Green Certification Part 2 - The Categories

Once the target level has been established (e.g. Certified, Silver, Gold Platinum) the specific areas the points will come from needs to be determined. As a builder, we typically would draft a specification for your home that outlines the specific points the project will target. Below, is the LEED for Homes categories and potential points available for each category. Starting with blog posts in 2010, we will begin looking at each of these categories and attempt to make complicated simple. Until then, stay safe this New Years and see you soon.

Green Certification Part #1 - Certification Levels

At this point over the last month or so we have:
1. Set a preliminary budget and discussed the must haves, wants and desires (FIRST MEETING)
2. Gotten on the same as to what it means to build green (GREEN HOME FACTS PART #1-5)
3. Selected a Lot (LOT SELCTION PART #1-4)
4. Purchased a Lot & Determined the Maximum Building Footprint (LOT SELCTION #5)
5. Discussed the Building Size & What Floors Each Room Will Be On (DOES SIZE REALLY MATTER #1-3)

At this point, we will be able to preliminarily determine the “points” level required to reach the different certification levels for your home. An Amaris Company home is typically targeted at “Gold” as the minimum certification level and represents our minimum building standard. Platinum requires one or more “green” attributes not normally found on a home such as solar panels, geothermal heating, advanced landscape plans, etc. This level can only be achieved by investing additional dollars into specific green items and we have not found it to be obtainable with adding to the budget. This is a personal decision for the family to make.

** Chart taken from LEED For Homes Guidebook

Does Size Really Matter Part #3 - Deciding Rooms for Each Floor

Once the square footage for the total living space is determined, the location of the square footage is the next major decision. Often clients come in desiring a rambler but they do not understand that ramblers are more expensive than two stories homes. Once a client understands the amount of square footage they will need to give up in order to live in a rambler, most clients opt for a different floor plan. Exceptions to this would be life stage (e.g. elderly) buyers who want or need one level living.

The fact ramblers are more expensive, generally means you are using more materials to build the home. From a “green” perspective a rambler does not really meet the intent of a “green” home, but the “green” rating systems (see December 03, 2009 Green Home fact #2 for more information on green rating systems) have not taken home style into account to date. Interestingly, the less materials you use to achieve the square footage desired, the “greener” the home. Isn’t that very interesting? The common misconception is that “green” cost more. It is true that some aspects of “green” building will cost more, but as a builder building “green” homes, we focus on how to reduce materials without sacrificing quality. Those cost savings are then redirected to the other more expensive aspects that cost more. At a later date, we will go into significant detail about this concept, but for now the point is the floor the space is on makes a big difference to cost. As a general rule, living space on the first floor is most expensive; the second floor (and other above grade levels) is next and the basement the cheapest.

As a general rule, going up (e.g. 2/3 Story) is going to be cheaper than going out (e.g rambler). Builders are always trying to perfect the cheapest way to deliver the most square-footage for the cheapest price. In the Midwest the “split” home design is the predominant home style especially for start type homes.

In any event, the way we determine the square footage of each level is discuss what rooms are going to go on each level and how big they need to be. Will the laundry room go in the basement, on the 1st floor or second floor? What about the master bedroom, den, guest bedroom, piano room, kids play areas, etc? In actuality, any room can go on any floor. For example, I have seen family rooms in the basement, 1st floor or the second floor. The goal is to reduce the 1st floor footprint as much as you are comfortable with and add the required rooms to the basement or second floor.

Does Size really Matter Part #2 - Green Building Rationale

As you can see from the chart below, LEED for Homes encourages smaller homes. They do not tell you what size you must build, but the larger the home the more difficult it is to reach the different point thresholds (see December 08, 2009 – Green Home Fact #4 for more information on thresholds) when building your “green” home. Conversely the smaller the home the easier it is to reach the thresholds. The rationale for this is larger homes consume more materials and energy over the lifecycle of the home. Data published in the U.S. Census Bureau in the American Housing Survey shows a strong correlation in the number of bedrooms and the number of occupants in a home. Although a home may serve many different households over its lifespan, in general, a home with more bedrooms will serve more people. The adjustment therefore categorizes homes by the number of bedrooms.

