Brian McCormick, owner of McCormick Carpentry spent his career as a remodeler. When the chance to build a new home presented itself, he jumped. “I’ve learned that a lot of things I’ve been doing as a remodeler were green. And a lot of things that are green and we weren’t doing made sense to me in terms of resource savings and health.”
He claims he got the job to build a 4,059-square-foot home because he had just finished earning his NAHB Certified Green Builder designation. “We got the job because we were ‘green,’” he admits, but now that he stands behind his first house that also happens to be a national award winner, it was clearly a great choice.
McCormick thinks that the team approach to the project is largely the key to its success. “The aspect of an entire design team from the beginning—the architect, homeowner, contractor, and HERS rater.
McCormick, like a lot of fledgling builders, points out how green is largely a case of learning more about how the house works as a system and how products go together to make an energy efficient home.
This home garnered a HERS rating of 27 and earned both LEED Platinum and NAHB Emerald certifications, making it the first home in New York State and one of the first in the country to achieve both certifications.
He’s at the point now where he is educating homeowners on why they should build green. “I had a homeowner who didn’t want green. Not even considering it. Once I explained all the benefits of it they got excited. … It’s not all about solar panels and grass roofs or drastic measures. It’s the whole house and how it works together and how it affects the people who live in it.”
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