100 Top-Requested Building Products Includes 53 Eco-Friendly Picks

From the web site of EcoHome, their sister publication Building Products assembled the top 100 building products from Custom Home, Builder and Remodeling from mailer service cards. Click on the “Building Products” link and find several new products and many old favorites. You’d be surprised what people are interested in putting in their homes today. Energy-Efficiency and Green products are the most requested! It seems people want to buy products to save money, which in most cases means saving energy too! No surprise here.

It’s just that I feel most builders are stuck in the past ways of building. They either don’t know how to add new energy-saving products or are unwilling to move out of their old (if-it-works-don’t-fix-it) way of building. I know there are several innovative builders out there that take charge in presenting new energy-efficient and green products to their buyers. Some builders even take it on themselves to educate new home buyers about the energy efficient life-style. Yes, they probably feel like it’s a waste of time to educate home buyers on energy-efficiency when in most cases it fails to produce a sale.

Nowadays, most Home Buyers want a bargain, or at least if they spend more now on energy-efficient add-ons, they hope it might save money later. The challenge lies in the fact that it is hard to pick a good energy-efficient or “Green” product from the thousands that are coming on the market that will cost less, save money, and last! For your new homes, seek third-party certification such as through LEED for Homes, NAHB Model Green Home Building guidelines, and Energy Star.

I remember all the hoopla about the solar fad back in the 1980’s. I educated myself about solar, even built a few successful projects using direct and indirect solar gain. But when the solar tax credits ran out and winters got warmer, people forgot all about it. People really didn’t seem to understand it anyway. I don’t think it’s like that way now. Solar, Wind, Geo-Thermal, Hydro, Bio-Mass, Hybrid and others are just many ways people are now realizing that it’s not a fad, energy-efficiency is finally here to stay - not only will it save money - but because we have to!

New and Updated Plans: June 12

Here is a list of new & updated plans we just added to our website:

Under 2,000 S.F. Cottages

* NEW PLAN - Wrightsville 1792-4

* TWO (2) UPDATED PLANS
1) Channel Watch 3887-4E
2) Surf 1754-4

We will keep you posted with upcoming new plans.

What's Wrong or What's Right with Homes Today?

I was surfing the web the other day (I know, what a waste of time) looking for inspiration or new ideas... and actually came across one! I came across an interview with Chris Andreson talking with Watts Wacker & Ethan Zuckerman where a Chinese appliance manufacturer, Haier, was trying to expand their market in rural areas and came across a situation where there was a complaint about cabbage leaves getting stuck in their washing machines. It seems that in rural areas, their washer was being used to wash produce in order to make it better and therefore get a higher price at the market. As it turns out, instead of adding a large notice that their washers shouldn’t be used to clean produce, they added a “produce washing” cycle instead, and therefore added to their market sales.

By watching this video, I thought, “what are some ways people use homes that designers don’t know about?” Therefore, I invite you to send in ideas about ways you use your home, or new ways you would like to use it. What do you use the “Living Room” for? What is the purpose of the “Sunroom?” does doing the laundry spill over into the hall? Would you like to cook more outdoors? Do you exercise in the living room? See what I mean? How do you REALLY use you home, or WANT to use your home? Send me a short reply, I’d really like to know.