Home Innovation's 2024 Builder Practices Survey of about 1,200 home builders has revealed new trends in new home building, specifically in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems. Tankless water heaters gain market share along with standby generators and new types of duct insulation.
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The construction industry is undergoing a significant transformation towards sustainability and energy efficiency. With a growing focus on reducing carbon footprints, conserving resources, and creating healthier living environments, Building Environmental Performance Standards (BEPS) have emerged as important guidelines, and in some jurisdictions, mandates, for builders and developers. Let's delve into what BEPS are, why they matter, and how they are shaping the future of construction.
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On March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted its final climate disclosure rule which reflects the evolving intersection of business, finance, and sustainability. The SEC climate disclosure rule is a significant step towards integrating climate-related considerations into mainstream financial decision-making. It serves to enhance transparency, mitigate financial risks, support the transition to a low-carbon economy, and align U.S. standards with global best practices.
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On March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted its final climate disclosure rule which reflects the evolving intersection of business, finance, and sustainability. The SEC climate disclosure rule is a significant step towards integrating climate-related considerations into mainstream financial decision-making. It serves to enhance transparency, mitigate financial risks, support the transition to a low-carbon economy, and align U.S. standards with global best practices.
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As an above code certification, the ICC 700-2020 National Green Building Standard (NGBS) dedicates an entire section to the operation, maintenance, and building owner education for all forms of residential construction. The section contains mandatory items for all projects, as well as additional requirements for higher levels of certification. These requirements serve to optimize buildings, educate occupants, reduce utilities and maintenance, and increase resale values.
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NGBS Green proudly certified the Ruth Ellis Center, an affordable housing and support center serving the LGBTQ+ community by providing a safe and healthy space for those who have been mistreated in the past. By investing in projects such as the Ruth Ellis Center, we send a strong message that every individual deserves a safe place to call home and a healthy planet to thrive on.
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In a highly anticipated announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced their National Definition of a Zero Emissions Building (ZEB). The NGBS Green team at Home Innovation Research Labs assisted the DOE in developing this national definition and will launch the NGBS Green +ZERO EMISSIONS certification later this year.
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On April 26, 2024, HUD published their final energy standards determination in the Federal Register as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). EISA requires HUD and the USDA to set minimum energy standards for certain categories of housing financed or assisted by HUD and USDA.
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Perceived barriers to offsite construction have lessened, but more efforts will need to be made to facilitate the shift. We surveyed a nationwide sample of 300 homebuilders in 2021, and 248 homebuilders in 2023 and asked them to describe in their own words what would push them to adopt offsite construction (modular, panelization, etc.).
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On February 27-29th, many Home Innovation staff, including Michelle and Katie from the NGBS Green Team, attended the 2024 International Builder’s Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here are Katie’s takeaways of the Top 5 Green Building Trends from IBS 2024.
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2023 was NGBS Green’s strongest year yet, with over 88,000 homes certified. We saw growth in a number of program areas and we are incredibly proud of our NGBS Green Verifiers as well as the builders and developers who are committed to building better, more sustainable homes.
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Home Innovation Research Labs is achieving a significant milestone in its commitment to advancing product safety with the completion of a state-of-the-art fire testing lab. Scheduled for an official opening in May 2024, this facility represents a substantial investment in research and development to enhance the safety and fire resistance of building materials and systems.
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ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting has become an increasingly popular way for companies to show their commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. In an effort to track diffusion of this practice among home builders, Home Innovation Research Labs, in collaboration with Professional Builder Magazine, surveyed 300 home builders in September 2023 about their current and anticipated ESG reporting practices and motives for adopting ESG reporting.
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Over the past few years, Home Innovation has conducted numerous studies to track the adoption of offsite technologies, identify and remove specific barriers, and create solutions that enable the industry to make the shift. While perceived barriers are shrinking slightly, they are still very present. We surveyed a nationwide sample of 300 homebuilders in 2021, and 248 homebuilders in 2023 and asked them to describe in their own words what’s keeping them from adopting offsite construction (modular, panelization, etc.).
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Grade I insulation is a common term used widely by building professionals; however, how Grade I is defined varies considerably among building professionals. At its core, the term is meant to construe that the home’s insulation is installed properly and will be as effective as possible based on the properties of the material. Learn how to achieve proper Grade I insulation based on NGBS Green requirements.