The chart above includes all conditioned square footage whether finished or not, that meets the building code requirements for living space. This means basements in new construction homes would typically be counted in the square footage calculation. Likewise, a future bedroom in a basement maybe counted as a bedroom as well.

** Data, excerpts and chart taken from LEED For Homes Guidebook.

Does Size Really Matter Part #1 - Goldilocks and The Three Bears

The big question is does size (of your home) really matter? Maybe the maximum allowable building footprint and your budget allows you to build a 10,000 square foot house, does that mean you should do it? In the United States, the trend has been bigger and bigger homes over the last fifty years. In fact, the size of homes has more than doubled while the average family size has shrunk by one. As Americans, we have been busy trying to keep up with the Joneses. The National association of Home Builders is reporting that trend has begun reversing itself since 2007. It will be interesting to see if that trend holds up once the recession subsides. I believe we have reached a breaking point with the size of housing. Interest rates have nowhere to go but up, incomes are not rising as fast as they once were and the younger generation is not as addicted to work as the baby boomers are. All this leads me to believe housing sizes will shrink over the next ten or more years.

Green building encourages smaller square footage than larger square footage, which will we discuss in more detail tomorrow. However, there are a number of practical reasons to carefully consider the size of your home.

• Affects the Initial Building Cost

• Often Leads to Sacrificing Higher Finishes & Amenities

• Costs More to Furnish and Decorate; or

• Rooms Never Get Furnished-Not Comfortable to Live In

• Bigger and Bigger Spaces are Less & Less Comfortable

• Higher On Going Utility Costs

• Means More to Clean & Maintain

• More to Update Later

• Both Spouses Need to Work (e.g. House Poor)

• House Poor=Sacrificing Vacations, Children Education, Retirement, Etc

• At Risk Financially When One Earner Gets Sick

• Family Never in Same Room Together

• Stress factor(s)

Conversely, the current and future needs of the whole family should be considered. Do you have elderly parents that might be living with you in the next five to ten years? Do you have adult children (with their own children) that may be living with you in the future? Are you planning on having more children? When the kids are teenagers, where will they hang out? Is the family history 6’6” adults that weigh 250lbs? Are there special needs that need to be considered?

Amaris Company does not subscribe to the idea of building the maximum your budget will allow, but recommends taking all of the family factors into consideration and building the “right” size home. I call it the Goldilocks and The Three Bears approach sizing your home: Let’s us build your home “just right”!

Lot Selection Part #7 - Maximum Building Footprint

All of this past week’s discussion about lot selection was much to consider, but remember the three most important things about real estate: location-location-location. When Amaris Company assist’s a client with the purchase of a lot, we recommend the lot be purchased with a blanket contingency that allows the buyer to exit the purchase agreement, that way if the lot does ultimately fit the needs of the buyer a full refund of earnest money can be obtained. When the real estate market was hot a few years back, a contingency of this type might not have been possible. In the current market conditions, securing a lot with a contingency of this type is completely doable.

Once your lot is secured, the builder should first look at a variety of factors to determine the maximum allowable building footprint for the lot you have chosen. Things like lot set-backs required by zoning, wetland buffers, trees locations and a number of contributing factors will determine the building footprint. In suburban type subdivisions the building footprint may have already been determined by the land developer and City and is already preset. In any event, prior to beginning the actual designing of the home, the building footprint must be determined. The red box in the sketch to the left below represents the maximum allowable footprint on a recent project once we allowed for the wetland buffer (e.g. solid red shape), rear yard setbacks, front yard setbacks and side yard setbacks. Further in the process, as the design progresses the layout is verified by a surveyor (shown on right).

Funny Diversion

I stumbled upon this photo as I was searching the web site tonight. What does this say about the importance of selecting a quality builder? More importantly what does this say about the mentality of the building industry? Green building isn't just about saving energy and using less materials. I'm pretty sure this would not pass the third parter raters inspection.

