TOOLS, MATERIALS, RESOURCES, LINKS, DEFINITIONS, ETC.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 24, 2009 at 6:01pm

This doesn't look good but we can use it to our advantage. I'll be explaining what I mean later.

U.S. NEW HOUSING STARTS FORECAST

http://www.forecasts.org/house.htm

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 24, 2009 at 6:20pm

HERE IS A TOOL OF ADMINISTRATION:

Six critical points of administration to consider when forming any new activity or revising an existing one:

1.Observation: When observation is lacking planning as well as any and all progress can become unreal and faulty even destructive. The observation has to serve those that are in charge and those who plan. And, of course, the observation must be TRUE. If the observation is weighted or slanted or colored it can lead to gross errors.

2. Planning: Plans are what emerge from dreams but the plans have to fit into what is needed and wanted and what can actually be done (ties back into observation). Planning has to be laid out in a sequence of steps that build one upon the other and arrive at the stated objective. In other words, the plan requires a named end product. Each step taken in the sequence to get to the end product is a sub-product.

3. Communication: A great plan can be for naught if it cannot be communicated in such a way that it can be understood and not misunderstood. If the people who are overseeing the plan and carrying out the plan do not know what they are supposed to do and when they are supposed to do it they can easily wind up doing something that is not at all needed, thereby, wasting time, funds and effort. In addition, repairs or do overs may have to be done which only serve to expand the waste.

4. Supervision: Is a relay point between observation, planning and communication. Ensures that all are on the same page and the data being used is fresh, accurate and readily available. Also, ensures that execution of the plan is actually occurring per the plan.

5. Producers: Somebody has got to produce the many sub-products that add up to the key end products. You can formulate the perfect plan (in concept) but the perfect plan was formulated to be executed. To be executed somebody has got to be there who can DO the job required. And these jobs should be done by people who don't already have jobs that are consuming their time, effort and attention. In other words, don't overload people. If you do you'll lose them and you won't achieve what you are aiming to achieve.

6. User: Who is going to benefit from the plan when it has been completed? This is a key point to take into consideration when planning and here we find ourselves back up at Observation. The observation had better reveal what is really needed and wanted and what the value of it is. If the observation is omitted or if done is faulty then a lot of hard work can be done by a lot of people at much expense, time and effort to only wind up with something that isn't even wanted by the end user.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by James Everitt on February 8, 2009 at 4:59pm

Guaranteed Home Improvement Professionals, Services and Contractors

Done Right! In A Nutshell
The Done Right Directory® is the trusted, free and easy way for you to find, select and hire guaranteed home improvement professionals that serve your area.
Done Right! eliminates the worry and anxiety normally associated with finding, selecting and hiring a home improvement professional.

How? The Done Right Guarantee®. Done Right! guarantees the services of its home improvement pros, all of whom are pre-screened and relentlessly reviewed.

From general contractors to plumbers, electrical contractors to landscaping and handyman services, the Done Right Directory features guaranteed home improvement pros across more than 100 categories in the Little Orange Book™ for Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, San Diego, and 33 other markets across the US.
About The Done Right Guarantee®

The Done Right Directory® is committed to making sure that the job you need done is done right! That's why we offer the Done Right Guarantee®. If you have already registered for the Done Right Guarantee and wish to apply for action under the guarantee, please Click Here.

To register for the Done Right Guarantee Click Here.

The Done Right Guarantee covers services performed by our approved Service Providers (hereafter "Service Providers" our "Done Right Service Providers") displaying the Done Right Guarantee Logo

Done Right! In A Nutshell

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 25, 2009 at 9:42am

Commentary: Extra Credit for Green Features

Appraisers, Realtors, and lenders need to put a value on sustainability.

By: Jennifer Goodman

article

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Allen R. Gale on January 27, 2009 at 6:45am

This could not be truer - or more important to this type of effort. Unfortuantely this is a problem that can be applied to ALL our systems and situations today. There is little (or no) consideration given to sustainability, operating ecomonies or just about anything other than surrounding sales history.