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As remote work continues to rise, vacant office buildings run the risk of going obsolete. The post-pandemic world has also seen a significant jump in housing prices leading to housing shortage. In this scenario, the question is clear: why not convert the empty office buildings into apartments? While this comes off as a perfect solution, there are multiple factors and several constraints to consider with such conversion projects.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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All our readers are probably aware of the benefits of green power by this point. Switching to green power or renewable energy from fossil fuels is one of the best ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is a much cleaner form of energy. But what if you don’t have your own wind/hydel turbines or solar panels? How do you ensure that the energy you are receiving from the grid is coming from a green or renewable source? A Renewable Energy Certificate or a ‘REC’ would be the best alternative.
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As National Preparedness Month comes to a close, it’s time to look ahead to how we will build in the future. Resilience has become a top concern with natural disasters becoming increasingly common and increasingly destructive. Communities looking to rebuild are focused now on creating structures that will last. Uncover the most common damages for various weather events and find out the most cost-effective ways to prevent them.
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While we expect building codes to become more stringent in their requirements related to fire resilience, builders and homeowners are also becoming more focused on creating homes that will withstand natural disasters. When it comes to fire prevention and resilience, material selection is critical. Fire resistance testing is an essential process used to determine how well a material, structure, or product can withstand exposure to fire and maintain its structural integrity and safety.
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The industry needs a legion of young professionals who are equipped with passion and expertise in green building, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and resilient construction techniques. As academics head back into the classroom, now is an ideal time to recommit to professional development. Students and industry professionals can earn the NGBS Green PRO designation, which validates expertise in green design, construction, and building certification.
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The NGBS Green Land Development Certification is a robust and rigorous rating system that is comparable to that of LEED Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) with some key advantages. While the rating systems are not identical, there is a significant overlap between the two programs.
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The summer of 2023 has marked the hottest temperatures on record in human history. In order to stay cool, many households have their air conditioners running at full blast, resulting in high energy bills. Whether you are building a new home or retrofitting an existing one, the NGBS has several innovative practices that can be used to minimize heat gain.
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When it comes to achieving optimal comfort and energy efficiency in a home or apartment, proper sizing of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) equipment plays a pivotal role. Just like Goldilocks searching for the perfect bowl of porridge, getting the sizing just right can ensure that an HVAC system performs at its best, providing consistent comfort and saving you money in the long run.
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For more than 25 years, Home Innovation’s Annual Builder Practices and Consumer Practices Reports have offered unparalleled insight into the ever-changing picture of demand for residential building products. Combining rich detail of Home Innovation’s Builder and Consumer Practices Data with John Burns Research and Consulting’s prowess in building products demand forecasting is a powerful combination of data tools to keep your business a step ahead of your competitors.
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The changing climate is forcing policymakers and the development community throughout Arizona to rethink current patterns of development to ensure that water is available long-term. Building new homes in resource-scarce areas is challenging. Long-term thinking and mindful construction techniques offer an opportunity for residential builders to distinguish themselves as local leaders and best position themselves for continued success.
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More and more, companies are expected to measure and disclose information related to their ESG—Environmental, Social, and Governance—impacts. ESG metrics can improve a company’s ability to access capital from funders committed to sustainable investing.
Green building certifications are essential to achieving ESG goals in the real estate industry. They ensure that buildings are built or renovated to rigorous standards. By pursuing green building certifications, developers and investors can have confidence that their buildings are performing exceptionally and meeting many of the environmental and social aspects of their corporate goals.
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Each year, the GRESB Foundation makes changes to the annual Real Estate Reference Guide based on priority topics identified and input received from GRESB members. The GRESB portal opens on April 1st of each year, shortly after the annual reference guide is released. GRESB participants have until July 1st to submit their ESG data and their responses to the GRESB Reference Guide. Benchmark results and scores are available on October 1st.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has launched the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) to help make affordable housing more sustainable. The program provides funding for grants and loans to help owners of multifamily-assisted properties make energy efficiency, water efficiency, and climate resilience improvements to their buildings.
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The housing market is constantly evolving, and what homebuyers want is no exception. In recent years, there has been a growing focus on sustainability and environmental impact, and this is reflected in the latest trends in homebuying.
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Veronika is the Multifamily & Commercial Team Coordinator at Southern Energy Management (SEM), a solar installation, green building and energy efficiency service company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Veronika has a B.A in Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.S. in Climate Change & Society from North Carolina State University. Veronika has extensive experience in administrative support and office management. She has also worked at community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms, gardens, and nurseries. Outside of work, Veronika enjoys growing a variety of fresh produce in her hobby garden.
