More builders look to be eco-friendly

For years the amenities and features in new-home construction have been consumer driven. Custom countertops, high ceilings, wood floors, designer kitchens — even three-car garages — have taken turns recently as must-have desirables for buyers.

So builders traditionally have created homes with dazzling items customers could see, touch and feel.

But things are about to change. Take it from a few Long Island contractors, such as Tony Panza and Colette Frey-Baker, who recently attended the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla.

The reason is green building.

“I’ve come back invigorated about the whole idea,” says Panza, owner of Turtle Pond Builders. “It has to be what the industry is about now, about where we are going.”

Green building means erecting houses that are better insulated, use less energy, conserve water and are more eco-friendly. The green label includes almost all phases of building, from rooftop to basement floor, from asphalt shingles to fiber cement siding. Green homes are more about what’s behind the walls or in the utility room. Traditionally, those features don’t translate as “sexy.”

But going green is the talk of the industry after the National Association of Home Builders introduced its new Green Building Program.

Some time in May, the builders’ group will be naming about 1,700 builders “certified green professionals.”

Among them will be Frey-Baker, owner of Delft Enterprises, a Center Moriches construction and property-management company in the state of New York; she achieved the certification after attending a two-day National Association of Home Builders course on green building in Orlando. Panza attended two green seminars in Orlando and expects to join the ranks some time this spring.

For Frey-Baker, the green designation is important because it shows buyers there’s a difference in how homes will be built. “Many builders on Long Island are complying with the guidelines for building Energy Star homes, and a lot of the NAHB’s green building program is similar,” she says.

But the certification from the national association is another tangible method for measuring the efficiency of a home. There’s a score card, she says, so builders and homebuyers can rate construction with a points system.

Like the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design, the national builders’ program uses a checklist to determine levels of green. The checklist features seven categories — lot design, resource efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, operation and maintenance and global impact.

In each category, points are awarded for green technology, concepts and products. The maximum point total is 395, which achieves gold status. Homes reaching between 311 and 394 points achieve silver status. Homes that come in with 237 points or better will earn bronze status.

What the checklist means, Panza says, is that builders must be more educated. “I think, yes, there is a knowledge level we now have to achieve,” Panza says. “It’s our job to show how these buildings are better than existing buildings.”

Panza says that the competition among new-home builders is the resale home. When potential buyers are shopping for a change in living space, new-home builders will be under pressure to show how a new, green home is better, in the long run, than something built 20 or 30 years ago. “But we’re going to have to prove it to customers, and green certification is the way,” he says.

In some instances, a certain level of green can be achieved simply by building smarter. For example, incorporating solar-passive building concepts, which often don’t call for more expensive materials, can reduce heating and lighting costs. The use of native plants, ground cover and drought-resistant grasses can cut water use.

The hard part for builders, says Greg Barnych, a vice president of Florence Building Materials, will be convincing buyers that high-priced green products are worthwhile. “People will have to understand why they will be paying more for green,” says Barnych, whose company has five Long Island locations. “Green products can be 20 percent more expensive than traditional materials.”

Again, says Panza, the burden is with the builder. “We’re going to have to know why a certain system or product is better, and even more cost effective, over the long haul,” he says. “It’s about being educated.”

For buyers of high-end homes, the emphasis on green might not be a big deal. People who can afford to build those homes often don’t care about high utility rates or energy efficiency, say many builders. Even so, the $4.8 million New American Home 2008, at nearly 7,000 square feet, was built to the new National Association of Home Builders green program. Earning gold-level certification, the home is 62 percent more energy efficient than a similar size home built to the conventional “non-green” code.

But at lower price points, over the next few years, new-home buyers might not see features to which they’ve become accustomed. Emphasis on wood flooring and granite countertops is likely to switch to high-efficiency heating and cooling systems and a drainage basin that reclaims storm water for irrigation.

“Somewhere down the line,” Panza says, “builders have to say we need to make these kinds of homes because they are better for everyone.”