Appraisers, and next lenders, are the important factors here as it is their "expertise" and practices/principles that control the marketability of, for lack of a better term, "non-standard" housing. Realtors are not educated in these areas, and at least in Georgia are not expected, and even cautioned against, operating as "experts" in these areas, but advised or directed to divert these issues to the "professionals", namely appraisers and lenders. We can take information from the homeowner, in case of resales, or the builder, in case of new home sales, and try to equate those to a value-added figure, but this is usually ignored by appraisers and lenders, who have to set the ultimate value that is used to set the loan amount. This is usually backed up into the selling price , or at least used to determine the down payment amount, which these days has a HUGE effect on saleability of custom homes, which right now these are.

This cycle, in my opinion, can only be broken by selling the added value to the appraisal and lending officer training facilities because if they don't ALL do it, NONE will. (That's how we got into this huge sub-prime mortgage mess - when one did it, the rest had to follow or lose business.) Again, my opinion is that the only way to bring this about may be to find a few independent lenders who understand these principles and get them to start financing these homes, then maybe others will see there is a profitability to this and get with it.

The role Realtors can play in this is to get educated to the value of SEE houses and other high-efficiency or self-sufficiency building attributes and counsel buyers accordingly. This is not easy - at least I haven't had a lot of success with it here. We can also, through our local Realtors' Boards, put political pressure on lawmakers and such to eliminate the restrictions in zoning laws and restrictive covenants that make these practices difficult or impossible to implement.

Sorry to take so much space for this but I feel it is an essential part of the fight to change the building standards and to emphasize that a "big picture" approach has to include such things.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 25, 2009 at 10:14am

From: BUILDER 2008
Posted on: October 28, 2008

CONSUMERS BEGIN TO BUY SUSTAINABILITY ARGUMENT

Energy Pulse survey: More than 80 percent say they would choose one home over another based on energy efficiency.

By: Jenny Sullivan
article

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 27, 2009 at 6:39am

WHAT MAKES A GREEN HOME

A green home incorporates smart design, technology, construction and maintenance elements to significantly lessen the negative impact of the home on the environment and improve the health of the people who live inside. No matter your location or living situation, the opportunities for living a greener life at home are limited only by your imagination.

Green Homes 101

Making your home a greener place is a commitment – to yourself, your family, your community and the world. But more than that, it is a learning process. As exciting new technologies, products and scientific breakthroughs constantly emerge, staying educated on the hows – as well as the whys – of maintaining a green home is the best way to ensure your efforts are as effective and beneficial as possible.

Green Home Defined

A green home uses less energy, water and natural resources, creates less waste and is healthier for the people living inside compared to a standard home. It’s as simple as that!

A home can be built green, or you can make it green later. A green makeover can happen all at once, or it can be a gradual process. But what it all comes down to is a new way of thinking – and a new way of living. From a more energy-efficient kitchen to a tree-filled backyard paradise, your home can be green top to bottom, front to back, inside and out. And it doesn’t matter whether you rent or own, live in an apartment or single-family home, or live in the city, the suburbs or the country.

What is a Green Home

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 27, 2009 at 6:45am

THE BENEFITS OF A GREEN HOME

There are many very real benefits to living in a green home, and every day, more and more Americans are discovering those benefits. That’s why green homes are expected to make up 10% of new home construction by 2010, up from 2% in 2005, according to the 2006 McGraw-Hill Construction Residential Green Building SmartMarket Report. Owning or renting a green home is good for your health, your wallet and our environment.

A Healthier Home

Green homes’ use of toxin-free building materials helps combat indoor air pollution, which can be much worse than outdoor pollution. Unhealthy air inside can pose serious health risks for residents.

Natural ventilation in green homes, as well as use of mechanical ventilation systems to filter and bring fresh air inside and vent stale air outside, keep residents breathing easy.

A Cost-Efficient Home

The net cost of owning a green home is comparable to – or even cheaper than – owning a standard home. If upfront costs are higher, it is often because many architects, homebuilders, engineers, plumbers and other industry professionals just don’t have the knowledge and experience to cost-effectively plan, design and build a green home. Finding a professional familiar with green-building techniques will save you money and ensure you’re getting the best-quality work possible.
Month to month, people who live in green homes save money by consuming less energy and less water than standard homes. Over the years, that adds up to big savings.

A healthier home can mean fewer expensive doctor’s visits and fewer days of missed work.

Soon, it will cost less to insure a green home than a standard home. An increasing number of insurance companies are offering discounts on policies covering green homes. Similarly, several mortgage companies offer discounted loan rates for homebuyers buying green.