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Nicolas Ream is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing & Project Manager at Montana Heritage Home Builders (MHHB), a custom home building company in Columbia Falls, Montana. Nicolas earned his B.S. degrees in Marketing and Management & Entrepreneurship from the University of Montana. He also holds a M.S. degree in Real Estate and the Built Environment from the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business, Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management. Along with holding the NGBS Green PRO designation, Nicolas is a LEED Green Associate and a NAHB Master Certified Green Professional. He also holds the following other NAHB designations: Certified Green Professional; Certified New Home Sales Professional; Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist; Graduate Master Builder; Certified Graduate Builder; Certified Graduate Remodeler; and Certified Graduate Associate. In 2021, Nicolas was recognized by NAHB as the Green Professional Designee of the Year. In 2022, he was recognized by NAHB as Sales and Marketing Designee of the Year.
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The 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) provides an alternative compliance option for energy efficiency programs deemed to be equivalent and NGBS Green is gaining as a rigorous and desirable alternative in local and state jurisdictions.
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Kristyn Mott is a Program Manager & sales team member at Southern Energy Management (SEM), a solar installation, green building and energy efficiency service company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She joined the SEM team in 2020 after earning dual degrees in Business Administration and Global & Local Sustainability from Daemen University in Western New York. Along with being a NGBS Green PRO, Kristyn also holds two other professional accreditations, Fitwel Ambassador and LEED AP for Operations + Maintenance.
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Now that January is in the books, we’ve all gotten used to writing “2023,” and we are coming up on the middle of the first quarter, I wanted to take some time to reflect on 2022.
Despite lots of ongoing issues related to COVID and disruptions in the supply chain, our NGBS Green certification program had a strong year. While we certified fewer total units (homes + apartments), as shown in the chart below, we certified more buildings than the year before. Certified homes (represented in yellow) also grew year over year.
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Constructing a green building is a process that should begin well before the foundation is poured and settled. Chapter 5 of the ICC 700-2020 National Green Building Standard® (NGBS) awards and acknowledges the careful selection, design, preparation, and development of a lot intended to be the site of a certified green building.
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Are you ready to submit your NGBS Green project for final review? To make the process simple and pain-free, there are a few things you need to remember.
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In February 2021, the U.S. EPA recognized Home Innovation Research Labs as a Home Certifying Organization (HCO) for the WaterSense Labeled Homes Program.
In this role, Home Innovation will administer verification and certification for the WaterSense program. Homes earning the WaterSense label must meet the water efficiency requirements using Home Innovation’s WaterSense Approved Certification Method (WACM), which is based on selected practices of the 2020 NGBS. Any home or building that has earned the WaterSense label is constructed at least 30% more efficient than standard construction.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 is the most comprehensive and far-reaching federal investment to combat climate change to date, and the incentives for homes and multifamily buildings contained in the legislation can help transform the way we design, build, and renovate our homes and apartments for many years to come.
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November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, so we are spot lighting a leading cause of lung cancer that should be considered and tested during construction. In addition to energy and water efficiency and other green practices, NGBS Green certified homes have protections against radon intrusion so a home buyer can have peace of mind.
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The NGBS is a credible, consensus-based standard designed to set a meaningful definition of sustainable construction for all residential buildings in all locations across the U.S.
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When incorporating resilient construction requirements into funding evaluations, financing agencies need to look no further than the green building certification programs that they may already require or incentivize for building efficiency and indoor environmental quality.
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The Gladstone is an “Age in Place” home for healthy and inclusive living, incorporating a variety of universal design features that promote accessibility for homeowners and visitors.
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Resource efficiency is the technique of minimizing resource exploitation and ensuring that structures can function for an extended period and withstand natural disasters. This is achieved through measures including reduction of primary and non-renewable materials, creation of high-quality products with minimal waste and retention of durable products, and durable construction practices. Various design techniques, construction practices, and choice of materials can help optimize resources used in construction.
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Due to the level of quality control and manufacturing precision available with factory-built construction, modular and panelized homes may have an advantage in achieving above-code green building certifications, like NGBS Green.
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The benefits of an accessible home extend far beyond individuals with permanent mobility impairment. Accessible features can make a home more visitable, for infants, young children, older adults, or even to accommodate transitory immobility from injuries. The goal of green certification programs like NGBS Green is to minimize the home’s environmental footprint and improve the home’s sustainability, which includes allowing people to remain in their home even when facing mobility limitations.
