Respondents to an Owens Corning study indicated they were as much as 50 percent more likely to consider purchasing a new home featuring an exterior with the company's Cultured Stone veneer exterior than one without. They also judged a home with stone veneer-enhanced entryway to be $9,300 more valuable than the same home without such treatment. The added value — double the average cost of such an enhancement — equalled a 3 percent increase in the home's perceived value.

The survey results suggest a real and positive benefit to builders: even small upgrades with Cultured Stone products on a home's exterior can be powerful. “A home has just one chance to make a first impression to each potential buyer,” says Owens Corning Cultured Stone Vice President of Marketing Bob Heath. “A relatively minor upgrade can net a very favorable result in homeowner perception of value, and that's critical from the standpoint of differentiation. This proves what we've known for years: the cost vs. value equation of [our] products on the exterior is positive and that has continued to drive the growth of this business.”

The study was fielded online to a panel of 1,500 homeowners (provided by e-Rewards) with a household income of at least $75,000 who had purchased or shopped for a home in the past three years or conducted a major remodel. Respondents represented geographic diversity and were split randomly between one of two sample groups. To adjust for possible sample differences, both groups saw images of a control home. One group saw only images of the control house and a test house with no enhancements. The other group saw the same control house and a series of test houses that were identical except for varying levels of Cultured Stone veneer enhancements: entryway, entryway and wainscot and whole façade. For each image, respondents were asked to estimate the selling price of the house in their area and to rate on a scale of one to seven the likelihood they would consider purchasing the house.