Lot Selection Part #6 - Infrastructure

Infrastructure:
“Green” building encourages building in developments that are served or near existing infrastructure (water and sewer). Not only does it make sense, the costs of a well and septic system adds significantly to the building budget. If water and sewer are not nearby a lot may not be feasible to be built on.

Proximity to local services is another consideration in selecting a lot for a “green” building project. There are points to be gained for selecting a lot with immediate access (1/4 to ½ mile) to community resources such as schools, churches, banks, post office, supermarket, transit and open space.

So far I bet this “green” building process might not be as strange as you thought. In fact, the lot selection things just plain makes sense.

Lot Selection Part #5 - Preferred Locations

Preferred Locations:
Green building programs highly encourage the building of homes near or within existing communities. Points are earned for building on a previously developed lot, an infill lot or a lot in a new development where the development is immediately adjacent to previous developments. The point of this is to encourage the reduction of urban sprawl. “Close in” developments reduce the energy consumed and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions emitted from driving extra miles to and from work each day. Indiscriminate development wastes valuable farm land and open spaces. “Close in” development strives to strike a balance between development growth and protecting our natural resources. The common sense side of this is you save on your monthly gas bills, the wear and tear on your cars (and maintenance) and have less windshield time. It just plain makes sense doesn’t it?

Lot Selection Part #4 - Orientation

Orientation:
Ideally you would like the east-west axis of the house within 15 degrees of due east-west. The best situation is to have the rear of the house facing south so you can take maximum advantage of natural lighting and can add solar equipment to the rear roof, which will be totally hidden from the street side. All Amaris built homes come “solar ready” for both solar voltaic and solar thermal systems. This is a fairly inexpensive event during initial construction that saves a major headache and future cost in the event you ever install solar down the road. In addition, a home properly designed on a south-facing lot can achieve passive solar heating in winter, but be shaded in the summer.

Most development designers do not give much thought to home orientation because developers are focused on maximizing the number of lots in the development. Designers are often rewarded by maximizing the number of lots in a new development. Oddly enough, south-facing lots may not always be at a “premium” because buyers have other priorities such as the lot size, trees, walk out lot, cul-de-sac, etc. Speaking about trees, a heavily wooded lot may not be the best option for several reasons.

The goal of a south-facing lot is to maximize natural light. If the southern tree canopy blocks winter sun, it defeats the purpose. Natural light is often overlooked by the vast majority of builders. In my view, natural light adds a level of comfort that is hard to fully appreciate until you have lived it. I feel less tired, have more energy, my electricity bills are lower and I think it even gives me a better attitude. In fact, some research reports that the lack of vitamin D may actually contribute to chronic fatigue and depression. Conversely, a dark and dingy home will add to electricity bills and may even affect your general well-being.

A heavily wooded lot can also cause premature failure of roof shingles; water problems if leaves are not cleaned from gutters; affect the foundation, sewer or drain tile systems with root systems; and possibly become a safety hazard from high wind or lightning events. Trees in close proximity to a home will contribute to bug infestations too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love trees but they need to be carefully planned. In summary, the south-facing feature of a lot is hugely important. Designing the home so that the majority of the living spaces receive natural light from southern exposure will make a huge impact on the comfort of the home, save you on monthly electricity and energy costs and reduce your maintenance costs.

Lot Selection Part #3 - Lot Prerequisites

When building a “green” home there are several considerations for selecting your lot. In order for the project to receive project certification, a number of prerequisites must be met. For LEED certification, the following are site selection prerequisites:

Prerequisites:
1) Lot cannot be land within 100 feet of a wetland, or
2) be at or below 100-year flood plain, or
3) be identified as habitat for endangered species, or
4) be prior park land, or
5) be land that has prime soils or soils of state significance

State and local regulations would prevent most of these things too. Practically speaking, you would not want to build in a wetland or in a 100-year flood plain. Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. ...

