Our Head of Sustainable Technologies, Leigha Dickens, presented on a panel with four other builders who each use different types of “offsite construction” methods, plus a Pacific Northwest National Labs researcher who collects data on certified Zero Energy Ready Homes. The latter had put together interesting research showing that projects utilizing offsite construction techniques often have better air-tightness scores and better HERS scores than homes in the program that use stick framing alone–a topic that she and Leigha have presented about before.

This panel consisted of four building companies, each with a very different business model, yet all using structural components built in a factory. Longtime followers of Deltec might know that we started out as a panelized kit manufacturer back in the 70s, building our unique round homes and selling them to customers all over the country. But the use of panelized components is not unique to Deltec, and is indeed a growing trend in the industry overall. Leigha spoke on a panel with a production builder based in Delaware who purchases pre-built wall panels for all their single and multi-family projects, a SIPS builder based in NC, and a startup modular home manufacturer that builds exclusively to Zero Energy Ready Home standards. No matter the business model, all had found that factory pre-fabrication helps them to deliver a high quality product.

Leigha also presented on a panel on women in construction, highlighting the need to get more women into the industry at all levels and sharing insights on how to succeed as a woman in a still very male-dominated field.

And of course, the highlight of the week was receiving Deltec’s third Housing Innovation Award from the US Department of Energy for a Ridgeline project recently completed in Ohio. (View case studies on this home and our other past Housing Innovation Award winning homes.)

Other notes from the EEBA Conference:

• The competition for the Housing Innovation Awards was very impressive this year, with ground-breaking projects across the US looking at things like interconnected community energy management, embodied carbon accounting of the materials in the home, fire resilience, and more. We were happy to see our home state of North Carolina well represented with three winners, two from Asheville.

• Manufacturing concrete is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, yet concrete remains a necessary building material. One presentation estimated the impact of the manufacture of concrete at 8% of global carbon emissions–but also posited that reducing concrete by 3% could make a significant impact on the world’s progress towards Paris climate goals. There are ways that individual customers can reduce the concrete content of their projects, such as looking into concrete with higher fly ash content.

• Water availability remains a growing challenges for builders in the Western US, especially amid a changing climate. Deltec picked up some leads on some simple water-saving technologies that clients might be able to implement into their homes, such as Rainstick and Hydraloop.

• Resilient buildings benefit all of society. Recent work by the National Institute of Building Sciences found that for every $1 spent to build new buildings to current resiliency codes, $11 is saved. Deltec provides structures to meet and often exceed local energy and wind codes.

The post Dispatches from the Energy and Environmental Builders Alliance Summit 2023 appeared first on Deltec Homes.

The US Department of Energy just announced their 2023 Housing Innovation Award Winners, and we are thrilled to announce that for the third time, one of Deltec’s custom home projects was selected as a winner!

A team effort with the amazing homeowners (who acted as owner-builders, and were so inspired by high performance building that they started their own general contracting company), Deltec’s winning project was a customized Ridgeline Model, certified through the DOE’s Zero Energy Ready Home Program. This voluntary, third party green certification program sets forth a rigorous list of requirements during the design and construction of the home, including requirements for insulation, heating and cooling systems, water systems, and materials used in the home that maximize energy efficiency, comfort, and air quality. These requirements are achievable in today’s current building market, and yet represent a set of best practices for construction that tend to go well beyond what you typically see in new construction if such care and planning is not intentionally brought into the process.

Each year the US Department of Energy selects from among Zero Energy Ready Certified homes a subset of projects recognized as Housing Innovation Award winners. Additionally, from this group of winners a Grand Award winner will be selected in each of these four categories: Off the Shelf (projects with the best use of repeatable, cost effective features to achieve energy performance), Blazing the Trail (projects with the best examples of using innovation), Class is in Session (projects that spread education and training about high performance building), and DeCarbon Copy (projects that are exemplary in de-carbonizing the building process.)

The Housing Innovation Awards, and news as to which award winning projects are further selected as Grand Award winners, will be presented at the Energy and Environmental Builders Alliance (EEBA) Summit, where builders from all over the US with a focus on environmentally responsible building methods gather each year to share knowledge and resources. So stay tuned!

GreenAcres High Performance Home Consulting, the homeowners turned owner-builders who spearheaded the work to have their home certified through this program, recently sat down with us at Deltec to share their excitement in being winners of this award with their home. Their project set a new benchmark of energy performance for the Deltec system, with a new air-tightness score of 0.46 ACH50 (reaching Passive House levels of air tightness) and a HERS index of 37 without PV. Said the homeowners, “The combination of a Deltec precision assembled panelized building system and an innovative high performance build by a contractor like Greenacres HPHC LLC can deliver exceptional home comfort, air quality, efficiency, and durability.”

