On my morning jogs during family vacations in Hilton Head Island, I enjoy gazing at the multi-million dollar homes. As I run, each vacation or retirement home seems more luxurious than the ones I’ve passed and I can only imagine what they’re like inside.

But now that I know the principles of Universal Design, I view those fancy houses from a different perspective. I see owners who will either spend big bucks to retrofit or eventually they’ll be forced to move because they built a dream home without considering accessibility and usability for decades down the road. For example, many of these gorgeous homes have grand staircases leading to the front entry or from the foyer to the second floor. How will the occupants navigate with large luggage or when they become elderly and begin to lose mobility?

Why would someone in their peak earning years, typically early forties, build a dream home or “the last house I’ll ever own”, decked out with all the latest features, and not consider how they might age? Obviously, they’re either not considering or they’ve chosen to worry about it later when it becomes a burden.

But when you understand Universal Design and regardless of whether you’re living in an expensive home, you appreciate the primary UD principles of simple, intuitive, flexible use with low physical effort and tolerance for error as simply good design, period. If you were carrying a stack of boxes, golf clubs or pulling a baby stroller or luggage, would you prefer to climb steps or move inside through a zero clearance entry? Would you prefer to bend over to plug your vacuum into an outlet that is one foot or two feet off the floor? Same with landscaping, would you prefer to tend a raised flower or vegetable garden or the traditional ground level?

As the media gives more attention to aging-in-place and Universal Design, there’s a tendency to view these convenient and smart features ONLY from a perspective of curing a deficiency or limitation, “Oh, that’s for people in a wheelchair.” BuilderFish wants everyone to know about these alternatives as the “best practice and preferred way”, which will keep people in their homes longer. Our mission is to help people avoid assisted care facilities. If you eventually need assistance, you can get care providers to visit your residence. Doesn’t it seem silly to build a nice home you’ll eventually out-live?

Over the coming weeks, I’ll describe room by room ideas for Universal Design. If you’re building new and not tearing into existing walls, certain aspects of UD, like raising the height of outlets and switches, doesn’t add a single cent to project cost. Other UD components can be implemented after a trip to the hardware store (e.g. swing-away door hinges for increased clearance). In other words, existing owners should look around their homes, gauge how many more years they think they can stay and make corrections or modifications now before something becomes an urgency.

As I jogged during vacation, I imagined how excited these owners must have been designing and moving into their beautiful homes and how sad it will be for some of them to be forced to move only because they didn’t account for life’s long haul or changing circumstances. Prevent that from happening to you by understanding UD and recycling your home to accommodate multiple life stages.