At Cutting Edge Design, “Green" starts with something that everyone can agree is a critical part of a "Green" home: energy efficiency. A more energy efficient home is not only less expensive to run, but is more comfortable and more durable than a conventionally-built home. The “Big Three” areas to concentrate on for energy efficiency are 1) heating & air conditioning, 2) windows & doors and 3) insulation & air sealing. If you wish to go beyond energy efficiency, we can help you design a more robust “Green” home that addresses concerns for manufacturing stewardship, embodied energy, and off-gassing to name a few. All of these aspects add up to a lower impact on our environment. We understand that there are many definitions of "Green", and we are willing and able to work with you to develop your own personal "Green" home.
A Green Home is a healthy home: Since we design a tightly sealed, well-insulated home, we make sure that your home is control-ventilated as well. It is important to provide constant fresh air into a tightly sealed house. Since we engineer and control the source of your home's ventilation, we can then filter the fresh air, in order to help relieve allergy and asthma symptoms, reduce the effect of diseases, etc.
We design with the “Big Three” in mind from the beginning. Because we have knowledge of various quality Green systems, and incorporate them early in our design, you have the advantage of a cost-effective Green Build. If you choose to bid your house design to a few builders, we provide bid analysis to help you compare their proposals, to help mitigate or eliminate extra charges during the build process. Bid Analysis is important for all projects, but it is especially necessary for Green homes. We ensure that the Green systems we design are provided and installed by contractors experienced in these progressive systems.
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We use a third party company to evaluate the Energy Efficiency of the construction, to ascertain the general build quality of your important investment and to certify your project as an Energy Star home.
We offer assistance in selecting appropriate sites for your project, considering “Green” factors such as solar orientation and micro-climate; as well as advise on site topography, access, views, zoning, various building restrictions, setbacks, buffers and easements, and other site assets and liabilities.
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Ultimately, we recommend the Design-Build approach to optimize your total architectural design and build experience. With this approach, we pair you with an Energy Star builder who works with us from the beginning to deliver a quality, Energy-Efficient home on time, and on budget. This process is the best way to ensure that you get a quality Green home, constructed by contractors experienced in the advanced Green systems that we specify, and to ensure that we deliver your project within your budget. We have a variety of knowledgeable, and able honest builders who work with us from the very beginning of your project to make sure that your new home, renovation, or addition is completed in a quality, cost-effective manner.
With utility prices continuing to rise, most existing buildings are in need of renovating for Energy Efficiency. We diagnose, design and energy model the predicted results of our Green Renovations to show you the estimated energy savings before your project begins. We help you realize a minimum of 30% savings off of your utility bills. During the build process, we monitor the installation of these Green systems, using a third-party energy auditor to ensure quality work and to maximize your energy savings results.
We will design a Green addition to your house, and where practical and within your budget, we can renovate the existing portion of your home to be more Energy Efficient.
In the case of both Additions and Renovations, demolition of existing materials is required. In order to maximize recycling potential, we work with Second Chance, Inc. (www.secondchanceinc.org), a non-profit organization that deals with whole-house donations, and selected, material-based, recycling. |
