Why Every Home Should Be Designed for Every Stage of Life with Jeannine Clark

Host John Lee Dumas introduces Jeannine Clark, founder and principal of Access Design + Build, a company that helps homeowners create accessible, universally designed homes supporting independence, safety, and attractive living at every stage of life. Clark says she believes bringing together colleagues from multiple industries, along with other connected people, is one of the best ways to solve difficult problems and create money-making opportunities for everyone. She quotes a client who said it is easier to put diverse people in a room and make a “crazy problem workable” than to gather like-minded people and try to make an innovative plan. Clark says she became focused on aging-in-place design after living through the Great Recession as an adult. She decided that her next business needed to provide a necessity rather than a luxury, and aging-in-place services fit that requirement. Designing for people with mobility challenges felt like a natural extension because both groups need homes that do not constantly make them feel unsafe or force them to fight the space. When she founded Access Design + Build, Clark did not see enough construction companies willing to accommodate those needs, so she also became a general contractor. That lets her combine her design skills with responsibility for construction, ensuring that the finished home looks beautiful while functioning properly for its occupants.

Dumas connects the subject to his mother’s year and a half in home hospice, explaining that his family has had to make significant changes around the house. He asks what people miss when they think of accessibility too narrowly as something only for people with disabilities. Clark answers that everyone needs accessibility, regardless of age or ability. If residents cannot reach their belongings or move through their home easily, the space creates constant aggravation and an underlying stress that people may simply learn to tolerate. In Clark’s experience, clients visibly relax once their homes function in ways that match how they actually live. They become happier because the house reflects and supports them instead of working against them. She presents this as both good design and a way of welcoming everyone into the home. Her practical example is widening doorways during new construction. She recommends making key doors—especially the entrance from the garage into the house—36 inches wide instead of the standard 32 inches. A wider opening helps someone carrying groceries in both arms, but it also accommodates wheelchairs, walkers, guests, and future mobility changes. Clark’s broader conclusion is that opening up space and making it function well benefits everyone and makes daily life less stressful.

Clark identifies what she sees as a major housing-industry problem: putting profit ahead of quality. She understands that builders must make money, but argues that many accessibility and durability improvements would require only a roughly 1% to 5% increase in cost if they were included from the beginning. In her view, the short-term savings frequently become long-term maintenance and repair costs for homeowners. She gives several examples of how poor construction creates those problems. Walls that are out of level can leave gaps around windows and insulation. An undersized HVAC system may run excessively, leaving the house too hot or too cold while overworking the equipment. Poor installation can also contribute to overworked furnaces and air conditioners, which Clark connects to the higher electrical bills people are complaining about. Her recommendation is straightforward: build the home correctly the first time so its systems work together and residents are not constantly thinking about what needs to be fixed. Dumas says he has noticed a change in public attitudes toward new construction. He remembers when a “new build” implied current technology, good materials, and freedom from the problems associated with older homes. After speaking with friends near new developments in San Diego, he says people now often assume new homes use the cheapest materials possible to maximize profit and only look good superficially. Clark’s comments explain why that distrust develops: the visible finish can conceal poor underlying construction.

After the advertising break, Dumas asks how craftsmanship and thoughtful design improve both safety and quality of life. Clark gives a concise answer: if a home is not designed correctly, it will not work correctly. She then describes a Minnesota state program that helps businesses hire and support apprentices so younger workers can learn from older, experienced tradespeople. Clark says retaining younger employees is difficult, but many people are attracted to construction because they enjoy building with their hands and seeing a physical result. The training issue is urgent because many workers who know how to build are retiring. Clark places herself in the middle of that transition: she knows a lot, but does not know everything, so preserving practical knowledge matters. She adds that craftsmanship is not only a matter of individual skill. Management must set the expectation that projects will be built correctly. When managers focus mainly on profit, she says, the result is the kind of cheaply assembled home Dumas’s friends distrust. Her longer-term goal is to help develop a broader housing solution in which accessibility is integrated into every home rather than added only when a particular resident requests it. At the same time, she rejects the idea that accessible homes must look institutional: they should still have style and feel good to live in.

Clark focuses first on bathrooms because they retain significant investment value and are where most accidents occur, particularly for people over 65. She recommends putting plywood sheathing behind the tile backer board so grab bars can be installed wherever needed later. Homeowners should also buy extra matching tile. If grab bars are eventually removed before a sale, the tiles can be replaced and the bathroom returned to what Clark calls “selling ready” status. She argues that accessible features are becoming a selling benefit because many future buyers will themselves be in their 50s, 60s, or 70s. Other practical improvements include a low-threshold patio door instead of a roughly two-inch step, accessible window and door products, updated plumbing, and a comfort-height toilet. Clark notes that a comfort-height toilet may be less useful for small children but can help families with teenagers and older adults; in a three-bedroom home, one bathroom can often be configured around one group’s needs while another serves smaller children. Dumas reinforces the value of planning for replacement materials with a story about outdoor tile. He had saved extra imported, custom tile for ten years, regarding it as clutter, but then needed it after a car drove down his front steps. A Tesla caused another incident the following week, and a friend fell on the steps the week after that. The spare tile allowed every repair to be completed despite the unusual sequence of accidents. Both speakers treat this as an example of why professional planning and keeping replacement materials matter.

To make accessibility the industry standard, Clark says builders should begin with a minimum of 36-inch-wide doors throughout the home. She argues this does not significantly increase costs, especially because most homes use painted doors rather than expensive solid-wood doors. She also emphasizes good insulation and correctly sized furnaces, linking those decisions to comfort, operating costs, and the home’s long-term performance. For windows, she prefers casement windows over double-hung windows because casements are easier for people to operate. She strongly dislikes sunken living rooms, calling them “literally the worst” because the level change cuts rooms off from one another and creates an obstacle. Her ideal is a main living level with as few unnecessary transitions as possible. She says designers can still use styles popular in Minnesota, including modified Craftsman and some mid-century modern homes, while making small adjustments that open up circulation. Clark’s central design question is how people actually use a space and how the layout can support that behavior. She criticizes an industry that evaluates homes mainly by money per square foot, because that measure does not guarantee a well-built or well-designed house. Dumas’s final takeaway is that sunken living rooms are “literally the worst,” while Clark invites people in the building industry to contact her with ideas for making accessible housing both affordable and profitable. She directs listeners to JeannineAccessDesignBuilds.com for before-and-after projects, while the episode description identifies Access Design + Build at accessdesignbuild.org.