Lot Selection Part #2

• What are the average real estate values for the sub-division (defined by county assessor’s office) and how does that fit in with your budget?
• What are projected local real estate taxes going to be for the value of the home you plan on building?
• Are there tax assessments pending for improvements?
• Is there an association for maintenance of common areas?
• Are real estate prices stable in the neighborhood? Are there a number of For Sale signs?
• Are there encroachments from neighbors that may be a serious problem?
• What will it cost to make the lot ready for building? Extraordinary costs such as extending services and/or well and septic systems, soil corrections, importing/exporting soils are just a few of the items that can add significantly to the cost of a lot.
• Things like building flood plains, setbacks, zoning limitations, soil conditions, wetlands, endangered species, Indian mounds and road access issues can cause a seemingly beautiful lot to be sub-standard or completely unbuildable.

It is best to work with a builder before you purchase a lot. It is always best to purchase a lot with a due diligence contingency that gives the builder and yourself the time to sort out these and other issues. An experienced builder will know what to look for and can help qualify the lot.

What did I miss?

Lot Selection Part #1

Very early in the process it is important to locate and select a lot. A lot is a very important part of the building process. You really cannot effectively start the home design process until a lot has been selected. The lot dictates the orientation of the home, window placement, floor plan and limits the style of home based on whether the lot is flat or sloped to the front or back.

Before we evaluate the “green” considerations for a lot, let’s think about the non-green attributes that are very important. Often, buyers fall in love with a particular lot but fail to consider all of the important attributes. Things such as:

• Is the lot in a quality neighborhood?
• Is the neighborhood filled with growing families, mature families or seniors? What are you looking for?
• Does the neighborhood have access to parks, trail systems and other amenities nearby?
• Is the noise from nearby trains, runways, road traffic, rifle ranges, commercial and retail operations acceptable?
• Do nearby commercial or retail operations emit noxious smells?
• What is the proximity to high power lines?
• What is the concentration of multi-family units nearby?
• Is the neighborhood stable? Check with police.
• Availability of quality schools, shopping, churches, recreation, services (e.g. banks, dry cleaning, etc) and freeways
• Distance and time it takes to get to work?
• Is family nearby?


More tomorrow.

Review of Recent Posts

Let’s summarize the last several postings before we begin walking through the building process.

Green building focuses on the entire building process including:

• Innovation & Design
• Sustainable Sites
• Location & Linkages
• Water Efficiency
• Energy & Atmosphere
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Materials & Resources
• Awareness & Education

Green buildings are built in conformance with a national or state green certification program and are certified by an independent third party rater.

Green buildings far exceed state building codes and are a higher level of quality which translates into:
• Healthier indoor environment for your family
• More comfortable and enjoyable living environment
• Reduced energy and water consumption—lowering energy and water bills forever
• Greater durability leading to lower maintenance costs
• Safer home for the protection of your family
• Less waste produced during construction—dollars spent elsewhere
• Increased market value
• Reduced impact on our environment.

Amaris builds a healthier, more comfortable, safer, more durable, energy-efficient home that makes the best use of our planet’s natural resources: all for about the same price you would pay our competitors.

Test Your Builder's Qualifications

Here are three easy questions to find out if your builder is telling you the truth about its “green” building qualifications.


1) Have you ever built a “green” home certified by either LEED for Homes or MN GreenStar? If yes, these homes will be listed on the appropriate registration/certification web sites. You could also ask to speak with these specific customers instead of the reference list the builder offers.

2) What personal “green” credentials do you have? Are you a LEED accredited professional or MN GreenStar certified? What other education does the builder have relating to "green" building? Ask to see them.

Just like with “green” attributes, certification requirements vary between programs. For example, a LEED accredited professional has to pass a rigorous exam and must complete a certain amount of continuing education (CE) hours to maintain certification. MN GreenStar certification is a one day seminar. A “green” builder serious about "green" building probably has several credentials to demonstrate their capabilities.

Also, since “green” building is still fairly new, projects get local news coverage fairly easily. Ask about copies of newspaper articles.

3) Ask for the contact information of the third party rater they have used to certify their homes. Contact the third party rater to ask questions. A rater sees a lot of construction activities and knows what quality construction looks like. Some houses are getting certified but the builders are not really committed to the process. A third party rater should be willing to share what they observed.

