New Product Saves Energy On Your Custom Home!
It seems like almost every year a company comes out with a "New Space Age Product" that will revolutionize the entire home building process! Not only that but it will cut homeowner energy bills down to almost nothing, without any increase in building costs. Wow, this is wonderful! In fact, it is almost unbelievable? Actually, it is unbelievable, because it's not true! Usually a potential Client hears about this new space age product from a salesman at a building show or a inexperienced Builder that is looking for an edge on the competition.
1. Let's take all the emotion out of this issue and approach it practically. Homebuilding is an incredibly competitive business. Anyone that ever held a hammer thinks he can build a house. After all, Builders just go out and hire a bunch of subcontractor and suppliers that do all the work. The Builder just sits back, supervises the workers and collect the money. Wrong!
I've been in the home building business for over 40 years and my own business for almost 30 years. Believe me building a home is the easiest part of running a home building business. It's more complicated than you can imagine. If I thought for a minute that a new product has just come out that will make my job easier and sell more homes, I would be all over it!
2. Do the energy savings add up? That's an easy question to answer. Are you going to just believe the manufacturers web site or salesmen? Let's hire an independent, Certified Energy Rater that analyses energy saving products, every day, against a Nationally Recognized and Accepted Computer Program. The Energy Rater will tell us how energy efficient the new product is by producing a HERS (Home Energy rating System) score. We can calculate the payback period quite easily and see if the salesman's claims add up. If they do I'll start building all my homes with the new product. I'll even pay the Energy Rater to perform the analysis. I do this on every home we build anyway.
Why are Central Florida Home Builders constructing new custom homes out of concrete masonry units (CMU'S) or more commonly know as concrete block? Because when you run the numbers it makes sense.
3. Will the new product cost the same as the current industry standard? Since homebuilding is so competitive don't you think Builders would switch over to a new product that was better and the same cost as the current industry standard?
4. Using any new product entails a certain amount of risk. Builders are bombarded by multiple new products every day. It's our job to wade through the various items and balance risk against the potential benefits.
As the end user of a new untried building product you will have to live with it in the long run. The Builder only has to stand behind it for a short while. If your builder is uncomfortable using it on your home, you should be too! Try reading the installation instructions and warranty info for a new product that has been written by a team of lawyers. Believe me, when something goes wrong with it, everyone will be headed for the exits. The conclusion will be, the product was not installed properly or was used improperly by the consumer. It's smarter to let a new product season in the market place before using it in your home. Trust me on this one.
Have an awesome day!
Mike
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