HOUSES THAT WORK:
Educational Series

Bright Ideas for Builders: Building on Green

Looking for ways to improve sales and creatively market the energy efficient homes you build? Well, you could attend the EEBA Excellence in Building Conference and EXPO this October in Phoenix, Arizona, (hint hint), or borrow a page from the playbook of these two successful builders.

Christian Builders Lights up the Parade of Homes

During the 2007 Parade of Homes in Minneapolis Christian Builders decided that cookies and full-color brochures weren’t enough for the prospective homeowners filing through their model home. They decided to hand out energy efficient light bulbs.

“It wasn’t a revolutionary idea, but one of those deals that seemed to make sense so we ran with it,” said Brad Richardson, president of Christian Builders. “The Parade of Homes is the biggest marketing event that happens here and we wanted to get their attention and get them thinking that even the smallest things will help them save energy.”

Richardson believes the promotion worked.

“People actually listen when you tell them that compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs) last eight times longer and instead of 60 watts you are using 23 watts. Especially since energy costs seem to be going crazy.”

But the benefits extend beyond saving on energy bills. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, it would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of almost 800,000 cars.

“We’re just a bunch of farm kids up here trying to do the right thing when we build a house,” said Richardson.

Along with the light bulbs, Christian Builders also handed out a promotional flier on a new program they launched to help entice energy conscious home buyers. For a limited time home buyers have the opportunity to have Christian Builders pay their entire natural gas and electric bill for a year.

“The idea was that we think the costs of operating a home we build are substantially less than the average home. We test all our houses so we aren’t cocky, we’re confident,” said Richardson. “They send us a copy of their bill and we reimburse them within five days. So each month they get a reminder of why having a tighter built house was such a good investment.”

As with similar programs that “guarantee” lower heating bills, the promotion has limits. “We didn’t want them to open all the windows and run the furnace all the time, so we put a $4,000 cap on it. If they use less than that over the year, in the thirteenth month we send them the balance.”

As research for establishing the incentive, Richardson contacted his local gas company to find out what the average monthly usage bill was for similarly sized homes in their market. For the electric bills he simply turned to his own employees who brought in their statements. To help ensure the program amply covered his customers’ annual usage, Richardson then added the expected total and came up with the total cap amount he thought would work.

“In our market a $4,000 giveback is not unusual. So hopefully we’re doing it the right way. As builders we all need to start thinking in a different manner in order to compete. You have to be innovative.”

Being innovative with promotions is one thing, but what New Traditions Homes in Vancouver, Washington offered their customers takes the idea of freebies to a whole new level.

Just like Oprah, except you have to buy a house

“About three and half years ago we created the Building Science team,” said Steve Tapio, leader of the Building Science team for New Traditions. “After attending some sessions on building energy efficient homes we realized it was something that we really wanted to be involved with and figured that if we were going to do it, we should do it right.”

After self-educating their staff on better building practices and environmentally responsible construction, New Traditions decided to take the message to their customers. This year in June and July they launched a new promotion where they gave away a new car to customers who bought an energy efficient home.

Not just any car though, New Traditions left a new Toyota Prius or Toyota Yaris in the driveway.

“We joined forces with a local car dealership who is really taking the lead in the green movement in our area,” said Tapio. “We called the promotion ‘Saving green while building green’ or something like that. The idea was that if you are going to have an energy efficient home, you should have a fuel efficient car to go along with it.”


Customers had the choice of taking the car, or the same amount in upgrades. Though a few did choose the Prius, most opted for more conventional improvements like upgraded countertops, patio covers, or higher end cabinets.

By marketing the event through normal channels like real estate agents, fliers, and advertisements in local magazines, Tapio believes the promotion was a great success and was able to highlight New Traditions’ commitment to energy efficient home building.

“We build to the ENERGY STAR standards and to the Earth Advantage standards. Our insulation is basically to code but we go further to make sure there are no gaps or compaction during installation. All our homes come with a gas-fired furnace that is at least 90% high efficiency and are moving from 50% CFLs in our homes to 100% throughout.

“All our homes have blower door test and duct testing. We are becoming experts now and are inspecting the work of our trades and expecting them to install to a much higher standard,” said Tapio.

According to Tapio, the message of building energy efficient homes resonates well with their customers. The key is to provide the information for them so that they can understand the value to them in the long run.

“It gives our customers confidence, knowing that the pieces and parts that go into the house have actually been researched. The feedback has only been positive. Most builders are told what to use and install by their trades and product distributors, but in our case we look at every aspect of the home and engineer it to be more durable and energy efficient.”

Both Richardson and Tapio acknowledge that the marketing ideas they used to promote energy efficient building were borrowed from other builders. Events like the EEBA Excellence in Building Conference & Expo or Houses That Work educational classes offer builders the opportunity to learn more about building performance, marketing and sales in all markets but in particular when sales are down.

To learn more about the success stories like those of New Traditions and Christian Builders, plan to attend the EEBA Excellence in Building Conference & EXPO, October 22-24, 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona. For over 25 years the EEBA Conference has been the industry’s best networking and educational venue. For more information on a Houses That Work session in your area or to register for the 2008 Conference visit www.eeba.org.