LEED for Homes - What is a LEED home?

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization that developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™. In 2008 the USGBC introduced LEED for Homes, a rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes. The LEED for Homes rating system uses eight different resource categories to measure the overall performance of a home. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has also developed a green rating system similar to LEED for Homes rating system, but it’s less restrictive and seemingly more accessible to be rated. Both are great systems to assure a properly built house, and time will tell what having two systems competing for attention will bring about.
LEED for Homes uses the following categories for awarding points:

Innovation and Design Process (ID)
The category that includes several types of innovative measures including: special design methods, unique regionally credits, measures not currently addressed in the Rating System, and/or exemplary performance levels.

Location and Linkages (LL)
The placement of homes in socially and environmentally responsible ways in relation to the larger community.

Sustainable Sites
The use of the entire property so as to minimize the project’s impact on the site.

Water Efficiency (WE)
The water conservation practices (both indoor and outdoor) built into the home.

Energy and Atmosphere (EA)
The improvement of energy efficiency particularly in the building envelope and heating and cooling design.

Materials and Resources (MR)
The efficient utilization of materials, selection of environmentally preferable materials, and minimization of waste during construction.

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)
The improvement of indoor air quality by reducing possible air pollution.

Awareness and Education (AE)
The education of homeowner, tenant, and building manager (as appropriate in larger multifamily buildings) about the operations and maintenance of the green features of their LEED Home.

Home Builders Cut Prices, Work Faster

Home builders have lost half their share of the U.S. housing market in the past two years, largely because of competition from cheap foreclosed houses. In 2009 only 7.6% of the homes sold were newly constructed, down from the average of about 16% over the previous two decades.

But home builders are fighting back, cutting prices, promising to complete homes faster, and warning about the risks of buying foreclosed property.

Their efforts may be starting to pay off. On Tuesday, D.R. Horton Inc., the second-largest U.S. builder, swung to a surprise quarterly profit, its first since the sector crashed, aided by improving business and a tax benefit. Donald R. Horton, the builder's chairman, said conditions remain challenging but he's optimistic as Horton focuses on low-priced housing for first-time buyers and controlling costs.
Builders can afford to lower their prices now in part because land is much cheaper. They're also able to squeeze their suppliers and subcontractors harder. Housing starts are running at less than a third of the 2005 level, making suppliers and subcontractors eager for orders and willing to work for less.

Builders are also trying to complete homes faster for people who can't wait the typical four to six months required for a new home. A large share of today's buyers are first-timers who want to qualify for a federal tax credit that expires April 30.

Special deals are also helping builders. Lancaster, Pa.-based Charter Homes & Neighborhoods offered 30-year mortgage rates in January that start at 2.87%, climb to 3.87% in year two, and then settle at 4.87%. In February, the starter rate increased to 2.99%, but it's still below current average mortgage rates of 5.10%. "People are definitely responding," says Rob Bowman, Charter's president.

In Las Vegas, Pardee Homes is using email blasts to tell potential home buyers about possible hazards of buying foreclosed homes. Banks are sometimes slow to respond to would-be buyers' offers, they warn, and former owners have often neglected or even trashed the houses. "Unapparent damage may include leaking water, rot, asbestos or rodent infestations," a Pardee email says.

Some buyers are also starting to suffer from "foreclosure fatigue," says Klif Andrews, Pardee's Las Vegas division president. as it gets more difficult to compete with cash-rich investors for foreclosed houses.

Still, in some cases the lure of real or imagined bargains remains strong. Jim and Penny Seawards used to buy a new home each time they moved. But in their most recent search, concluded in December, they looked only at recent-vintage foreclosed houses. "We felt we could get more house for the money," says Mr. Seawards, the sales director at a Cadillac dealer.

The couple bought a 3,600-square-foot house in Scottsdale, Ariz., for $425,000. They expect to spend $50,000 more on landscaping and other improvements, but their real estate agent, Jim Sexton of Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty, figures a similar newly built house would have cost at least $625,000.

Some home owners avoid new homes for other reasons. Lew Reich, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Plano, Texas, says buyers are sticking closer to downtown Dallas and the city's established suburbs, eschewing lengthy commutes. They also worry that some home builders won't stay in business long enough to finish construction or honor their warranties.

Economists expect the foreclosure crisis to drag on for at least a few more years. So can home builders get back to their former pace of accounting for one of every six sales?