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Modular construction is an increasingly popular option for delivering high-quality multifamily apartments due to the quality assurance, safety, and sustainability benefits available from building in a controlled factory setting. While modular construction offers substantial quality benefits that can help a project achieve third-party green certification, there are unique verification considerations due to the rapid production schedule and coordination across factory and site installation teams. Hear from NGBS Green Verifiers for their advice on getting started with modular green verification.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a steel cable.
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Growing up, playing on artificial turf (AT) was a luxury and a way to prolong sport seasons during the time when natural turf fields were rendered unplayable due to weather conditions. Living in Alaska, it was common to see athletic fields with pools of water, snow, and bare patches late into May. Playing football under said conditions was an unpleasant experience to say the least. When playing for competitive teams, AT was the primary field type to reduce injury and provide athletes with the ability to run, make breaks, and tackle as if they were playing on a well-groomed grass field. No more rolling ankles on uneven patches, no more scrapes and bruises from landing on snow/ice, and no more one-dimensional playbooks on offense because wide receivers were unable to make breaks to create separation from defensive backs.
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Apart from providing shelter and a place of belonging, a house is also one of the biggest financial investments for many people. Homeowners pour the bulk of their savings into buying a house and then spend half their lives paying expensive mortgages. Imagine all this hard-earned investment wiped out in a single hurricane or torn apart by an earthquake! While there are many unavoidable natural disasters every year, damage to homes could be mitigated by additions/alterations to construction practices—some as simple and low budget as adding hurricane and metal straps to connect the roof and wall members. Sadly, many houses get destroyed each year during disaster events due to lack of resilient construction practices.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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What is the Water Rating Index (WRI)?
The 2020 National Green Building Standard ICC-700 includes a performance path for residential builders and developers to demonstrate water efficiency. The Water Rating Index (WRI), included as an appendix within the standard, is a methodology by which a 0 to 100 score is assessed for a property’s total indoor and outdoor water use, compared to baseline conditions.
The WRI offers an important new metric that they can use to communicate expected water use to potential buyers. Like HERS and ERI for energy performance, WRI facilitates straightforward comparison across similar properties.
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It’s very rewarding being a construction marketing researcher. I truly enjoy tracking, measuring, and predicting changes within the construction industry. But what I enjoy even more is helping our clients continue to reshape their businesses and product offerings to ensure they are providing the greatest value to their customers. This work requires regular interaction with builders and remodelers, keeping our “finger on the pulse” of the industry through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and jobsite observation. We listen and learn about their purchasing behaviors, problems at the office and jobsite, and the solutions they need or opportunities they are seeing.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a steel door hinge.
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In December 2021, Home Innovation polled builders about changes to their business practices due to the pandemic – asking what they viewed as temporary, and what they considered a permanent part of their home building business going forward. While issues surrounding labor and materials took the forefront, and there was a notable boost in practices related to the outdoor living boom, there was another change reported that was a bit more unexpected – a wider embrace of “smart” home technologies. In their explanations, many builders said they had been caught off-guard by the expansion of home tech and were scrambling to keep up with the expectations of a new wave of tech-savvy buyers. I gave an overview of these study findings in my presentation to the Leading Suppliers Council at the 2022 International Builders’ Show.
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Earlier this summer, I was invited to deliver the closing presentation of the WDMA 2022 Annual Technical and Manufacturing Conference. I shared 10-year market trends on window and door purchases in new and remodeled U.S. homes and insights into purchasers. As I have for more than 20 years, I sourced my data from Home Innovation’s annual trusted and industry-leading Builder and Consumer Practices Reports.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a screwdriver.
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Labor and supply chain issues have shaped the industry in recent years, particularly since the COVID pandemic. The net result has been longer construction cycle times, rising construction costs, and simply a much more difficult environment for building and remodeling homes. Our recent 2022 Builder Practices Survey sheds more light on how builder choices of home features, products, and materials has changed in response to these market conditions.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a diecast metal toy truck.
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Earlier this spring, I was asked to be a guest speaker at the Pressure Sensitive Tape Council’s Tape Week conference in Buena Vista, Fla. I provided the audience with an in-depth review of six key market opportunities for pressure-sensitive tapes and adhesives in residential construction, referencing our most recent Builder and Consumer Practices data trends and key drivers and market volumes for the six product categories. Below is a brief recap of the presentation takeaways:
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a "durable" thermal coffee mug.