GREEN HOME FACT #4

The level of “green” attributes in a “green” home is very important. This is where it gets a little tricky. Remember we discussed the fact there is no such thing is 100% “green”? Under the LEED for Homes certification program there are a total of 136 potential points to achieve. Depending on the size of house, number of bedrooms and square footage, different thresholds are required to achieve different certification levels. LEED for Homes has four certification levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. MN Green Star has three certification levels: Certified, Silver and Gold.

Minnesota has a fairly aggressive energy code and a house built to the minimum state building codes could meet the lowest certification level of either LEED for Homes or MN Green Star with minor improvements. A moderately “green” home would be a minimum level of silver under either program. Amaris Company targets Gold as our minimum threshold.

I know this is boring stuff, but a “green” builder must pay attention to every detail in the building process. Paying attention to details means you will have a better quality home in the end. A “green” builder will be able to discuss every aspect of the construction project as it relates to “green” attributes.

GREEN HOME FACT #3

Building a “green” home encompasses all aspects of the building process. The LEED For Homes program includes Innovation & Design, Sustainable Sites, Location & Linkages, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Indoor Environmental Quality, Materials & Resources, Awareness & Education. The MN Green Star program is very similar.

GREEN HOME FACT #2

The “green” attributes of a “green” home are well documented by the builder and are independently certified by a third party rater. This means you can be sure of what you are buying. In Minnesota there are two primary rating systems that measure the number of “green” attributes. The national program is sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the certification program for residential homes is called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) For Homes. The locally grown certification program is called MN GreenStar. There is also a number of other less rigorous “green” rating programs that tend to mislead buyers into thinking their home is “greener” than it is. If your home is certified under either of these two programs, you can be reasonably confident in the outcome.

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=147

http://www.mngreenstar.org/about-minnesota-greenstar/green-certification-programs-green-building-programs-overview

GREEN HOME FACT #1

A “green” built home far exceeds the state building codes. Most people think when a construction project is built to state building codes they are getting the latest and greatest. State building codes actually represent the minimum building requirements a builder must adhere to. Think about that for a minute, people are spending 300K-1M or more on homes built to the minimum requirements. You wouldn’t buy any other product built to minimum standards and quality, but that is exactly what happens to the majority of home buyers. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense does it? A “green” builder will generally be more familiar with state building codes and how they are exceeding those codes and why. For example, Minnesota state building code requires that homes meet a HERS (Heat Energy Rating System) rating of 100% from a combination of insulation, building envelope tightness and energy usage. Energy Star Certification requires a HERS rating of 80%, which means your home is 20% more efficient than code. The last two “green” homes built by Amaris Company were in the range of HERS 46%, which is 54% more efficient than code and 34% more efficient than Energy Star. This is accomplished by higher insulation values, better products and a tighter building envelope. Not only does a home built with a lower HERS rating mean significantly lower energy bills forever, it means a more comfortable home that is not drafty in the winter or hot in the summer.

New and Improved or Same Old Thing?

Unfortunately there a number of builders claiming they build “green” and are misleading buyers. It is kind of like claiming your product is “new and improved” and the only thing changed on the product is the label. It is true that every home built has some “green” attributes automatically built in to the home by nature of building to the minimum state building codes, but it is misleading to claim they are building a “green” home. What makes a “green” home green? I will attempt to answer that question over the next few days.

Consumer Benefits of Building Green

There are many benefits to building a “green” home. You will enjoy:
• Healthier indoor environment for your family
• More comfortable and enjoyable living environment
• Reduced energy and water consumption = lowering energy and water bills
• Greater durability leading to lower maintenance costs
• Safer home for the protection of your family
• Less waste produced during construction—dollars spent elsewhere
• Increased market value
• Reduced impact on our environment. The built environment has a profound impact on our natural environment, economy, health, and productivity. In the United States alone, buildings account for:
 72% of electricity consumption
 39% of energy use
 38% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
 40% of raw materials use
 30% of waste output (136 million tons annually)
 14% of potable water consumption.
Stats from www.usgbc.org