"I think we will get back there," says Bernard Markstein, an economist at the National Association of Home Builders, but, he says, it will take a few years. The NAHB forecasts that new home sales will jump 38% to 517,000 this year as the economy improves. But that would still be only about 9% of expected total home sales.

Perspective is Everything

Digital images give home buyers a vivid new perspective

Can you know what it feels like to stand in a house without actually standing in it? Can a computer-generated image of an interior that includes every detail, right down to the high-heeled shoes on the floor of a dressing room where the imaginary owner kicked them off, truly convey a sense of place?

These are not theoretical questions. As computer-generated virtual-reality images of homes become less costly to generate, many in the home-building industry expect them to play a central role in the buying experience.

If the two virtual-reality houses I saw at the International Builders Show last month in Las Vegas are any indication, the quality of the presentation will vary, and your reaction will depend on where you are in the buying process -- just beginning your search and surfing the web to learn about builders and locations, or seriously interested in a specific house and in pursuit of details about the finished product. Here's my take on two virtual presentations at the builders show: Builder magazine's "Builder Concept Home 2010: A Home for the New Economy" and the National Council for the Housing Industry's "New American Home 2010."

For the prospective buyer who's deciding which new-home communities to visit, the council's 1 1/2 -minute video provides just the right amount of information to pique interest. It shows only six of the 14 rooms in this 6,800-square-foot house, but the images are so detailed that , most viewers will think they are real. Buyers will find it easy to make the mental leap and imagine themselves walking behind the camera crew filming onsite RM Design of Bartlett, Ill., achieved such hyper-realism in part by incorporating the most minute detail of every material in the Las Vegas house (for example, the ridges on the roof tiles); a site-specific quality of light (the brilliant desert sun really does gives everything outside a washed-out look while colors in the shaded interiors are highly saturated); the climate (with little annual rainfall, most palm tree leaves in Las Vegas are covered with grit); accurate sun angles (rays of sunlight pouring through some windows become distorted as they hit different shapes of furniture); mirrored reflections on the windows as the camera takes you on a stroll around the exterior; and subtle signs that someone lives there, such as fish swimming in the large tank tucked into a niche above the living room fireplace.

By the end, I could navigate through the house with my eyes closed, but these computer-generated images did not give me a sense of what it would feel like to be in the house or how I would feel about 1,770-square-foot size. Would a king-size bed fit in the master bedroom? For the casual visitor, this virtual tour is overkill, but if I became seriously interested in buying this house, such information would be invaluable. To be fair, the site was created for home builders, not the general public.

Judged in terms of design and not the presentation, however, Builder's modest but flexible house can meet the needs of many households, and it may mark the beginning of a suburban home-building renaissance.

Designed by architect Marianne Cusato, it is a 2010 adaptation of a modest cottage-style house that was built all over the American East and Midwest from about 1860 to 1930. The traditional two-story cottage-style house has a first-floor living-dining room with a kitchen opening off one end, and three bedrooms upstairs. Cusato's version includes a second full bathroom on the second floor; a first-floor powder room; and, off the back, an "adaptable suite" with a third full bath, two walk-in closets and a separate entrance.

That suite can function as a master bedroom for parents with older kids, or as a family room, a grandparent suite or a separate apartment. If the family's finances go south, the adaptable suite could be rented as a studio apartment. (One closet has plumbing rough-ins for a kitchenette.)

A space on the second floor is also adaptable. In the basic house it is simply unfinished storage, but it could become a fifth bedroom, a sitting room for the master suite, a nursery for very young children or a home office. Finishing this space adds another 230 square feet, bringing the total for the house to 2,000 square feet.

From a marketing perspective, Cusato's design would suit a number of household types, and such broad appeal will certainly interest home builders. .

How much will Cusato's small house cost? A builder in upstate New York who is building two has said his costs are coming in at about $85 a square foot without a basement, according to Cusato. This works out to about $170,000 with a finished second-floor attic but doesn't include the land cost. This version, however, may be a plain one with limited appeal.

Home buyers who are interested may insist on upscale accessorizing. They may agree with Cusato that the era of the huge McMansions with their "lawyer foyers" and unused rooms is over and embrace the idea of smaller houses with flexible floor plans. But it's not clear that they are ready to give up granite countertops, upgraded appliances with stainless steel fronts, triple crown moldings, custom cabinetry and all the other must-haves that can quickly drive up a price.