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Home Innovation recently published our 2022 Consumer Practices Reports, based on the latest survey of households on home improvements and repairs in 2021. Kitchen remodeling is still hot – maybe even a bit “overheated” – and changes in material choice trends have been very fast-paced. Quartz continues to gain at the expense of the once-dominant Granite for Countertops; both came in at nearly equal shares (around 25%) of kitchen remodels. Marble also gained, but Laminate and Acrylic Solid Surface continued to lose their luster in the eyes of homeowners. Kitchen Cabinet trends continue as they have been — painted cabinets with flat-panel-in-frame designs are the most popular in home kitchen remodels at 28% of all cabinets installed; finally surpassing the former #1 position holder, cabinets with raised panel doors and wood finish.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a heavy duty carbon steel garden hand shovel.
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The results of Home Innovation’s 2022 Consumer Practices Survey (CPS) on home remodeling are in and analyzed! The top overall finding is that U.S. and Canadian home remodeling purchases are still very strong, two years into the pandemic. The DIY purchaser segment is back to near-historical levels after a spike in 2020, and the outdoor living category is still blazing hot.
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The National Green Building Standard (NGBS) ICC-700 was developed as a collaboration between ICC and NAHB to create a rating system for homes and multifamily buildings that would be used as voluntary, above-code program. Two aspects of the NGBS were innovative and helped propel NGBS Green to become the most widely used green standard for residentially-used buildings in the United States. First, the NGBS is written in code language, so that everyone on a project team -- architects, specifiers, general contractors, MEP engineers, subs, insulation crews, HVAC installers – can understand it because they all know and understand the building code. Second, the NGBS is designed for a specific type of building occupancy, not type of construction -- it's designed for the buildings where we live. Many experts scoffed at this idea when the NGBS was being developed, but it has come to serve the specific needs of multifamily builders, which differ vastly from commercial builders and developers, much more comprehensively than any green building program that came before it. Find out more about how the NGBS both aligns with and adds value to the building codes.
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Today, on Earth Day 2022, everyone is taking rightful stock of the world around them and the impact they have on it. For NGBS Green, that’s not just something we do one day a year – it’s our full-time mission and purpose. But, we figured today was a great opportunity to take a look back at all the NGBS Green certification program did in 2021 to help move the needle further toward creating a better, more sustainable, healthier, and more fulfilling built environment for the places where we all live, both behind the scenes and in the spotlight.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our latest experiment with a standard house key.
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On March 1st, I was pleased to speak at the opening session of AMI’s 2022 PVC Formulation Conference in Cleveland. I provided an overview of product trends in new homes and remodeling from 2011 to 2020, tracking market shares of PVC and other plastics products. I concluded with a discussion of how the past two tumultuous years are now resulting in opportunities for plastics. I covered the product categories where PVC is already a big player in the market, and those where they could become one, including flooring, piping, siding, decking, fences, and others.
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New SEC rules will require public companies to report on the climate impacts of their business. The SEC proposal requires companies to disclose climate-related risks – such as how climate might impact their business, operations, or financial condition – in their statements and corporate reports. Companies will also be required to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, per the new rules. For our NGBS Green certification clients, the proposed SEC rule provides additional validation of your decision to design, build, and own high-performing real property assets, and seek a third-party certification of their conformance to back-up your environmental claims. The SEC rule aligns closely with the value of third-party certification. The NGBS Green mark signifies to investors, consumers, government staff, and other stakeholders that a building’s environmental claims are independently verified.
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In late February, I participated in an interview/discussion during the Building Products Strategy Summit held by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. The subject was innovation in the U.S. housing construction market. When I joined Home Innovation Research Labs nearly 30 years ago, my initial assignment was to support the Advanced Housing Technology Program (AHTP) – a deep exploration of barriers to innovation in home construction, to evaluate and catalog more than a thousand beneficial new home technologies. The AHTP program was initiated to answer concerns that innovation in housing lags other industries. The insights uncovered through that program, along with other diffusion-of-innovation research I’ve been involved in, serves as the foundation for Home Innovation’s current marketing research practice.
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In taking another look at our recent survey of builders regarding the permanence of 22 business and new home changes adopted during the pandemic, we found that most practices – aside from the strictly virus-spread-mitigating ones – will be retained by more than half of builders who responded to the survey. These include practices such as utilizing a greatly-expanded network of building product suppliers, and putting more emphasis on outdoor living space, healthier indoor air quality, and home layout changes that provide space for remote work and schooling. See where there were differences in what will stay and what will go based on size of builder, as well as local vs. regional vs. national differences.
