Mark Johnson answers most party invitations with a few questions of his own. As a quadriplegic who has used a wheelchair for more than 30 years, he first needs to know whether he'll be able to get into the house and then negotiate the bathroom while there.

"If the house isn't accessible, guess who's not coming to dinner?" Johnson said.

But inviting guests with physical limitations to his one-story home in Alpharetta is no problem, though he admits getting tired of having to do the dishes.

Ten years ago, Johnson, the director of advocacy for Shepherd Center, worked with a builder to create a "visitable" home: a ranch plan with no steps and a roll-in shower. Today, the same ideas that give Johnson total access to his home are being designed for that part of the aging population who may not need a wheelchair, but are starting to find steps and bathtubs more difficult to negotiate.

The EasyLiving Home program encourages builders to design and construct homes with built-in accessibility features. Since offering a certification program to builders two years ago, the program has steadily developed a following of builders and developers who see the value of wider hallways and doorways, step-free entrances and master bedrooms on the main floor.

"It's not the kind of home that's good just for people with mobility impairments, " said EasyLiving Home's program director Bonnie Bonham. "It's a better home for young families with babies in strollers; for active adults ready to retire but who want to stay in their homes."

Bonham spreads the word about the EasyLiving Home progam by attending meetings of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and developing contacts statewide throughout the real estate community.

"Those who are interested soon get very excited about the program, " Bonham said. "There's a particular interest now among builders about meeting the needs of active adults, so many are doing some of these things anyway. We're just showing them how far the benefits can go."

One of the benefits for buyers is having a house they can live in as they age.

"People want to stay in their homes, " Bonham said, "and these features will make it so they don't have to leave to go to a nursing home or take on major renovations down the road."

One builder who has taken up the EasyLiving Home cause is Bobby Lunceford, owner of Bob Lunceford Properties and a member of the EasyLiving Home advisory board.

"We specialize in building ranches in all price points because they are very accessible and can be easily converted for people who have accessibility issues, " Lunceford said. "When we heard about the EasyLiving program, which gave us a label and a brand, we signed up immediately."

Among the features buyers can incorporate into a Lunceford home are some things the builder was doing all along.

"It didn't take a lot to be part of the program since we were already doing things such as low-step entries, " Lunceford said. "The transition to no-step entries was easy. We already had wider hallways and doorways; now we brace into the framing stage places for handrails in the hallways, next to toilets or in the showers. Putting the light switches a few inches lower makes a big difference that's not noticeable."

"Now, we're playing with the idea of separating the [electrical] panel boxes so the main-floor panel is on the main floor."

One of the most interesting aspects of building an EasyLiving Home is that few people recognize it as such, Lunceford said.

"When you walk in a home that's EasyLiving-designed, you may not even know it, " he said. "It's more spacious, with an open feel and no tight hallways. A lot of people think it's a house for the handicapped, but it actually serves everyone well–the 12-year-old who breaks his leg playing football; the dad who breaks a hip and has to be in a walker temporarily. With this kind of house, you don't have to camp out in the living room."