Smaller Floor Plans Demand Creativity With Space, Design

Smaller homes are increasingly in demand by home buyers. Here’s how to designs spaces that sell.

As lifestyle choices, demographics, and economic realities shift home buyer preferences, more and more buyers are turning their backs on the McMansion and demanding small floor plans for homes. But no matter the reason, smaller does not—and cannot—mean sacrificing style, amenities, and, ironically enough, space.

“Everybody’s got to find a way to build smaller homes, because that’s where the market is and where it’s going to be for some time,” Boyce Thompson, editorial director for Builder magazine, told attendees at a workshop during the International Builders’ Show. While Thompson couldn’t rule out that McMansions may someday make a comeback, the reasons for their current passé status are hard to ignore: too much unused space, a shift to smaller families, lending constraints, baby boomers trading down instead of up, and echo boomers in need of space-efficient entry-level housing.

"Simply put, American homeowners no longer want so much “house.”

In addition, attitudes have changed. A Builder magazine survey of new-home shoppers found that two out of three fear job loss; at the same time, spending quality time with family has become more important and more homeowners are opting to stay in. “People aren’t looking to the house as an investment anymore,” Thompson said. “They’re looking at it to create the lifestyle they want to live.”

Indeed, meeting new footprint constraints shouldn’t mean sacrificing the comfort, warmth, or livability of the home (such dropping ceiling heights below 8 feet, a tactic tried by some a few years ago), explained architects William Devereaux of Devereaux and Associates in McLean, Va., and David Kosco of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Bassenian Lagoni Architects.

First and foremost is to know what your buyers truly need and what they aren’t willing to sacrifice. “Instead of a one-size-fits-all arrangement, you need to go into your market and see what works,” Devereaux said. In some of his East Coast markets, for example, buyers are more than willing to forgo formal living and dining rooms.

Here are a number of other tips for maximizing space without sacrificing design:

• Think about fewer walls and less compartmentalization: Focus on great rooms and eliminate the formal living room and dining room spaces.
• Create flex rooms that are multifunctional. These can be utilized in a variety of ways—such as a formal space or as a den—depending on styling and furniture. Kosco includes “respite” space in his designs—one room outside of the great room that allows for alone time.
• Don’t waste space for circulation.
• Don’t sacrifice warmth-inducing touches, such as built-ins and fireplaces.
• Expanses of glass and natural lighting can create the illusion of space. Think both horizontally as well as vertically. In one plan in California, for example, Kosco specified floor-to-ceiling windows, with transoms on top of traditional 6-foot-8-inch units. Multiple-panel patio doors and interior French doors also can contribute daylighting.
• Kosco also utilizes visually interesting ceiling treatments—such as a barrel vault ceiling in the kitchen or bath and wood beams in bedrooms—to broaden the visual space and create interest.
• Embrace storage opportunities. Utilize wasted space, such as under the stairs, for storage. Kosco also stretches kitchen cabinets to the ceiling, with smaller units at the top for rarely used items.
• Don’t neglect outdoor areas, from the porch to the patio. “You have to look at those spaces as a way to expand [the living area],” Devereaux said.
• Rather than a passé U-shaped kitchen, remove cabinets from one side and add a center island, which is a higher-value item in buyers’ eyes.
• Use color: White walls don’t inspire and make small spaces feel dull.
• At the entry, don’t just pour visitors into the living room, Kosco said; give them some sort of arrival.
• Think about “memory links”—those touches that stick in a shopper’s mind, such as a special detail like a window seat.
• Above all, don’t be boring or cookie cutter. The footprint of the home may be smaller, but there is always room for amenities and luxurious touches. “We have to keep some design in our housing or we’re not going to have anything to sell,” said Devereaux.

Article by Katy Tomasulo: deputy editor for EcoHome.

Home Plan Design Process

As each project has its own personality, so will the Design Process. These steps may be modified to meet the unique design goals of each of Aronson Architects clients.

