October 17, 2005
Next: Outside the vinyl box | Chris Briley, Josh Fedorka and Mony Hang, principals, Green Quality Homes, Portland
By Sean Donahue
There's a lot wrong with the American homebuilding and real estate industries, and Chris Briley, Josh Fedorka and Mony Hang want to fix them. Contractors have been building houses essentially the same way for decades, despite advances in building materials, techniques and heating systems that can make houses more efficient and more healthy for their inhabitants and the environment. And the real estate market increasingly bases the value of properties on ever-larger floorplans and luxury appointments, even though 4,000-square-foot homes and Brazilian cherry floors don't make much sense for the typical family.
So Briley, Fedorka and Hang ˆ an architect, a builder and a real estate agent, respectively ˆ are challenging the status quo with Portland-based Green Quality Homes, a home design and construction outfit they founded in 2003. The company builds super-efficient, environmentally friendly houses that use advanced technologies and non-toxic or sustainably generated building materials, but that look like high-end custom homes with traditional New England design. By putting those homes on the market alongside what they call the generic "vinyl box" models of most homebuilders, Green Quality Homes wants to show homebuyers that there is another way to build. "People just don't realize they can get a house like this," says Briley, age 34.
With that approach, Green Quality Homes is pushing green home design and sustainable building practices out of the fringes and into the mainstream. Currently, most green homes are built by true believers ˆ folks with deeply held environmental convictions who are willing to design their own super-efficient homes. Green Quality Homes is instead showing high-end homebuyers they can enjoy the benefits of energy efficiency without the off-the-grid mentality. "The people who came to see our house seem to be young professionals, not tree hugging-type people," says Fedorka, who has completed one Green Quality Homes house and is working on the second.
It was Fedorka, age 27, who kicked off the Green Quality Home initiative about two years ago, when he met Mony Hang, now 29, at a business networking event. Fedorka was committed to green construction (he runs his truck on biodiesel), and was looking for a way to grow his business. Hang, a real estate agent, got on board after several discussions with Fedorka convinced him of the value of the green approach. Then, the pair decided they needed a designer to work with them in-house, and found Briley, a Leadership in Energy Efficient Design-certified architect who previously worked with TFH Architects in Portland. Now, the partners handle the entire process themselves: Hang finds the land to build on (and helps sell the house when it's done), Briley designs a home and Fedorka builds it.
Green Quality Homes' first effort, known as Harmony House in Freeport, tells you everything you need to know about the approach. It doesn't just use extra insulation or high-efficiency appliances. It's different from the ground up. The house faces south to make the best use of a solarium and an energy-recovery ventilation system that provides much of the winter heating. The foundation is built with insulated concrete forms and a radiant-floor heating system to eliminate the moisture problems that plague most Maine basements. Fedorka uses 24-inch on-center framing, rather than the typical 16-inch on-center framing, to reduce the amount of wood needed, and cellulose insulation made from recycled paper. Those efforts help make the house 40% to 70% cheaper to heat and operate than a typical home.
Inside, Briley has chosen floors of bamboo, because it's a more renewable fiber, and countertops made from recycled office paper bound together, Briley notes with pride, with a non-petroleum resin derived from cashew nut oil. "It's a completely integrated system," he says. "You can't just do part of this house."
Buyers pay a premium of between five percent and 10% for a Green Quality Homes house, the newest of which will cost about $500,000. But the partners say it's more a quality premium than a green premium, comparable to what a homebuyer would pay for amenities like exotic hardwood floors and granite countertops, which don't offer the cost-savings of their homes' green features. Still, they admit they're having a hard time explaining that to the market.
Because their houses are unusual, appraisers and lenders have trouble determining their value, say the partners. The equation is especially tricky for Hang, who says potential buyers sometimes don't see why they should pay the same price for a 2,500-square-foot, four-bedroom Green Quality Home as they might for a standard high-end home with a bigger floorplan. "It's buying on status," says Hang. "We want to get away from that mentality."
