A Memphis company last week forged an important milestone for the sustainable building movement when the National Association of Home Builders certified the 500th home in the U.S. through the organization’s National Green Building Program.
Chamberlain & McCreery Inc. earned that distinction through one of its green homes, bringing NAHB executives to town for the occasion and lending credence to the notion that Memphis builders have green aspirations.
The home was part of the Vesta Home Show, which runs through Nov. 1 at the Villages at White Oak in Arlington. It was certified to the NAHB’s bronze certification level, meaning it achieved a certain number of points for green materials and systems but not the higher levels of silver, gold and emerald.
Jon McCreery, principal at Chamberlain & McCreery – a company that last year became a certified green professional – said despite enjoying the limelight for the moment, Memphis is still in the infancy stages of the green building craze, which is escalating more quickly in other markets.
“There’s some pockets where environmental issues are a higher priority due to a lot of different factors,” McCreery said. “One could be water shortages in their area, one could be land shortages. You’re kind of forced into environmental issues at some point in time, and some get there quicker than others. We’re definitely lagging behind other areas of the country.”
Getting there
Still, having some national recognition for green homes is a spark for the company and the Memphis building industry. While McCreery said he was happy with the honor, he said the bigger story was the fact that every home in this year’s Vesta Home Show was built to green standards.
Vesta became the first home show in the country to feature 100 percent green homes, with all eight of the homes built to NAHB green standards.
The builders for this year’s show are Chamberlain & McCreery, Regency Homebuilders, FaxonGillis Homes, Ruch Builders, Sterling Homes and Signature Building Group. Chamberlain & McCreery and Regency are building two homes apiece; the others are building one.
“By having this home show and asking the other builders to go green,” McCreery said, “I think it does give us a little momentum.”
Don Glays, executive director of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association, said green building is slowly taking root here as more companies understand what goes into bringing a sustainable home to market and how the demand for such homes continues to rise.
“When I talk to builders about building to the green standard, they look at me and say, ‘I’m just not sure I can do it in the time frame that I need to. There’s a lot of extra hurdles to go through. There’s waiting for the right certification and inspections and verifications,’” Glays said. “But when we got that (NAHB) press release, every one of the builders was so excited and so grateful that we worked with them to get that green standard done.”
Glays said he is working with six builders for MAHBA’s spring home show, which will be at an infill subdivision to be named later. Glays said the show will be in Germantown, and he hopes to bring green homes to that event just like the one happening now.
“I think I’m going to be able to convince them to be certified green builders and to build the homes to green standards,” he said.
Educational initiatives
Sean Carlson is a partner at Regency Homebuilders, one of the companies with a green home at Vesta. A native of California, where he saw his home state embrace green building as many as 10 to 15 years ago, Carlson didn’t need to be convinced of the need for environmentally friendly homes in Memphis.
“Here in the Mid-South, we’ve just started getting into it more,” Carlson said. “You don’t have to go crazy and have a house that’s completely recycled, but it’s good to start working on different factors, whether it be the tankless water heaters or high-efficiency water heaters or better insulation. …”
Regency has sold its two Vesta Home Show homes, while Chamberlain & McCreery has sold three houses that weren’t in the show but were bought as a result of the show’s traffic. For those builders and others, the home show is proving to be a good introduction for the public.
The goal now is for the popularity of the Vesta homes, coupled with Chamberlain & McCreery’s moment in the spotlight, to create a groundswell of support for green building.
“The first step is to get the buyer to ask about it,” Carlson said. “I think it has to be baby steps. I think it can be overwhelming, and a lot of people think you’re either green or you’re not. And that’s not the case at all. There are so many different factors that are involved. The first step is to educate the buyer and you hope that when they walk in they ask about it.”
Eric Smith
The Memphis News