Deltec certainly agrees that a panelized home system is a great fit for anyone looking to achieve energy and environmental performance that goes well beyond the status quo, whether that is in pursuit of a Zero Energy Ready Home, or any other performance goal. To that end, Deltec’s Sustainability and Innovation Lead Leigha Dickens (top, left) will be presenting at the 2023 EEBA Summit, along with a panel of other builders, on the energy performance benefits of using panelized construction methods.

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A few weeks ago, we posted the exciting news that we had been honored by the US Department of Energy with our second Housing Innovation Award for a Ridgeline F project recently completed with a builder partner in Wilmington, NC. Housing Innovation Award winners are chosen from among homes certified to the DOE’s Zero Energy Ready Home program, and were recognized at the annual Energy and Environmental Builder’s Alliance (EEBA) conference in Denver.

During the awards ceremony we just learned that not only were we one of four Housing Innovation Award recipients in the category of custom for buyer under 2500 square feet–our project was selected as the Grand Winner in that category! We are so honored, as there were many exciting projects on display.

Some other interesting tidbits from this year’s EEBA Conference and Housing Innovation Awards ceremony:

• North Carolina was once again well represented among award winners, with three separate winners from North Carolina, and two of us from Asheville!

• Collectively, the Housing Innovation Award winning homes will save over $2 million in energy costs over their first 30 years of life.

• Research presented showed that that high performance builders think the next major innovation to revolutionize building will be automation and off-site building.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm spoke during the award ceremony, reiterating the importance of the built environment in solving our emergent energy issues in society at large. Homes that are built to use dramatically less energy, through electric sources that are “ready for zero” with the continued growth of solar and battery storage options, and homes that are built with materials and construction methods that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have a key role to play in a de-carbonized future. We are thrilled to be recognized as leaders helping move the industry forward!

View the press release from the US Department of Energy.

View the DOE case study on the award-winning Ridgeline project.

View a list of all of the 2021 Housing Innovation Award winners.

View Secretary Granholm’s remarks from the awards ceremony.

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Our President, Steve Linton, our Marketing Director, Scott Cocking, and our Green Building and Sustainability Manager, Leigha Dickens, will be virtually attending the EEBA (Energy and Environmental Building Alliance) conference this week to accept the award, speak about our embodied carbon, marketing, and resiliency, and learn from lots of other high performance builders on the innovative things they are doing to tackle healthy, high performance, and climate-conscious homes.

A case study of the Ridgeline F will be features on the Department of Energy’s Tour of Zero website, check back here for the link when it becomes available. In the mean time, you can see our own recent blog on this project here, and see a list of all the 2021 Housing Award Winners here. (Thrilled to see North Carolina so well represented among award recipients!)

A special thanks to Old School Rebuilders LLC, out of Wilmington, our excellent turnkey builder partner for this project.

The post Deltec Wins Second Department of Energy Housing Innovation Award appeared first on Deltec Homes.

One of the ways to increase our impact is to join with other like-minded builders who are also dedicated to building green that are better for our environment. Together, as a group, we can do more than each of us can do individually.

That is why we are excited to announce that we have joined the Energy and Environmental Alliance (EEBA) Builder Benchmark Group (BBG).

This group of leading high-performance builders come together to benchmark their businesses, share, learn and collaborate on issues impacting the industry—in the name of improving and mainstreaming high performance building.

We are excited to join the BBG and to more actively engage with these 14 other leading builders in the EEBA community.

We have long been fans of the EEBA, whose mission is to advance and disseminate building science knowledge in the residential new construction community via education and collaboration. They have built a reputation as the leading resource for information and education for sustainable building. Its community of more than 60,000 is the only one specifically designed to help high performance builders thrive. They also celebrate high performance building and host the DOE’s prestigious Zero Energy Ready Housing Innovation awards. (which we were recognized with an award in 2019) at their annual conference.

In joining the BBG and taking a more active role within EEBA, Aaron Smith, CEO of EEBA says, “Deltec Homes are built to profoundly impact people’s lives through their resilient and high-performance homes.  We share their belief that the whole world should build that way and excited to have them part of our organization.  Being part of EEBA will strengthen their capabilities and solidify their goal as they take advantage of BBG’s open-forum resources.  Resilience is our mutual mantra and aligning with EEBA BBG will allow Deltec to achieve a greater impact of new applications in sustainable building.”

We absolutely agree.

The post Building on our leadership in the sustainability movement appeared first on Deltec Homes.

