EnergyStar Builders (Huntsville, Steele: home builders, construction, cost)

[matt_the_wxguy]

Anyone know any local home builders (doesn't have to be one of the big builders in town; perfectly ok w/smaller builders) who are experienced building to EnergyStar standards? Or who at least are open to building "high performance" homes (e.g. EnergyStar certified or at least willing to implement some additional steps to create a more energy efficient house)?

[RocketDawg]

Here's a list that I found by googling. If the data is accurate, there seems to be very little EnergyStar building going on around here, even though there are a few builders certified to build to those standards. If you're planning to build, you might be advised to keep a close eye on things yourself.

https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm...=AL&msa_id=154

[matt_the_wxguy]

Yeah, I've seen the list. You're right that it definitely involves keeping an eye on things yourself. Not sure how familiar you are with a lot of what makes something Energy star certified, but it's important to have a builder who is on board with you. It's lots of unglamorous minutiae (did you spray foam around that whole, did you leave any gaps in insulation around the eaves of the attic, etc). It's difficult for someone to "keep an eye on things" to hold a builder accountable if he's not on board.

That said, I guess I'm not necessarily looking fir EnergyStar certified...I don't actually care if the house is certified......just trying to find builders who are open to meeting some specs I request that aren't normal and who is open to trying new things without acting like I'm crazy.

[huntsvillemadisonresident]

https://www.mungo.com/energy-savings

[r x f]

Originally Posted by matt_the_wxguy

Anyone know any local home builders (doesn't have to be one of the big builders in town; perfectly ok w/smaller builders) who are experienced building to EnergyStar standards? Or who at least are open to building "high performance" homes (e.g. EnergyStar certified or at least willing to implement some additional steps to create a more energy efficient house)?

How 'high performance' are you going with?

I used Steve Steele (he does custom homes) to build my house and it exceeds all Energy Star requirements except the radiant barrier in the attic (not a cost effective choice in this area). It's not that hard to meet Energy Star V3. In the city of Huntsville, they already require the insulation crew to foam up all external penetrations and all penetrations between floors and the attic. The city also performs a blower door test on all new residential houses to IECC 2009 (I think, maybe be 2012). 2009 requires 7.5 ACH and 2012 requires 5.0 ACH. Energy Star V3 is 5.0 ACH.

My home used standard construction techniques. No gaskets or any high performance building technologies. Blown cellulose in the walls and attic. 1.5" foam on the crawlspace walls and crawlspace rim joist. I sealed the 1st to 2nd floor rim joist with 1" rigid foam and sealed with foam. Would use a big foam kit if I had to do it over. Very tedious.
I went behind the insulation crew and popped foam in the holes they missed (several), caulked the direct vent fireplace penetration with proper caulk, and hit every single hole in every electrical junction box with intumescent caulk. I'd use the proper foam if I did it again. The caulk was tedious.

All the stuff I did, you could have the builder do for a few thousand dollars. Steve would have done anything I asked for, but I wasn't sure what exactly what I wanted when we started and I enjoyed getting down in the weeds as the house went up.

If you're building a house, especially a custom house, you need to be on top of the builder to get it done the way you want it. That's just the way it is, even with the best builders. Nobody cares as much about the house as you do.

[unlblkrubi]

https://www.houzz.com/pro/imagineinc...t-construction