The DEN team takes pride in our customization prowess; we're thrilled to execute on your design aspirations, whether they be moving a window, or designing a connecting hallway between a Modern Alpine 2025 and an Alpine Tiny Home ADU (as you’ll see below!)

Here are four recent customizations we’re excited about.

Ian Porter’s Studio House: Advanced Customization

An overview of Ian's customizedStudio House
An overview of Ian's customized Studio House
An overview of the standard Studio House design
An overview of the standard Studio House design

Who remembers Ian Porter?! As DEN’s first Certified Build Partner, we’ve joined forces with Ian to help DEN customers in the ATL-metro region have a seamless, streamlined process from selecting plans to having a turnkey house to enjoy. You can read more about Ian here.

Ian added some tasteful, substantive changes to his studio house. After buying lakefront property in North Georgia with the intention of flipping it, as a builder Ian knew what he needed to do to his build to add value and make it more market-friendly, and to incorporate the topography of his lot into the build.

Those changes include:

  • An entire new floor, including a new living room, bedroom & bath
  • 16’ x 8’ sliding doors on the ground (basement?) floor
  • A skylit hallway
  • Hybrid foundation
  • Cantilevered dining area
  • Streamlined TPO (Thermoplastic Polyolefin) roof
The first story of Ian Porter's custom Studio House floor plans
The first story of Ian Porter's custom Studio House floor plans
The second story of Ian Porter's customized Studio House floor plans
The second story of Ian Porter's customized Studio House floor plans
The standard Studio House floor plans
[for comparison] The standard Studio House floor plans

Jack's Outpost Medium: Advanced Customization

An overview of Jack's customizedOutpost Medium
An overview of Jack's customized Outpost Medium
The standard Outpost Medium design
The standard Outpost Medium design

Jack took some big swings here. The Outpost Medium is a prismatic wonder - our on-site renders don’t quite show just how much of an optical illusion the roof is. Similar to Ian’s Studio House, this project also qualified as an Advanced Customization.

Jack completely reworked the Outpost Medium - the changes included:

  • A new 8’ walkout basement
  • An added garage
  • A redesigned interior with a new stair layout
  • A reimagined deck
  • Full-height casement windows
Jack’s customized Outpost Medium floor plans
Jack’s customized Outpost Medium floor plans
Standard Outpost Medium floor plans
[for comparison] Standard Outpost Medium floor plans

To put it in layman’s terms:

A whole new floor (the basement) was added, as well as a garage (on the left side), and the windows on the right side of the building were extended to fit the whole height of the building. No small undertaking, but it was made easier by our crack team at DEN!

Leah's Barnhouse 3.3: Advanced Customization

An overview of Leah's customizedBarnhouse 3.3
An overview of Leah's customized Barnhouse 3.3
An overview of the standard Barnhouse 3.3 design
An overview of the standard Barnhouse 3.3 design

Another advanced customization! Leah had a unique requirement - she wanted to have a home for herself, as well as space for her elderly mother to live nearby. Leah - along with our customizations team - decided the best way to satisfy those requirements was to build an ADU addendum to her Barnhouse.

In order to execute this addendum, a few things were swapped around;

  • The master suite was swapped w/ the office, bedrooms & bathrooms
  • The kitchen and living areas were also moved to accommodate the ADU
  • A 34’ x 24’ garage was added
  • The big one: a bespoke, 6’ x 12’ flat roofed hallway was designed to connect the Barnhouse & ADU
Leah's customized Barnhouse 3.3 floor plans
Leah's customized Barnhouse 3.3 floor plans
The standard Barnhouse 3.3 floor plans
[for comparison] The standard Barnhouse 3.3 floor plans

This unique solution provided some real value for Leah; the ADU has a full kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, providing privacy & autonomy between units, while simultaneously enabling Leah & her mother to live on the same premises.

Matt's Alpine 2025 & Tiny Home Alpine

An overview of Matt's customizedModern Alpine 2025
An overview of Matt's customized Modern Alpine 2025
An overview of the standard Modern Alpine 2025 design
An overview of the standard Modern Alpine 2025 design

Some folks might recognize these plans - we shared a render of Matt's Alpine 2025 on DEN’s Instagram a few weeks ago.

Matt's project is unique in a few ways; similar to Leah’s design, we have the entirely bespoke, one of a kind walkway between both structures, which DEN’s customizations team executed perfectly. But what makes this project really special is the fact that this customization was done w/ a Modern Alpine 2025 prefab. DEN is somewhat limited in customizing our prefab products; given the manufacturing process for the panels, we only have so much wiggle room in changing things around. Lucky for Matt, his customization profile fit perfectly with the margin DEN has for prefab customizations.

The changes include:

  • A walkout basement was added with stairs positioned directly below the original loft stairs in the Modern Alpine 2025 design
  • A fully enclosed hallway connecting the two structures
  • A crawlspace foundation sits below the Alpine Tiny House, and under the enclosed hallway
Matt's customized Modern Alpine 2025 prefab floor plans
Matt's customized Modern Alpine 2025 prefab floor plans
The standard Alpine Tiny House floor plans
[for comparison] The standard Alpine Tiny House floor plans

You might've gotten the gist by now, but if not; DEN loves customizations! Shoot us an email at support@denoutdoors.com if you're curious, and check out DEN's customization demo here.

We can't wait to see what you build!