“What is the use of a house, if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
-Henry David Thoreau, 1845
Spectrum Fine Homes, Inc. has made the commitment to promote design and building with techniques and products that do not adversely affect our clients’ health or the environment and which increase the energy efficiency and comfort of their homes.
What does this mean for you and your project?
Family security and health; better indoor air quality due to less toxic building materials and finishes result in greater safety for your family.
Green building techniques and products increase the energy efficiency of your home, saving you money as you live in and enjoy your home. Green homes are built with better insulation and low E windows andhave fewer drafts. The home is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, without the need for additional mechanical equipment. This often results in lower monthly operating costs.
Green building products are higher quality and more durable, and Green Building techniques create homes that will endure for years and years. Many manufacturers spend more time and more money to create Green products that are better than the standard product that they replace. The cost of these materials to you, the consumer, is competitive with the standard products.
Recycling, reusing, and resource conservation whenever possible during the course of building your project, as well as in the day-to-day function of our office, reduces the negative impact on our environment. Green Building is doing the ‘right thing’.
Less maintenance on your home gives you time to spend with your family doing the things you love to do. Many Green products are made from materials that resist weathering and insects and are created to last.
Doesn’t Building Green mean that the project will cost more to build?
In some cases, the use of Green Building knowledge is applied across the board, in all of our projects, and will not affect the cost of building or of the materials that we use on your project. An example of this is our use of building insulation that does not off-gas formaldehyde into your indoor environment, but equals or exceeds the insulation properties of the commonly used products on the market. We can use Green insulation products that are no more expensive than the normal insulation.
In many cases, the long-term savings in owning an energy-efficient home, offset the initial expense of using the Green Building technique or product. An example of this is using a very energy efficient tankless water heater, which will cost more than the standard tank variety, but because it supplies hot water on demand, the savings on your utility bill will soon be realized.
These are only two examples of using Green Building techniques and products that illustrate the fact that it does not necessarily need to cost more to build Green. We are committed to working with our clients at whatever level of comfort you may have to utilize our knowledge in this area.
We think that making a conscientious choice to include sustainable building practices in our business is the right thing to do to preserve the environment for future generations, and to give our clients the most comfortable and healthy home in which to live, both now and for generations to come.
“We did not inherit the earth from our parents. We are borrowing it from our children.”
-Chief Seattle |
