Don’t fall into the trap of designing a building people like – design one they’ll either love or hate and you will reap the rewards. As a brand, it’s not good to be vanilla. Like marmite, you want people to either love you or hate you. And when it comes to rental apartments, why would anyone want to spend a large proportion of their disposable income on something that is just okay? Well, they have no alternative, as the majority of newly built apartments are very ordinary.

You want to strive for people to come into your building and either say, “It’s amazing; I absolutely love it,” or: “It’s really not for me at all.” If you’re relying on people just to say, “It’s quite nice,” then they’ll never love living there, they won’t stay there for long, they won’t tell their friends about it. All in all, this is bad for business.

This is becoming increasingly important due to the amount of build-to-rent coming out the ground. Seven years ago, I had the good fortune to do some work with the Fizzy Living team. Their forward-thinking offer, including extras like free broadband and an annual spring clean, with flexible leases, on-site property managers, no agents or fees – and pets allowed – was something very different.

Wind the clock forward and we’re looking at a very different landscape. With 50,000 apartments available now and at least another 120,000 in the pipeline, what’s going to make these feel unique, like Fizzy back in the day? What are the owners of these buildings doing to make them special? Are they falling into the same trap as their private-sale cousins did in the mid 2010s by just looking at each other’s product and trying to go one better, but failing?

In hindsight, it was fairly easy for Fizzy (once they’d been brave enough to start) as their offer was new. It was different. But most importantly it was far better than the alternative – a dingy old flat above a shop with a dodgy landlord. Now the landscape has changed forever. Those looking to rent in major urban areas have a plethora of choices available (or at least will in the coming few years). It’s not a case of ‘build it and they will come’ as those days are over. You need to design and build something they’ll love – or they’ll go and live in a competitor’s building.

At Optim, being enemies of the ordinary means we can help build-to-rent developers ensure their prospective tenants will love everything about living in their building. It starts with identifying the customer. And no, we don’t mean the standard ‘25-35 single or couple’. This is generic and won’t get you anywhere. It’s not about demographics (albeit they do play a small part); it’s about psychographics and attitudes. What drives these people? What are they really looking for from their living experience? What brands do they admire and love? How do they want to live their lives? 

We then look to major societal trends that will affect your customers or product. This is especially relevant to BTR as, unlike developers of homes for private sale, you’re in it for the long haul. You need to ensure the product is adaptable to the relevant shifts that will be happening in the future. We can tell you what they are and how to make the most of them.

Then, equally as important, what do you want to stand for as a brand? What’s your vision? What do you want people to think when they walk into one of your buildings? How does your building connect with the residents on an emotional as well as a rational level? People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

It’s also of huge value to look to complementary categories – such as the ever-challenging retail environment. Successful brands don’t turn to their competitors for inspiration but rather to their own purpose and how this intertwines with their customers. An example is Universal Standard, famous for its super-inclusive (00-40) sizing, which extended its ‘access for all’ mantra to an apartment-style NY flagship where brand fans can book free online to host their own events. This generosity-grounded initiative has picked up where Ikea left off with its 2016 rentable apartment in Warsaw, which countered the perceived limitations of the city’s diminutive living spaces.

We’re seeing similar trends in hospitality – another key sector for build-to-rent brands to observe. Take Virgin Group’s new cruising arm, Virgin Voyages, which includes an onboard record shop with karaoke booths and performance spots for resident DJs, including the likes of Mark Ronson. Bringing this to life further, Ronson is curating limited-edition albums of other artists’ work exclusively for the cruise. Virgin Voyages is clear here: if you’re not into modern music, best book a cruise with P&O.

In build-to-rent, your customer is not just popping in for a few hours or having a short stay, like in the retail or cruise industries. They are living with you 24/7 and will have individual and community expectations. You will be hosting a wide spectrum of customer experiences, some public and many private. This extended timescale and the range of customer needs requires specific responses from the architecture, interior design, staff and in-house services that must be well co-ordinated to keep customers happy and satisfied. 

The apartments must of course be distinctive, and the shared amenities must offer flexible, easily adaptable environments that suit the mood and needs of its community at any given time. To achieve all that you must be clear on the value and values in your BTR proposal and ensure this ‘golden thread’ has guided the design, operation and presentation of your offer to your customer.

Be Marmite. It may seem at odds with everything you’ve learned, but trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator is now the riskiest thing you can possibly do. No one will love what you do, or connect with you on an emotional level. In today’s age it’s far riskier to be vanilla and provide a generic product than it is to design something unique and relevant.