The best way to reeducate the market, they say, is to get more of their houses built. With more Green Quality Homes on the market, appraisers and lenders will have more basis for comparison, and buyers may realize that they can start asking the home building market to pay attention to efficiency. "The more houses like this that we put up," says Fedorka, "the more we're going to make a change in the entire state."
So Briley, Fedorka and Hang ˆ an architect, a builder and a real estate agent, respectively ˆ are challenging the status quo with Portland-based Green Quality Homes, a home design and construction outfit they founded in 2003. The company builds super-efficient, environmentally friendly houses that use advanced technologies and non-toxic or sustainably generated building materials, but that look like high-end custom homes with traditional New England design. By putting those homes on the market alongside what they call the generic "vinyl box" models of most homebuilders, Green Quality Homes wants to show homebuyers that there is another way to build. "People just don't realize they can get a house like this," says Briley, age 34.
With that approach, Green Quality Homes is pushing green home design and sustainable building practices out of the fringes and into the mainstream. Currently, most green homes are built by true believers ˆ folks with deeply held environmental convictions who are willing to design their own super-efficient homes. Green Quality Homes is instead showing high-end homebuyers they can enjoy the benefits of energy efficiency without the off-the-grid mentality. "The people who came to see our house seem to be young professionals, not tree hugging-type people," says Fedorka, who has completed one Green Quality Homes house and is working on the second.
It was Fedorka, age 27, who kicked off the Green Quality Home initiative about two years ago, when he met Mony Hang, now 29, at a business networking event. Fedorka was committed to green construction (he runs his truck on biodiesel), and was looking for a way to grow his business. Hang, a real estate agent, got on board after several discussions with Fedorka convinced him of the value of the green approach. Then, the pair decided they needed a designer to work with them in-house, and found Briley, a Leadership in Energy Efficient Design-certified architect who previously worked with TFH Architects in Portland. Now, the partners handle the entire process themselves: Hang finds the land to build on (and helps sell the house when it's done), Briley designs a home and Fedorka builds it.
Green Quality Homes' first effort, known as Harmony House in Freeport, tells you everything you need to know about the approach. It doesn't just use extra insulation or high-efficiency appliances. It's different from the ground up. The house faces south to make the best use of a solarium and an energy-recovery ventilation system that provides much of the winter heating. The foundation is built with insulated concrete forms and a radiant-floor heating system to eliminate the moisture problems that plague most Maine basements. Fedorka uses 24-inch on-center framing, rather than the typical 16-inch on-center framing, to reduce the amount of wood needed, and cellulose insulation made from recycled paper. Those efforts help make the house 40% to 70% cheaper to heat and operate than a typical home.
Inside, Briley has chosen floors of bamboo, because it's a more renewable fiber, and countertops made from recycled office paper bound together, Briley notes with pride, with a non-petroleum resin derived from cashew nut oil. "It's a completely integrated system," he says. "You can't just do part of this house."
Buyers pay a premium of between five percent and 10% for a Green Quality Homes house, the newest of which will cost about $500,000. But the partners say it's more a quality premium than a green premium, comparable to what a homebuyer would pay for amenities like exotic hardwood floors and granite countertops, which don't offer the cost-savings of their homes' green features. Still, they admit they're having a hard time explaining that to the market.
Because their houses are unusual, appraisers and lenders have trouble determining their value, say the partners. The equation is especially tricky for Hang, who says potential buyers sometimes don't see why they should pay the same price for a 2,500-square-foot, four-bedroom Green Quality Home as they might for a standard high-end home with a bigger floorplan. "It's buying on status," says Hang. "We want to get away from that mentality."
The best way to reeducate the market, they say, is to get more of their houses built. With more Green Quality Homes on the market, appraisers and lenders will have more basis for comparison, and buyers may realize that they can start asking the home building market to pay attention to efficiency. "The more houses like this that we put up," says Fedorka, "the more we're going to make a change in the entire state."
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