FARGO – One of the biggest headaches of remodeling or building a new home used to be deciding the details, like carpeting and flooring, but not anymore. Now everything can be done virtually.
“It’s the Oculus Quest 2. It’s the VR (virtual reality) headset,” said Nick Steinbrecher, owner of
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Steinbrecher is known to his friends as the guy who fixes John Deere tractors or helicopters for the National Guard. But now he’s busy working with Verity Homes to show homebuyers exactly what they can put in or take out of their soon-to-be-built homes.
“So I can see everything like I would in real life, and it’s all 3D because there are 2 lenses there,” Steinbrecher said.
“(I) want to switch up these countertops, maybe I’m not a big fan of this marbling here, and I want to go (with) something a bit darker – personally not my taste, but that’s an option you can do (…) You change it like this, simple as it is, so you can very quickly customize your house, and in less than a minute you can totally change the look of a space,” he explained.
So if a buyer doesn’t like the paint, carpeting or windows, it’s easy to change them virtually.
“And like, looking at drawings and looking at 3D renders and everything, and just trying to imagine what it’s going to look like when it’s all put together” can be difficult, he said. “With this, you don’t have to imagine, you do.”
Countertops or flooring can be changed in a second.
“I’m going to be able to grab a cube here, just like that, and then we can hit it on the ground,” Steinbrecher said during his virtual demonstration. “And as soon as I hit it on the ground, the whole ground changes.”
The software also has a tape measure feature, so buyers know exactly how furniture and accessories will fit and look in their new home. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Soon homebuyers will be able to know when sunlight will enter their home at a certain date and time, so they can install the perfect window in the perfect spot.
Everything is done using Steinbrecher’s software and virtual reality glasses and controllers. It’s like a video game to design a house.
“Being able to visualize it and bring it to life is something that I think is going to give people a ton (of) peace of mind and alleviate that guess work that they would normally have,” the new home specialist said. Jessica Janu, who is part of the commercial team of
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Although virtual reality has been around for a while, such a complete software package is not. Steinbrecher says this visualization of the house takes the guesswork out of the high-pressure situation of making a house a home.
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