A green home is often more durable than most standard homes because of its high-quality building materials and construction processes, requiring fewer repairs.

The value of a green home is often higher than that of a comparable standard home, and the market demand for green homes continues to rise. The Solaire, a green residential high-rise in New York City, brings in rents 10% to 15% higher than market rates, and in Rocklin, Calif., the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certifiedhomes in the Carsten Crossings development outsold the competition 2-to-1.

Local, state and federal governments are increasingly offering tax breaks and other incentives for building LEED homes or adding green features to your home.

An Environmentally Friendly Home

Residential cooling and heating alone make up 20% of the United States’ yearly energy use. Throw in household lighting, appliances and other electronic equipment, and homes are clearly a major source of energy consumption. Most of that energy comes from greenhouse gas producers like oil and coal, contributing to global climate change. Green homes use 40% less energy than comparable standard homes.

Some green homes further reduce our dependence on conventional energy sources as they generate some or all of their energy needs through alternative energy sources like the sun, wind, geothermal energy and biomass.

Efficient plumbing and bathing fixtures, drought-tolerant landscaping and water-conserving irrigation systems help green homes use less water than standard homes.

Far fewer natural resources are used in the construction of a green home. Many green building materials have significant recycled content. Some companies, for example, now make carpets and floor tiles from recycled tires and bottles. Green homes can also be constructed with salvaged materials from demolished buildings. Green homes use materials made from rapidly renewable materials, like bamboo, hemp, agrifibers and soybean-based products. And the use of wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council helps promote socially and environmentally beneficial forestry practices.
Building a standard 2,500-square-foot home creates approximately 2 tons of construction waste that ends up in landfills. Construction of a green home, however, should generate less waste – often much less.


What is a Green Home

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 27, 2009 at 5:14pm

Green Building In Fort Smith, AR


Following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the October issue of Entertainment Fort Smith (E-Fort Smith). E-Fort Smith is a monthly, locally published glossy magazine that focuses in on various individuals, projects and other goings on in the Fort Smith area. But more than anything it is full of ads.

"Each year, the professionals of the Greater Fort Smith Association of Homebuilders pitch in to build and sell a home that represents the best practices of homebuilding. Then they invite the public - and buyers - to tour the home during an area-wide Parade of Homes, all built by association members.

"As a group attuned to not only today's homebuying market, but with an eye to the future, Homebuilders members concentrated more than ever on lean energy use.

"Rocky Walker, supervising contractor of the 2008 home in Williamson Place near Riley Farm in south Fort Smith, is pleased to have met inspection for a certified Energy Star rating for this home, which means the house consumes 50 percent less energy than the average new-construction home of this size. 'But someday, homes will be built to be zero-consumption,' Walker said. 'It's coming.' His company, Cobblestone Homes, and other quality builders are seeking products and techniques to reach even more efficiency in energy use and conservation, he said.

" 'It's like solving the whole energy crisis,' Walker noted. There are many ways to reduce usage and both builders and the associated manufacturers of building materials are adapting to bring usage ever lower.

"It starts with the part you don't see, he explained, while giving a tour of the home's attractive 2,400 square feet of living space.

"He installed cellulose insulation (made of recycled materials), a special caulking package and properly sealed ductwork to avoid leakage of the heated or cooled air. On the outer surfaces, the right roof sheathing, best windows, doors and attic insulation all make the home tighter against loss. An energy efficient furnace and air conditioning system will run less; the house can retain more of its climate-controlled air, Walker said."

The remainder of the article is about the house layout and amenities.

If you're interested you can see a few photos of The Cobblestone Home.

Monte

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 27, 2009 at 5:17pm

I emailed the Green Building in Fort Smith excerpt to a number of my friends and a builder friend from down in FL sent me the following response:

Monte,

Mr. Walker's explanation was so much BULL! The use of cellulose insulation is decades old, a "special" chaulking package, and properly sealed ductwork! Give me a break that is not green building that is doing your job right! That is why I am so over labels like green building or LEEDS and such. It is so much junk. Common sense in design and construction is where it all starts and pretty much ends. You can add some goodies along the lines like solar collectors and wind generators and such but those things don't accomplish anything without quality in design and construction.