Programming and Schematic Design:

• Meeting with Clients
• Determine all Requirements
• Determine What is Being Retained (pre-existing construction)
• Develop Concepts and Schemes for the Project
• Preparation of Preliminary Plans
• Review Project with Client 

Design Development:

• Finalize Space Plans
• Finalize Selections of Materials
• Finalize Lighting and Electrical Plans
• Prepare a Budget
• Present Plans, Specifications and Budgets for Approval 

Contract Documents:

• Prepare Working Drawings (after Final Approvals)
• Consult with any Professionals for Structural Specifications
• Prepare Bid Specifications

Contract Administration:

• Obtain Competitive Bids
• Review all Contracts by Subcontractors and Suppliers
• Arrange for Commencement of Work
• Schedule Work for Timely Completion for Client
• Make Periodic Visits to the Job Site
• Supervise Installations, as necessary

Space Planning, Floor Plans, Furniture Layout:

• Review of Architectural Plans
• Designing Additions and Expansions
• Create Space Plans that Flow with Work and Lifestyle
• Furniture Placement
• Room Expansions
• Office Build-Outs (Commercial)

Exterior Selections for Home and Office:

• Pavers
• Patios
• Patio Furnishings
• Windows Shutters
• Paints and Stains
• Roofs and Gutters
• Doors
• Fences
• Outdoor Lighting

Aronson Architects: For the ultimate in home and house plans.

Questions to ask Before Deciding On A Home Plan

You should know all of the following before deciding on a home plan:

1. Do the plans or blueprints include the electrical and the plumbing? - The rough plumbing should be included in the plans. It should have a detailed presentation of the pipes and where they come into the house. The electrical lightings and outlets should be included.

2. How will I customize my plans? If you want to customize your plans, you can buy a reproducible master copy printed on erasable paper. This erasable paper will allow you to make changes. You can ask your local draftsman or engineer to make changes for the plan and layout. This will also allow you to reproduce copies of the plan after the changes have been made. Customizing your plan is often necessary to make your plan perfect for your individual tastes.

3. What are the things included in the blueprints? - Of course a blueprint should be well detailed. It should include:

a. Foundation plan - a foundation plan shows how the foundations are built. This is where the thickness of the foundation walls are emphasized including the spacing, floor joint sizes, column locations, furnace, water and heater locations, plumbing, windows, doors and other miscellaneous details that are related to the basement and foundation.

b. Coversheet - a coversheet is a representation of the house when it is built. A coversheet may not be compulsory for a home plan but it would be better if it is presented. The purpose of a coversheet is to give the owner a perspective of how the home will look after it has been constructed. This may contain the front, top, rear and side view of the house. This is important so that the owner can give suggestions.

c. Floor plans- the floor plans indicate the construction and layout of each part or floor of the house. The ones naturally included are wall sizes, room dimensions, plumbing and electrical locations, doors, windows, flooring and the structural information and the special conditions related to the floor plan.

d. Elevations- this is a representation of the exterior of the house, its size, shape of the doors and windows, size of the trim, the dimensions and the height, the depth of the foundation, shingle types and moldings, replacement of materials, the pitch of the roof, and the gutters and downspouts.

4. Are the blueprints signed and approved by the architect? - This is very important to ensure that an architect has reviewed the blueprint and it has passed all the requirements of a home plan. You can also ask about the background of the architect who signed your home plan.

These questions are essential in choosing a home plan. Take the time to get the answers, this is your home after all. Visit Aronson & Associates "What's Included" page to get the full gamut of plans you will receive with your purchase.

Construction Industry Angry Over Provision In Senate Health Care Bill

Washington, D.C., USA (AHN) - Owners of small construction firms across the country are angry over a provision in the Senate health care bill that they say is unfair. At issue is a provision that treats construction businesses differently than other small businesses.

The Senate bill has a provision requiring businesses with over 50 employees to pay a fine of $750-per-worker fine for any employee who purchases subsidized health insurance on their own. However, the provision was amended to require construction businesses with more than five employees to pay the same fine.

The construction industry says that in these lean financial times the provision will result in many of them being forced out of business.

The amendment was inserted Wednesday morning in order to garner the necessary 60 votes to pass the bill.

Construction firms are crying foul over the provision that treats them differently from every other business with fewer than 50 employees.  The National Association of Homebuilders issued the following statement in reaction to the bill.

"This narrow provision is an unprecedented assault on the construction industry and unjustly targets an industry trying to keep its doors open during the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression," said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. "If this provision were to be enacted into law, it would prove to be catastrophic for the home building industry. In short, this is a true jobs killer. Thousands of small builder firms struggling to stay afloat could go under. We strongly urge the Senate to reconsider and pull this onerous provision that threatens the viability of small home builders across the nation."

Before becoming law, the Senate health care bill still needs to be reconciled with the legislation passed by the House in November, and each chamber needs to approve the merged bill before sending it to the White House.