Check your house as it's built. The right precautions, appliances, windows and insulation could save you hundreds of dollars every year.
By Steve McLinden, Bankrate.com
You're finally constructing your dream home.
You've pored over your custom specs with the builder. The price is unbeatable. The roof is finally going up. You're exchanging knowing winks with your significant other or high fives with the kids. Everything looks right. But is it?
Only your contractor knows for sure. Or so you hope.
Without due diligence on the part of a new-home buyer, unseen hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars could disappear out the window and less-conspicuous openings in the years to come.
Leaking ducts, inadequate attic insulation, poorly protected pipes, single-pane windows, ineffectively sealed joints: These can all conspire to give your new palace a poor "thermal performance" -- an industry buzzword loosely translating to "painfully high energy bills."
Codes vary, so watch carefully
While most states have minimum building codes for energy efficiency, they can vary greatly in substance and enforcement, energy-efficiency experts say.
Owners should watch over their new home's construction as carefully as possible, they say, and even check local codes with city building officials.
But their first energy-saving move should be to purchase Energy Star-rated windows and equipment, says Mark Madison, president of Energy Code Works of Irvine, Calif. They'll cost more upfront but pay off in a relatively short time, says Madison, who evaluates builder plans from across the country for state-code compliance.
Windows, appliances and heating-and-cooling equipment marked "Energy Star" adhere to strict efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy. "Energy Star is like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval," he says. "I can think of no reason other than ignorance not to get involved with an Energy Star-equipped home."
Some lenders will loan more money to a new-home buyer who is using energy-efficient components such as reflective "Low E" glass.
The cost is relatively painless when amortized into a long-term mortgage, said Gene Boulin, program manager of building energy codes for the U.S. Department of Energy. "You put a small amount of money in the infrastructure upfront, and it pays off."
Studies have shown that heating and air-conditioning ducts in homes leak about 25% of the air that passes through them, Madison said. "And that usually happens because they are not sealed properly or some tape pops off them. It's often a result of poor or hurried workmanship. In hot-weather markets like Las Vegas, that's a big power loss and a loss in comfort."
Energy can-do's if you're building a home
- Ask for a quote that includes Energy Star-rated windows and appliances.
- Make sure energy-ratings labels are not removed from windows and appliances.
- Consider hiring a home-energy ratings system inspector (approximate cost: $250).
- If possible, make site visits at the start of every major stage of construction.
Source: Department of Energy and Energy Code Works
Get an energy inspection
If a newly constructed home isn't scheduled to be inspected by a Home Energy Rating System inspector, hire one, Madison advises. It may cost about $250, he says, but such inspectors will test for air and moisture leakage and heat and energy transfer.
"There are a lot of attorneys making good money in forensic deconstruction," he says. "They'll go in a home and find violations of the energy code. And the builder can be liable."
Windows, insulation and appliances, among other home products, have energy ratings on them. Home buyers can check with their city building officials to make sure they comply with minimum standards before they are installed.
California, with its unique Title 24 codes, and Minnesota have the most stringent requirements, says the Energy Department's Boulin. Oregon, Washington and Florida are not far behind. By contrast, Illinois, Missouri and South Dakota aren't forced to comply with any formal residential energy code baseline, according to the DOE.
Builders in some metro areas, such as in 38 Texas counties, including the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas, have been forced to abide by stricter codes because of repeated pollution violations in those regions. Resultant energy savings are expected to cut back on power-plant emissions, the DOE says.
In those markets, depth markers are required for attic insulation, oversized air conditioners are banned for smaller homes, hot-water systems must have controls that switch them off when they're not in use and all doors must be weather-stripped.
Energy-efficiency costs, benefits
Choice Homes, which mostly builds starter homes in Texas and Georgia, estimates the new regulations, which took effect late last year, add about $1,500 to the average new-home price in Texas markets.
Homes equipped with Energy Star windows, air conditioners, lighting and appliances can save up to 30% on a home's energy bill but will add at least $1,000 to a home's price tag, builders say.
On a combined electric-gas energy bill of $150 in a small, new home, 30% savings would amount to about $45 a month, or $540 a year.
The savings add up nationally
With the help of Energy Star, Americans have saved enough energy to power 10 million homes and avoid greenhouse gas emissions from 12 million cars -- while saving $6 billion, according to the DOE.
Use of insulated concrete form (ICF) in home construction takes the codes a step further, says Don Brown of DA Brown Construction, based in Las Cruces, N.M. "You can save 30% to 50% over a conventional frame home without even trying," he says. "You'll save even more if you add Energy Star lighting systems and air conditioners."
In the ICF system, builders lay down hollow Styrofoam blocks, fill them with rebar and pump concrete in to form wall components. "They don't leak," Brown says. "Plus, they block out outside noise." ICF homes cost from 3% to 8% more per square foot than standard homes, he says.
Stonewood Design of Minneapolis uses polyethylene foam for insulation instead of fiberglass, plus installs geothermal energy systems in some of its upper-end houses, says co-owner Sven Gustafson. "We just finished a 6,900-square-foot home using geothermal and buried about a mile of pipe under it," he says. "A heating and cooling bill in a house that size would ordinarily be $400 to $500. This one costs $150 a month."
A more conventional volume builder, Pulte Homes, which is one of the nation's top three volume home builders, builds at a higher energy-efficiency level than even California in most of its markets, "now that we know a lot more about building science," says Randy Folts, vice president of construction for Pulte's Arizona and Nevada operations.
"But it's kind of market-driven. As soon as the general consumer walks through the door and starts asking for that special widget, we're going to provide it for them," he says.
A first-time home buyer moving out of an apartment that included all utilities paid in its rent may be more interested in surround sound than energy efficiency -- "until they have written that first check for an electric bill," says Folts.
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