A smart builder here uses 5/8" plywood decking with a radiant barrier, it is more costly but provides a dramatic savings in both energy and wind protection. Using a "peel and stick" underlayment for shingles instead of felt, after the shingles foam the roof and seal that with an elastomeric all provide superior insulation as well as environmental protection, the costs are initally more but provide for savings in the long run as we not only approach but achieve a zero power/carbon foot print. Fellows like Walker and companies like Cobblestone have been running that rap for years, to me they are just like the Detroit Three, big on mouth and no real benefit of return, "hey look what I am doing for you" yeah but all you are really doing is what you are being paid to do anyway just marketing it differently.

As for the doors and windows, once again those things have been around for a long time, why is it now you are using them? Given the range of tempatures that you describe happen in Fort Smith I would figure it would be common place to use insulated windows and doors in the first place. Sorry about going on like this but you gave me the perfect example to show case why I have such destain for these "green builders", not all of them are like that but most in my experience are. It's like picking black shingles for a 55+ community because you like the color and not thinking that these people on fixed incomes are now going to face extremely high utility bills because dark colors attract heat and Florida has much more summer than most places.


My response to my friend:

You have made me laugh long and loud! I totally understand, know and agree with what you're talking about. In the mid to late 80s I was working on houses and apartments in OR that were called Good Cents or Super Good Cents (a NW Natural Gas designation for building energy efficient) and everything that Mr. Walker is talking about (like it's some new deal) was SOP. In 76' when I first began framing in OR I was surprised to learn that installation of insulated windows and doors wasn't just someone's good idea...it was the building code as was the installation of a gutter system.

An important point, though, to take into consideration here is that a fact by itself without having a comparable fact to compare it to is worth nothing. Walker threw out a few facts relating to energy efficiency and probably 99% or more of the people that heard or read those facts had no comparable facts to compare to. Hence, those facts while being useless serve to fill the receipt points void with useless data that becomes a pretense of "knowledge". And this is an example of what is being passed off here locally as being "Green".

Monte

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 27, 2009 at 5:35pm

This brings up...

From: BUILDING PRODUCTS September/October 2008
Posted on: September 23, 2008

What You Need to Know About Greenwashing

False Fronts

By: Jeffrey Lee

Excerpt:

"Walking through the exhibit floor at Greenbuild last year, Scot Case was surprised by the amount of misleading or inaccurate environmental claims he encountered at the respected conference on sustainable building. 'I just assumed greenwashing would be less prevalent at that show,' says Case, vice president of TerraChoice Environmental Marketing. 'What I found was the exact opposite. Absolutely everyone was making some sort of environmental claim,' including companies that should not.

"Case found that just one simple query was often enough to bring those claims under a discerning microscope: "What proof do you have to support that claim?" he asked. 'Very few had an answer to that question. That sends a very strong warning that people should be very skeptical of the environmental claims happening in this space.'

"In an atmosphere where many consumers are ready to lay out hefty sums for products they consider green, companies are playing up every aspect of their product that is healthy for the environment. This is not something that is just happening at Greenbuild, but at all major trade shows, in advertising, on Web sites, and so on. In so doing, some manufacturers are taking their claims too far and, intentionally or not, misleading buyers. It's what Greenpeace defines as 'greenwashing': the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. The practice could lead to problems for building professionals who find customers more cynical about green products—and who face the risk of becoming misled themselves."

Read the article greenwashing.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Thomas Peterson on January 28, 2009 at 9:43am

Monte,

Thanks for the excerpt from Jeffrey Lee. I was at a meeting on Energy Efficient housing in Saco, ME last night and briefly said the same thing. Perhaps this is something that it would behoove SEE to stay on top of as a forum topic, if not more.

Part of any evaluation that SEE will conduct is doing a cost / benefit analysis (a.k.a. ROI analysis) As most of us know, many items save energy, BUT some cost more than they save. Buying false "green" products will not do anyone any good. And certainly "greenwashing" will not help our economy, our environment, and those who are sold a product on false merits.

At some point I would like to see SEE undertake an evaluation of all "green" products and concepts from SEE onward to evaluate their actual energy savings for different areas and climates. A product that works well in FL may not work well in Maine and vice versa.

We all say that we want truth and honesty in our governments and in the business world. Anyone can say that they are "green", but they should have to prove it OR be called on the carpet if they cannot or are intentionally misleading. The government can undertake this activity or we the people can!

Thomas

▶ Reply to This

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last