Editorial
Front Page - Friday, August 20, 2010
Realtors recognizing value of green homes targeted in upcoming seminar
Erica Tuggle
The Hamilton Heights townhouses are just one example of the green building that Collier Construction has done.
- Photo provided by Christian Rushing
Building a green home is not what it was in the ’60s and ’70s, says Ethan Collier, the founder and owner of Collier Construction. These homes don’t have to look weird, be built out of tires or bales of hay and are not going to be twice as expensive as a “normal” home. If anything, they will save you money, he says.
Collier will use his time at the CAR seminar Sept. 1 to debunk the myths of green building and get Realtors in-the-know on how to view and sell green homes.
“The goal is to get, ultimatlely, the entire community ... to recognize the fact that a green built home should be valued at more than a comparable house that is not built the same way,” he says.
While homes with granite countertops and swimming pools are appraised for more, Collier says, green homes that have roofs will last 50 years as opposed to non-green home roofs that last maybe half of that and should be appraised to be worth more.
“What we are trying to do with this seminar is help Realtors begin to recognize what they are looking at when looking at a green house, so they are well educated in what makes a house green, what should make it worth more and for us it is more than just a window or an Energy Star appliance, it is the way a house is constructed,” he says.
Collier says in the five years he worked in building before he started his own company, he saw the repeated lack of care for the way homes were built. Emphasis was put on aesthetics, like choosing the right kind of paint, but the missing piece was the overall quality of the house and energy efficiency.
When he began Collier Construction a decade ago, the mission became to give customers a better experience in general as well as a good-looking house that lasted longer and had better energy bills.
When building a green home, he says, they build a home that can look like the neighbor’s home, but be much more efficient for the life of the home. While building, he pays attention to details of every wall, reducing lumber, evaluating each piece of the home and putting in inexpensive sealants and glues to create air barriers that keep in the heat and air and keep hot, humid air out of the house.
“We had a 5,000 square foot house and it was all electric and the energy bills were like $75 a month during the summer and up to $115 in the winter,” he says. “That was half of what all the neighbor’s [bills] were, and we didn’t use any geothermal or solar panels or high tech equipment. We just paid attention to details when it was being built, did a couple of things differently, and got a drastically different result.”
Collier says the primary attraction for people who want a green home built is cost. The missing piece that customers fail to consider when they buy a house is the maintenance and upkeep cost, and he says the green homes they build are 100-year homes compared to the typical 50-year homes. Although a typical home may last more than 50 years, the roof, window, siding and other replacement costs of a non-green home make up the cost difference.
He says, “We are using products that are more durable and are putting them together in such a way that creates a more durable finished product, so total life cycle cost has decreased. We talk to people who aren’t as interested in savings as much as durability because they have spent time in a house that every single weekend required maintenance and upkeep.”
Because green things are usually considered expensive, many think they cannot afford a green home, Collier says. This is untrue, he continues, because 60 to 70 percent of the work they do comes at no extra cost to them, very little additional cost to customers and in the end, it reduces operating costs of a home 30 to 40 percent.
“People are thinking only of what they are paying for a house today and not what will be paying for all the parts to replace. If people can begin to see this, I think it will make it a lot more palatable to enter into a house that is green and make that step,” he says.
Even if someone is not going to hire Collier, he says he is still trying to educate the public on the process by inviting them to a green home they are building every other Saturday for tours. Builders and trade contractors that work for other companies, and those as far as Athens, have come to see how Collier is building, he says.
“We would encourage anyone, even if they are not thinking about building soon or have a hired builder, to still spend a little time with us to understand what kind of things they need to be thinking about, what questions they need to be asking. It is important that we have an educated public that is making smart purchasing decisions,” he says.
He says their newsletter goes out to the public and competitors in the hope that the green building process will become more popular, and says Collier doesn’t need to keep the idea all to themselves for success.
He says, “We are trying to get the message out there that any builder can do this. It’s not rocket science, and it is something we would like to see every builder do. We would love to hear that we have four new competitors that are all building the same way we are. In the end, we are all benefiting from that style of construction, which I would rather see than us keeping it quiet.”
For examples of the Collier Construction portfolio and information on green building, visit www.collierbuild.com.
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