According to Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, “Housing Innovation Award winners are leading a major housing industry transformation to zero energy ready homes. This level of performance is the home of the future because it improves the way Americans live by substantially reducing or eliminating utility bills, ensuring engineered comfort way beyond traditional homes, protecting health with a comprehensive package of indoor air quality measures, and helping maximize the largest investment of a lifetime.”

Zero Energy Ready Homes use the very best practices in building science to offer clients a healthful environment, comfort plus, advanced technology, ultra-efficient, quality-built, and durable homes. Only the attention to detail provided by a builder deeply versed in building science, who follows this third party standard and is inspected by a third party Rater can deliver this kind of experience to a homeowner.

We couldn’t be more proud of this amazing accomplishment, a true team effort from our sales team, our design team, our course our great clients, and every member of our turnkey build team, Deltec Building Company, for putting in the work to make this happen.

Soon, this project will be featured on the Department of Energy’s Tour of Zero, a virtual showcase of the innovative home building projects and systems happening all over the country. Deltec Homes is so honored to have been selected to have our project featured there as an award winner!

The post Deltec Home Wins Department of Energy Housing Innovation Award appeared first on Deltec Homes.

Steve and Ursula’s conversation is wide ranging, from what makes Deltec Homes different, to Steve’s experience as a middle school teacher, to leadership lessons. If you’re curious to learn more about Steve and about Deltec Homes, check out the podcast on Apple or Android .

The post Podcast Feature: Work Alchemy appeared first on Deltec Homes.

“Convention is the enemy of progress” – Trevor Baylis

Weird drives change. Something that’s weird is nontraditional, innovative, thinks outside the box (get it?). That’s exactly who we are and what our homes demonstrate. As our late founder, Robert Kinser, put it: “we like to be on the cutting-edge” and that’s been true since Deltec Homes started in 1968.

The weirdness began when our founders started building A-frame houses and were amazed at how inefficient it was. There was a lot of wasted space and wasted materials. When they saw how much more efficient a round house was, they did extensive research, made a few modifications, and Deltec Homes was born! Since then, our offerings and techniques have evolved, yet the building industry has remained the same: cutting materials and framing onsite, exposed to weather; builders in dangerous positions, hanging off scaffolding; and an average of 25-30% of materials (that you pay for) thrown in the landfill.

Maintaining the status quo can only go so far, and call us crazy (or weird), but we believe that your home should be built to a higher standard than what you see with most construction: protect from some of the most severe weather, provide a healthy indoor environment, low maintenance, reduce energy use, and last for generations to come.

So while Deltec homes aren’t for everyone, we take pride in the fact that our innovation in a stagnant industry is being noticed!

The post Yes, Deltecs are weird appeared first on Deltec Homes.

“The B Corp values align with what our company has valued since 1968. We’re passionate about not only creating a better product, but a better community, environment and world,” said Steve Linton, president of Deltec Homes.

In order to become certified, we had to meet stringent performance requirements conducted by B Lab, the nonprofit that certifies and supports B Corporations, and must be reevaluated every two years. In addition, unlike traditional corporations, Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their employees, suppliers, community, consumers and the environment.

“The true measure of our success goes beyond a profit,” said Linton. “We’re so proud to be the first in our industry to receive B Corp Certification and we hope it encourages others to soon follow.”

Some highlights from our performance report:

• All homes build using 100% renewable energy
• 99.9% of materials used to build homes are made in USA
•  >75% of homes built to exceed energy code by 30% or more
•  >80% of waste diverted from landfill
• >20% reduction in energy use at company facilities in 2015

With just over 1,600 Certified B Corporations® from more than 120 industries and 40 countries, we’re proud to be placed in a coveted community with some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Patagonia, Etsy, New Belgium and Ben & Jerry’s.

Learn more about the global movement using business as a force for good:

The post Proud to Be a Certified B Corporation! appeared first on Deltec Homes.

The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2015.

“This is a huge honor,” said Steve Linton, president of Deltec Homes. “Customer service is extremely important to us. We believe building a home should be exciting, not stressful, so we focus on going above and beyond for our customers. This is the ultimate measure of our success and it’s so rewarding to see how genuinely satisfied our customers are.”

“Anyone building, remodeling or decorating looks to Houzz for the most talented and service-oriented professionals” said Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing for Houzz. “We’re so pleased to recognize Deltec Homes, voted one of our “Best Of Houzz” professionals by our enormous community of homeowners and design enthusiasts actively remodeling and decorating their homes.”

We sincerely thank everyone who wrote a review to help us win!

To follow Deltec on Houzz click here

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