Blu Homes Launches the Home Configurator(TM), the First 3-D Visualization and Customization Tool to Give Homebuyers the Power to Personalize and Style their own Home Online

WALTHAM, Mass. and SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Blu Homes (www.bluhomes.com), a leading designer and manufacturer of beautiful, green, precision-built homes, announced today the launch of the  Configurator™. The Configurator allows users to style, visualize and spend time in their own Blu Home in real-time, using a 3-D game-play format. Once a homeowner has completed the design of her choice, Blu then builds each home directly from the client's 3-D custom model, using precision tooling and trained craftsman in its climate-controlled factory. Anyone can access the Blu Configurator for free at bluhomes.com/configurator and begin customizing a Blu home today.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, go to: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/40402-blu-homes-launches-home-configurator-3-d-visualization-customization-tool

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111011/MM82544 )

"The Configurator puts homebuyers in the driver's seat, helping them to visualize their design in a first-person perspective, 360-degree, hyper-realistic environment," said Blu Homes' VP of sales and marketing and co-founder, Maura McCarthy.  "Blu is committed to using technology to solve several common homebuilding challenges. Knowing that homebuyers struggle to visualize their new homes as they are being designed, we built the Blu Configurator from the ground up so that our clients know exactly what they are getting before engineering begins. This goes way beyond the typical renderings and architectural drawings that have been used in custom homes up until now."

"The Blu Configurator demonstrates novel intellectual property by connecting a 3-D model directly back to Blu's manufacturing process. Plus, we've created a beautiful 2-D interface that makes it easy and fun for clients to make a Blu home their own," explained Bill Haney, co-founder and president of Blu Homes.

"The Configurator is just the latest in a long list of ways Blu is bringing advanced technology to the homebuilding process and helping to move forward an industry that is long overdue for innovation."

After choosing from one of Blu's modern home styles, Configurator users select their favorite exterior finish and floor plan. Then, they "fly" inside the home to view and choose interior options designed by leading architects, such as appliances, finishes, color palettes and cabinetry packages. Coming soon, users will also be able to receive instant pricing information that reflects each selected option.

To create a truly realistic experience and give a sense of space, each room has been furnished by Blu's design team with exact 3-D models of popular and iconic furnishings and finishes. Users can even set their height before getting started to ensure an accurate perspective as they "walk" from room to room. Or, it's easy to get a bird's eye view, with or without the roof.  

Blu Homes' core design and engineering technology—and the technology behind the 3-D home designs in the Configurator—is Blu|3-D, proprietary intellectual property based on design software typically used by automotive and aeronautical designers and engineers at companies like Boeing and Volvo. To create the Configurator, Blu Homes worked with experts and gaming developers to design a consumer-friendly user interface.

"In addition to being a truly fun way to design a home, the Blu Configurator is able to provide critical construction information straight to our factory, so we can make the manufacturing process more efficient and pass on those savings to our customers," said Joshua Appleman, Blu Homes' digital tooling manager and lead engineer of the Blu Configurator.

Blu Homes' design team uses Blu|3-D technology to design and build each home. Because it provides engineering information not often considered in architectural software – such as demands on the structures from wind, snow and seismic activity – Blu is able to achieve climate-specific engineering. That information is then automatically detailed in the building plans used in construction. This means that each home is built with remarkable precision with much lower variance allowances than in average stick-built homes.

Blu's homes are precision-built by factory craftsmen in weather-controlled conditions to meet the highest quality construction standards. All Blu homes are constructed with Blu's proprietary structural steel frames that allow for high ceilings, open spaces and generous natural light. In addition, the steel construction is fire-, mold- and termite-resistant.

After leaving the factory, Blu's homes are installed on site in one day and completed in just two weeks by Blu's teams of craftsmen. This speed and convenience is a result of Blu's building science technology which allows its homes to be finished—completely and to a high quality—in its factory, then folded for quick and cost-effective setting on site. All of this is done at a pre-agreed, fixed cost.

All Blu finishes, fittings, appliances and systems are selected by Blu designers for their leading environmental performance, resulting in healthy and beautiful living spaces and high indoor air quality. Blu homes offer at least 50% energy savings over comparably sized existing homes.

For more information on Blu Homes go to www.bluhomes.com, follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/bluhomes) and Twitter (@BluHomes), or email us at [email protected].

About Blu Homes

Blu Homes, Inc. is a Massachusetts- and California-based builder of green, architect-designed, and precision-built homes. Blu has built a variety of residential and institutional eco-friendly home designs for families and organizations across the U.S., from New York to the Colorado Mountains and the California Coast. Blu's proprietary steel framing and building technology allows Blu to build homes that are as strong as they are beautiful and then fold them for quick and cost-effective setting across the continental U.S. and Canada. For more information on Blu Homes, contact [email protected], or visit www.bluhomes.com.

SOURCE Blu Homes, Inc.