Is Green Building more expensive ??

The greatest misconception about green building is the cost. Builders and owners have these misconceptions – which are mostly spread by uneducated people in our industry. These people don’t really understand the concept of building green.

So let’s start with a very fundamental issue: Building green = following proper design & building practices and following a systems approach.
Building a home that is designed, oriented and sized for the building site, has properly sized mechanical systems and is built with the right practices and non-toxic materials is a good home. It provides a healthy living environment for its residents.
Putting solar panels on a 15,000 sqft house that not properly designed and built with the wrong practices for a specific climate zone does NOT equal green building.
That where the cost discussion starts. The majority of builders in this country have been building inefficient wasteful structures for too long. For those builders – to change their practices and build a house correctly so it can achieve even the lowest level of certification in any green building program – it will most likely mean that their cost increases. But this is due to having to follow proper building practices that they did not have to follow in the past. It means proper design for a specific site and climate zone, reducing construction waste production, waterproofing, proper mechanical systems sizing etc etc. For the good quality builder that has always followed proper building practices, I would argue that the cost involved in getting his houses certified is negligent.

I won’t even touch on the issue of how much money an owner can save in utility and maintenance costs with a properly designed and built home, that will be the subject of a later article.

The very fundamental things a builder has to do to achieve a certification level in LEED or NAHB Green is design properly and follow good building practices. I think that in a few years from now, the term “Green” will be dropped. Because all green building really is: Building a long lasting, energy efficient and low maintenance structure that provides a healthy habitat for its residents.