A recent survey of 250 showflat visitors has revealed some of their top pet peeves, including poor toilets and fluffy marketing.
In property-crazed Singapore, showflats have become a common sight. Be it in the city centre or the suburbs, mock-ups of apartments, marked by giant balloons, are fast becoming a part of the urban landscape.
Over the years, showflats have evolved from just simulating condo living to pseudo “community centres” offering seminars, enrichment classes and kids playgrounds to lure home buyers. They also offer some respite from the hot weather.
You will even find some of them decked out with makeshift cafés or bars. But while showflats are raising the bar on luxury and service to boost visits and sales, many buyers’ expectations are still not being met.
A recent survey commissioned by an unnamed Singapore developer and conducted among 250 showflat visitors at five projects has revealed their top 10 pet peeves.
1) Fancy showflats, not-so-fancy washrooms
Portable toilets are an absolute put-off. Some showflats still feature rented loos parked out in the open, sometimes with faulty locks and flushing systems, dribbling tap flow and no hand soap. In this post-SARs age, and in the wake of the Zika scare, “it is unthinkable and uncivilised to treat customers with such ungracious bathrooms”, said one respondent. The minimum standard for showflat restrooms include properly built cubicles with a wash area, hand soap, a strict gents and ladies demarcation and an on-site janitor.
2) Substance over style
Many savvy buyers are becoming jaded with seeing similar home designs. Or worse, when over-the-top-styling is used, such as an over-made bed (complete with three stacks of pillows, a spread of glossy hardcovers and a breakfast tray with plastic fruits) that takes attention away from the rest of the bedroom. Buyers today expect more creativity in space usage and more accessible designs. “We want to aspire to live in a dream home, not (a) showroom.”
3) Make room for kids and pets
It is not uncommon for home buyers to visit showflats with kids or pets in tow. If there is a “no pets” policy, then a proper area for pets should be made available outside the showflat. For kids, it would be ideal to have a kids play area, either supervised, or close enough for parents to keep an eye on them. But there are some buyers who prefer not to have noisy kids in the showflat as they may be making “a decision of a lifetime, and the last thing I need is a screeching kid to distract me”, said another respondent.
4) Vying for valet
People don’t want to get a traffic summons when they pay a visit to a showflat. If developers are faced with constraints in providing a large enough carpark, then free valet services should be provided, especially on weekends.
5) More fluff than facts
While marketing brochures are getting more sophisticated in design, often with die-cuts, fancy paper or stylish photography, the content sometimes does not match up. Marketing brochures today are often filled with fluffy copywriting, unrelated photography and insufficient content. “Often times, these brochures make a presence with design, but fail to make a point in content.”
6) Catering for all
Showflats today come in all shapes and sizes. Some are double-storeyed, some are made of glass, and some are designed like a maze. Some double-storey showflats do not cater for wheelchair access, while some have configurations that are confusing. One respondent revealed that his kid got trapped in an air-con ledge that clearly had no adequate safety provisions.
7) Privacy rules
It is still common practice for showflat visitors to sign in with their name and contact number on the guest book at the entrance of a showflat. But with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) in place, there are still some developers and marketing agencies who do not have visible PDPA policies made available to visitors upon signing in. Also, showflat visitors still get calls and text messages from unsolicited marketing agents who get their numbers from such guest books.
8) Hoarding ergonomics
Many developers still have not gotten hoarding designs right. Firstly, if hoarding content is meant to be tactical, it must be appropriately positioned for the eyes of motorists. Most of the time, critical information is not ergonomically aligned. “Did you expect motorists to read a 20-word tagline within a fleeting second while driving past?”
9) Misdirected directions
Although developers only get a maximum number of six direction signages to be placed along major routes leading to the showflat, most signages today are either confusing (the arrows are not pointing clearly) or ill-placed (too near or too far to act upon).
10) Bedside manners
Developers often tamper with bed sizes in order to create an illusion of space. For example, a “king-sized” bed in a showflat may be somewhat shorter by an inch or two in length or width, but is still passed off as an actual king-sized bed. And for some reason, this has still not appeared on the radar of authorities who have been diligently scrutinising the way showflats are presented. “At least call it king-size junior?”
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Cheryl Marie Tay, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, and Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact them about this or other stories, email editor@propertyguru.com.sg