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This year, the Home Innovation lab team is on a mission to test some everyday gadgets in our salt spray chamber to find out #willitcorrode. Home Innovation's full range of corrosion testing helps building product manufacturers ensure the performance of metals and coatings. Typically, we test products such as nails, screws, anchor bolts, bollards, stair nosing, gutter clips, ladders, cable, baluster, hand railing, support systems for curtain walls, etc. But we have decided to mix it up a little with this experiment to emphasize the practical nature of this type of testing. Check out the results of our first month's experiment with an 18-0 stainless steel fork.
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Building professionals who want to learn more about a green building certification for homes, apartments, and mixed-use buildings that is affordable, credible, and provides tangible value, or just want to promote their existing NGBS Green expertise, now have a new way to do it. Home Innovation Research Labs' new training and professional designation, NGBS Green PRO, explains how the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS) can help you build or remodel green, high-performing buildings and tout your knowledge to prospective clients. The program consists of four training modules, all AIA and ICC approved so you can earn continuing education credits. After completing all the modules and passing the tests you can earn the NGBS Green PRO professional designation.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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There’s certainly no arguing that COVID changed our world, but the debate continues as to whether the day-to-day changes are temporary or if they will have a long-lasting impact on our behaviors. In an effort to determine if COVID will have a lasting impact on new home features and on the business of building them, Home Innovation Research Labs conducted a survey in collaboration with Professional Builder magazine to learn specifically what practices were adopted as a result of COVID, and which of those practices will remain after the pandemic is “over.”
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As the NGBS Green independent certification agency, Home Innovation takes the responsibility of granting a green building certification very seriously. NGBS Green certification follows a carefully prescribed process designed to ensure that buildings are designed and constructed to the NGBS’s rigorous requirements, and our 100% third-party verification system requires an independent Verifier to schedule multiple inspections to ensure what the architect designs is what gets built. But construction can be messy and sometimes, even with the best intentions, the process goes awry. Perhaps the site superintendent forgets to schedule the Verifier’s site visit before the sheetrock contractor hangs drywall in some apartments. Or, maybe the building owner misses a key program deadline. Less common, but also possible, is that an NGBS practice is written unclearly, and real-world compliance is uncertain. The NGBS Green Appeals process can offer administrative relief, or at least consideration of an alternative compliance process, for projects that face such issues.
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The NGBS Green certification process is designed to confirm a home or multifamily building meets the stringent requirements of the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS). A building that earns the NGBS Green certification mark has been shown to conform to the NGBS as verified in-person by an Accredited NGBS Green Verifier and certified as conforming by Home Innovation Research Labs. As the national NGBS Green certification agency, our Quality Assurance (QA) oversight runs deep and we have expansive procedures to ensure buildings earning the certification mark are NGBS compliant. These QA procedures reinforce the NGBS Green certification mark by increasing homebuyer’s and renter’s confidence, bolstering the program’s value to builders and developers, and solidifying the program’s credibility with lenders and government agencies. Find our more about the QA that's "baked in" to our certification program.
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Without question, the single most impactful catalyst for green, high-performance multifamily buildings has been the HUD Green Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) Reduction. The Green MIP reduction was the game changer the residential construction industry needed. It was a big enough financial incentive that even the most stalwart anti-green developer or owner couldn’t resist. As news of the HUD MIP reduction spread through the industry, developers and owners that previously never considered a green certification, or even openly scoffed at the suggestion, changed their minds. Find out how federal incentives have worked, and can continue to work, to help us reach a greener future faster.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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Some multifamily developers forego seeking green building certification because they believe the costs are too high. It can cost a lot – but not for the reasons they may be thinking. Ultimately, it’s not that the costs are too high to earn the green certification – rather, it is the opportunity cost of leaving tens of thousands of dollars of incentive financing on the table when they don’t have a green certification. As these developers finalize their permanent financing, they realize how green certification would have more than paid for itself (many times over) if only they had added it as a design objective prior to construction.
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State Qualified Allocation Plans (QAPs) specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). To encourage the development of residences that support their sustainability, resilience, and healthy housing goals, states can provide federal housing tax credits to developers that build green certified housing. Comprehensive green building programs help to ensure that projects funded by housing credits will not only create new housing opportunities, but also ensure that people living in affordable housing can live healthier, spend less money on utilities, and have more opportunities with access to transportation, better quality food, and health care.
