Subject: Custom Home Online Placement
From: "Merilee Kern" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:47:26 -0700

http://www.customhomeonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=224&articleID=1362381

Las Vegas Custom Builder Bets on Green
Engaging in speculative building when the economy is just beginning to stabilize may seem like the worst possible idea. For one custom building company, however, it simply was the best option available.

           
     
                 Email this article  
                 Print this article 
                 Subscribe to CUSTOM HOME 
                 Subscribe to Newsletters 

            Read more articles related to: 
                    a.. green
                    b.. News

     
Source: CUSTOM HOME Magazine
Publication date: August 12, 2010

By Stephani L. Miller

When John Curtis began work on a 9,318-square-foot house in Las Vegas, he and his family intended to live in it for a few years before selling it. But when the economy faltered, John and his wife, Ronell, co-owners of Tyler Construction & Development, needed to reassess the situation.

Having just secured the construction loan for the project when economic conditions began to tank, Curtis admits he was panic-stricken for a while. A sharp drop in the worth of their existing home also presented the Curtises with a decision: sell their current home at about half its value or remain in it and build the luxurious new home and sell it. They decided to remain in their existing home and forged ahead with the project as a spec home for sale. Luckily, the high-end community they had selected to build in had better retained its value.

"I thought, 'Well, you can't give the money back to the bank.' So I decided to just keep my head down and build it better than anybody else could," Curtis says.

"Better" in this case equated to "greener" for Tyler Construction, which already had been incorporating energy-efficient systems and practices into some of its homes. With this project, however, the company went far beyond its previous efforts and took a more holistic approach to green building by addressing water efficiency, occupant comfort, and indoor air quality along with structural durability and energy-efficient performance.

Curtis designed and built the spec home to meet the requirements of the Masco Home Services Environments for Living (EFL) program's Diamond* level certification, which addresses energy consumption, water conservation, indoor air quality, and occupant comfort and also ensures that a home's heating and cooling systems perform at least 50 percent better than code.

Las Vegas is far better known for its excesses than for environmental restraint or sustainable attitudes, but green building is catching on even in Sin City. Production home builder Pulte, for example, has built homes in several Las Vegas neighborhoods to meet the requirements of the EFL program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Builders' Challenge program, and LEED for Homes Platinum certification.

Noting the success of other local builders going green, as well as the growing interest among home buyers, Curtis decided this was the perfect opportunity to enter the market himself and learn how to build in a much more sustainable way.

"As we started to build, I started to see the different ways that you do things, and now I wouldn't build another house any other way," he says, even considering the 1 percent to 2 percent additional cost incurred in part by the necessary systems engineering, performance reviews and inspections, and certification.

"It was a bit more time-consuming and cost me a bit more interest on my loan, but not that much more. The extra benefits far outweigh the extra cost," Curtis adds.

To achieve EFL Diamond certification, Tyler Construction's green spec house incorporates:

a.. 
An airtight and highly insulated building envelope and sealed ductwork;

a.. 
Low-E windows;

a.. 
A 15-zone HVAC system that allows individual room control and is tied to the house's automation system;

a.. 
A fresh-air ventilation system;

a.. 
Balanced air pressure to help maintain even temperatures;

a.. 
At least 65 percent compact fluorescent lights;

a.. 
Water-conserving shower heads, faucets, toilets, dishwashers, and clothes washers. 

Launch Slideshow
 
Tyler Construction & Development's Diamond-Certified Green Spec House
Play Slideshow >>

Tyler Construction & Development's Diamond-Certified Green Spec House

  a..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-ExteriorFront1_tcm81-567675.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  Tyler Construction & Development's green spec home in the Las Vegas community of The Ridges in Summerlin has been certified at the Diamond level under the Environments for Living program.

  b..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-InteriorKitchen_tcm81-567678.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  The house's kitchen includes ample prep surfaces and eating areas.

  c..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-ExteriorPatioPool_tcm81-567676.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  The kitchen and sitting area open onto a patio and outdoor living area that features an infinity-edge pool, rock-wall waterfalls, and hot tub.

  d..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-InteriorMasterBath1_tcm81-567679.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  A soaking tub is the centerpiece of the master bathroom, which also incorporates a two-person walk-in shower, walk-in closet, and safe room.

  e..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-MasterBedroomSittingArea_tcm81-567674.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  The master suite is divided into two parts separated by the freestanding fireplace wall: a sitting area, shown here, and sleeping area behind the fireplace wall.

  f..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-InteriorPowderRoom_tcm81-567680.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  One of the house's powder rooms.

  g..  
  http://slideshows.hanleywood.com/Images/LasVegas-GameroomWineBarWineRoomDoorstoTheaterGym_tcm81-567677.jpg

  600

  Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group

  Among the house's many recreational areas are the wine bar and glass-enclosed wine cellar inside the larger game room, adjacent to the movie theater room and home gym.

But the house wouldn't fit the Las Vegas profile-and its $3,195,000 price tag-without a bit of excess, so Curtis designed expansive living spaces that extend through telescoping patio doors onto a shaded patio, infinity-edge pool, hot tub, and waterfall. Interior finishes include coffered and tray ceilings in several rooms, extensive use of marble tile on floors, walls, and in bathrooms, as well as hardwood flooring, multiple fireplaces, and European-style cabinetry in the kitchen and bathrooms. The master bedroom retreat includes a luxurious bathroom featuring a soaking tub and two-person shower with multiple showerheads and water jets, as well as a spacious closet complete with laundry facilities and a safe room.

Rounding out the features are the whole-house Crestron home automation system, two climate-controlled wine cellars, a movie theater, a gym, an elevator, underground parking for nine vehicles, and a central vacuum system.

At completion, the house achieved a rating of 63 on the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index, 22 points better than the Energy Star minimum requirement. "Building this way makes so much sense," Curtis muses. "I wonder how much energy I've blown in my own older home compared to this one."

Building within the EFL program allows builders to guarantee an estimated annual energy usage for a particular home and the comfort of the home's interior conditioned spaces. The cost of heating and cooling Tyler Construction's green spec house is guaranteed to run less than $366 per month for three years-about the cost of cooling an average 2,000-square-foot Las Vegas home during the summer, according to Curtis.

Though not a requirement of the EFL program, Curtis says he considered adding photovoltaic panels to generate electricity for the home, but he soon discovered that the community bylaws wouldn't allow it.

There are those who would argue that a 9,000-plus-square-foot house is inherently unfriendly to the environment, no matter how efficiently it performs. But Curtis notes the three-story, five-bedroom, seven-bathroom house isn't much larger than many of the other high-end homes in Las Vegas, and it's the only green-certified project in its community. For Curtis, the proof of the house's sustainability is in its performance, and he's hopeful that potential buyers will agree.

According to some reports, home prices in Las Vegas have stabilized over the past year, and new-home sales are predicted to increase in 2010. Curtis says he believes the high-end market in Las Vegas is starting to turn around.

Learn more: Curtis and his third-party verifier and consultant for the project, Robert Sprague of Sustainable Energy Services, recorded a video (available on YouTube) in which they discuss the work that went into the project.

*EFL's Diamond level certification has been discontinued; the program now awards only Gold, Platinum, or Certified Green levels, but occasionally will award a Diamond certification to projects that surpass Platinum requirements for builders who choose not to pursue the Certified Green award.