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Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series focused on sustainable/green building provided by members of NCHBA’s Green Building Council.

By Randall Lanou, BuildSense Design + Construction

There is no need to reinvent the wheel – or the high performance house. For more than 10 years, Habitat for Humanity and System Vision have been delivering well-built affordable homes that use very little energy. The guaranteed heating and cooling costs for the Builder’s Blitz houses built last year for Durham Habitat for Humanity families is $31 per month for one and $26 per month for the other. Wow. That is not a typo.

How does Habitat for Humanity do it?

Here is the System Vision 2019 Contractor’s Guide that details, step by step, how to pick the low hanging fruit and deliver an affordable high performance home for your customers. Low hanging fruit is the key. What carries the least initial cost and delivers the highest value over time to home buyers? Examples of high-value low hanging fruit include efficient heating and cooling systems and appliances, air sealing, minimizing duct leakage, LED bulbs, transfer grills or jump ducts, and energy heels on trusses. 

If Habitat for Humanity can deliver high performance homes at their price point, we can deliver high value high performance homes at our price points, differentiate ourselves from the rest, and create happy customers.

This post was written by NC HBA.