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Every couple weeks we allow a green blog takeover by one of our NGBS Green program’s Verifier influencers with green expertise to share. Today's takeover-er is Drew Smith, of Two Trails, Inc., an NGBS Green MASTER Verifier with many years of experience verifying The New American Home (TNAH) and The New American Remodel (TNAR) show homes that are featured at the International Builders’ Show annually. Find out some of the unique challenges and opportunities that he and the project team for the 2021 TNAR experienced.
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Abe Kruger, SK Collaborative and an accredited NGBS Green Verifier. Read on to see what Abe has to say.
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Home Innovation actively advocates for third-party certified, green, affordable housing by providing input for state Qualified Allocation Plan (QAPs). QAPs specify a state agency’s allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Most QAPs include criteria for energy efficiency and green building, and nearly 30 states specify green building certification as a requirement or point-based incentive. When third-party green certification is included within a QAP, NGBS Green Certification is typically recognized alongside other credible national green building programs. NGBS Green certification is affordable to implement, making it ideally suited for affordable housing.
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Sara Collier, Southern Energy Management and an accredited NGBS Green Verifier. Read on to see what Sara has to say.
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There are many benefits to energy-efficient buildings. For multifamily buildings, these include lower operating costs for common areas, eligibility for preferred financing incentives, higher valuation on resale, greater marketability of the building to renters, lower utility bills, better quality, and increased comfort. When it comes to residential energy efficiency, there are basically two options for demonstrating energy compliance to the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS): the Prescriptive and the Performance.
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Stephen Evanko, LEED AP, BPI – MFBA & HHE, Managing Director of Energy and Sustainability for Dominion Due Diligence and an accredited NGBS Green MASTER Verifier. Read on to see what Stephen has to say.
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Recently, Home Innovation had a chance to discuss resilience in the context of sustainability and building performance with James M Williams PE, CE, SE, AIA, who authored the resilience section of the 2020 NGBS.
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By most measures, 2020 was the year of COVID-19. Yet while the pandemic raged, there was no shortage of climate/weather disasters in the United States. In 2020, the U.S. suffered through 22 weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each. These events included one drought, 13 severe storms, 7 tropical cyclones, and one wildfire event. 2020 set a new annual record of 22 events - shattering the previous annual record of 16 events that occurred in 2011 and 2017. Together these events were responsible for 262 deaths and over $93 billion in costs. And the hits just kept coming since then – e.g., “snow-mageddon” in Texas in early 2021, for which the total damages and long-term impacts are still being calculated, tornadoes earlier this month in Central Texas, as well as flooding events in the Southeastern U.S./Gulf Coast region.
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Based on our 2020 end-of-year survey over 100,000 U.S. households, the 2021 Consumer Practices Reports are now available. The new information is “must read,” shedding light on how COVID-19 changed the U.S. and Canadian home remodeling industries and including incredible detail. You may have seen some of the previews we’ve shared over the past several weeks in our Trend articles on pro vs. DIY remodeling during the pandemic and the products that did best in the “year of DIY”.
In addition to the standard product reports, we also have our Consumer Practices Survey (CPS) Brand reports available. These reveal how specific brands faired during the pandemic, and may call out some elements of the path forward.
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Thiel Butner, Managing Principal of Pando Alliance and NGBS Accredited Verifier. Read on to see what Theil has to say.
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Today’s customers, both building professionals and homeowners, have increased their expectations of manufacturers for high quality, reliable products. Product testing identifies problems encountered during construction or service life due to poor durability, strength, or performance. Increase the quality and reliability of your products by detecting failures, pinpointing probable deficiencies, and confirming your product will maintain performance throughout its lifecycle.
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Buyers of green homes want to avoid wasting water and save money with lower water bills. Water efficiency can also increase energy savings for buyers and renters, as less energy is required for hot water heating compared to typical home design. Research has shown that buyers are willing to spend from 1-4% of a home’s purchase price for third-party green certifications, such as Home Innovation’s NGBS Green, which all include some element of water and other resource efficiency. Most recently, NAHB’s 2021 What Home Buyers Really Want survey says nearly 50% of homebuyers are willing to pay at least an additional $500 for a home that meets an above-code standard for water efficiency.
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Jamie Carr, Partner at Eco Achievers and NGBS Accredited Master Verifier. Read on to see what Jamie has to say.
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“There’s no place like home!” But surely even Dorothy Gale wouldn’t have wanted to go back if home was hot and humid or cold and dry. Comfort is the appeal that draws residents home every day. Whether they think about it or not, the climate and air quality in homes can make the difference in how comfortable the residents and their guests feel. Most home owners or renters turn on the air conditioner in the summer and the heater in the winter with limited knowledge about how these systems work. Builders don’t have that option – you must know all the important factors that go into calculating building envelope tightness, which ultimately lead to resident comfort.
