EEBA's High Performance Home Newsletter

In the transition to a 21st Century business model, builders have moved at wildly different speeds. Some have embraced digital business processes, while others have adopted them slowly, if at all. Of course, we're in a different world today than we were just a month ago. The COVID-19 crisis has put a fire under the backside of all industry players. Builders nationwide suddenly have no choice but to get good at using virtual platforms for coordinating employees, trade partners and customers, while at the same time protecting workers that have to be on the job. Industry publications have done a great job covering this topic in general terms. For instance, Professional Builder magazine just published the results of a coronavirus business impact survey that garnered more than 1500 responses. It's available here: https://www.probuilder.com/week-2-results-update-our-coronavirus-business-impact-survey For this article we decided to take a different approach. To get some ideas on how ... read more

By Ben Walker With codes and high-performance construction programs requiring airtightness testing, a small but growing cadre of home builders have been purchasing their own blower doors. They are finding that this tool's value goes beyond mere compliance. One of them is Arrow Building in Columbia, Missouri, which owner Jake Bruton says builds "durable, energy-efficient, aesthetically pleasing homes." Most of his projects meet Passive House standards, which specify a maximum air leakage of 0.6 Air Changes per Hour at a test pressure of 50 Pascals (0.6 ACH 50). However, he bought his first unit in 2014, before committing to those standards. He heard murmurs that air tightness testing would eventually be part of the code. No other builders in his market seemed to own one, so he figured that being the first would give him a competitive advantage. (Bruton builds custom homes, but some Zero Energy production builders also own blower doors. One is Thrive Homebuilders in Denver, ... read more