Page 47 - Green Builder Sept-Oct 2019 Issue

The building industry practice of driving cost out of new home
construction to the detriment of long-term durability and energy
efficiency is the worst way to build a house. VISION House®
Seattle Cascades demonstrates a better way.
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BY CATI O’KEEFE
HERRO is building a
sustainable house. It
isn’t just his dream
C.R. house; it is the cul-
mination of all he has ever learned about
home building in the 10 years he has served
the residential home building industry.
Currently the vice president of innovation
for Meritage Homes, he knows firsthand
the tradeoffs that happen between cost and
value, how to educate buyers on the impor-
tance of incorporating sustainability as a
system, and how total value represents a
better business model.
Herro is eager to go through the home
building process himself and come out the
other side with a completed house that
meets his needs while also providing a scal-
able, customizable “template” for homes to
be conceived and built today.
A tall order, to be sure, but Herro is on
a mission. He believes home building in
its current state is overdue for disrup-
tion. “For the last 100 years, most people
have focused on the first cost of building
a home—the material and labor costs to
produce a home,” he explains. “And this is
because there isn’t an understanding of the
net impact of operational costs or durability
of the home.”
Herro has spent the past decade challeng-
ing builders’ assumptions that all they can
do is control first costs. “That assumption
is wrong,” he says. “The full cost of a home
is the mortgage, utilities and maintenance,
and it is a part of the value equation for
builders and buyers.” Those last two terms—
utilities and maintenance—are significant
Balancing act. Builders need to understand
the net impact of operational costs before in the life of a 30-year loan. “The operation
they can focus on the “first cost” of and durability of a home can be hundreds
building a home—material and labor. of thousands of dollars in benefit or cost,
depending on the thoughtfulness of the
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