I've been living in this prototype home now for 1 year and it's been a great experience! A year ago I knew that I had designed a home that should perform very well, was built with quality materials, and had achieved the Energy Star Tax Credit and Gold Level for NC Healthy Built Homes. But many questions still needed to be answered, like: how well would it really perform? how much would it ultimately cost? how successful would this blog be? and what changes would I make if I were to do it all over again? I now have those answers.
As for what changes I would make, I've broken it down into a few categories: aesthetics, functionality, performance and costs.
As for aesthetics, I would only change the front porch roof to a gable and extend it out to meet the sides of the house and change the front windows to match accordingly. This would increase the size of the front porch by 4 feet, but I could reduce trim materials and go to a stick framed roof instead of the shed trusses, keeping the costs about the same. This change would make it more challenging to flash properly, but overall, I feel it would add some additional curb appeal to this prototype. I could also tie in the gutters from the front porch to the two down spouts of the main roof and not only make the rain runoff more efficient to manage, but ultimately collect more rain water when I install my rain barrels.
As for functionality, the main change I would make is to move the hybrid hot water heater to the attic which would open up the laundry room and make the space more efficient. Moving the water heater to the attic could also boost performance of the water heater as the attic tends to be the warmest space in the home due to the stack effect. This would make it more difficult to access the water heater to change settings (like vacation mode or high demand for example), but I don't mind the extra 30 seconds to do this. I would also make minor changes like room and closet sizing, but most people would never notice, so I won't take the time to explain.
As for costs, this is the most challenging one to answer. Unfortunately, I did not have a builder that was paying attention to the costs or the budget as well as offering solutions to reduce expenditures while still maintaining performance and quality. For example, he ordered a $300 (2x2) insulated crawlspace door for a closed (not conditioned) crawl space. This is just one of many examples as it did not need to be an insulated door. I would also change the pocket doors (which are attractive) to standard doors, as pocket doors are very expensive. And lastly, but probably my biggest issue, was the amount of waste. Once again the builder just didn't give a damn and all I could do was express my frustrations and think about how to change this for future projects. It can be a delicate line to walk when your builder is not meeting your expectations and tells you one thing, but does another. Burning that bridge can sometimes result in more headaches than what it ends up being worth. I've learned a lot and I am still very blessed for what I have and where I am at today!
As for the success of this blog, to date this blog has been visited 4280 times. I truly hope that the information on this blog has been helpful to others and received positively, while also creating a dialogue that encourages better building practices.
As for the performance. My 12 month total for utility bills is $563.19 which averages out to $46.93 per month. The code (built) based model home that this prototype is compared too was expected to have a 12 month total of $2,100.00 or $175.00 per month. The total monetary savings = $1,536.81. With an average monthly savings of $128.07, the math works out to a 73.2% reduction in utility costs. With today's mortgage rates (based on excellent credit), an additional $128 a month that could go into your home would result in being able to borrow about $25,000.00 more. Now of course the appraisers and lending institutions won't properly value this (as I've talked about in a previous post) but hopefully we will see this change to a direct added valuation in the future.
Lastly are the costs of this prototype. I've estimated, without cost savings that I could extract if I were to build it again, that my cost per square foot = $105. My goal was to see if I could build a very high quality, socially responsible, healthy, safe, strong and Net-Zero Energy home for under $100 per square foot. Well, I've done the math and with the available tax credits and utility rebates, installing a 4+kW PV system on this prototype would easily achieve Net-Zero Energy status for under $110 per square foot. Not quite $100 per square foot, but overall an amazing low price compared to other green certified homes in my market area.
Although I plan to continue updating this blog with posts, my posts will not be as frequent. My organic gardens are almost complete and I will take pictures and write about this in the future. I also plan to do a post on the future PV system that will be installed, but that most likely will not be until the beginning of next year...I've heard that the best time to have PV systems installed is right after the new year as the tax credits are less attractive as most homeowners have to wait until the following year to use the credits.
Best wishes and thanks for stopping by!
Craig Payne
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