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NGBS Green Certified homes perform better than code minimum homes in many ways, but energy efficiency is one of the most tangible benefits to homebuyers. Benefits of an energy-efficient home include lower utility bills, increased comfort, and improved resale value. When it comes to energy efficiency, there are two options for demonstrating compliance to the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS) – the Prescriptive Path or the Performance Path.
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Compared to code-minimum buildings, NGBS Green Certified new buildings use less energy, waste less water, help manage stormwater better, and have improved indoor air quality, among other benefits. But, while the benefits of new NGBS Green buildings are significant, they pale in comparison to the benefits when project teams use the NGBS to guide their building renovations and conversions. The number of new buildings constructed each year is a very small percentage of existing buildings, so the NGBS’s potential for mitigating the impacts of older, inefficient buildings and improving the living conditions for the occupants of these buildings is critical. Find out more about the remodeling and renovation options now available in the NGBS.
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Laurie Colwander from Southern Energy Management. Read on to see what Laurie has to say.
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As consumers, we appreciate the opportunity to use performance metrics to estimate the total cost of ownership of our vehicles, homes, and appliances. Since 1977, a miles per gallon (or MPG) metric has been displayed prominently on vehicle labels. Consumers rely on that metric for understanding how much it would cost to operate a vehicle for their daily commute, errands, and social activities. No matter how stylish, roomy, or tech-enabled a vehicle is, I couldn’t imagine purchasing it before researching that MPG value.
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With the release of the 2020 NGBS, the scope of Home Innovation’s NGBS Green Certification expanded, making the program even more relevant to the multifamily and commercial sectors of the construction industry. Now, most products intended for commercial applications are eligible to be certified and recognized for their contribution toward residential spaces complying with the NGBS. The Commercial Spaces compliance pathway also introduced many new practices that refer to commercial building products, appliances, and fixtures. Now is the perfect time to get your commercial building products NGBS Green Certified.
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The 2020 National Green Building Standard (NGBS) includes some significant revisions from previous versions. One of the most significant is the scope expansion that allows the NGBS to be used for the design and construction of both the residential and non-residential space in mixed-use buildings. Prior to the 2020 NGBS, only the residential portion of mixed-use buildings could seek NGBS Green certification — the non-residential portion was either not included, or was forced to seek certification from another program.
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It’s been 1 heck of a year, with 2 many momentous events to cover here, but there are 3 things I know – we’re all in this together; hope and love will always conquer fear; and the NGBS Green team will always be here 4 you. In the spirit of the holiday, I’ve wrapped up a summary of the 2020 NGBS with the 5 (Golden?) Things You Need to Know to help with your 2021 certification gameplan…
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Come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are allowing a green blog media takeover and granting posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Today's takeover-er is Philip LaRocque from LaRocque Business Management Services, LLC. Read on to see what Phil has to say.
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We often hear speculation that because NGBS Green is the most widely used green building certification for residentially-used buildings, it must be the easiest and least rigorous to attain. Clearly, the individuals making those speculations have not taken the time to dig in and understand why NGBS Green is the most popular program. Below is my take on why NGBS Green is the leading green certification program – spoiler alert: it has nothing to do with being less rigorous. In fact, NGBS compliance may be the most difficult of all the green building certification programs when measuring the expected performance of the buildings being certified.
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Online portals and apps are everywhere these days. Used for online banking, shopping, managing prescriptions, and so much more, they represent the natural evolution of the self-service experience through 24/7/365 access and automated notifications to keep you informed of your transactions and interests. They often give you a better sense of control and can reduce tedious email and phone conversations. Technology continues to advance to make the user experience even more streamlined. It’s where we’re headed as a society — and it’s where we’re headed with the NGBS Green program!
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We are debuting a new opportunity for Verifiers – come takeover the Home Innovation Insights blog! Every few weeks we are going to allow a green blog media takeover and grant posting privileges to a Verifier influencer with green expertise to share.
Our first takeover-er is Amy Otley from TexEnergy Solutions/US Eco Logic. Read on to see what Amy has to say.
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While the markets for new homes and building materials roil with unpredictability, there are some things in the new home construction industry that are a little more stable—such as the types of building lots available. “They’re not making any more land,” the old adage goes, and land for new residential developments is universally reported to be in extremely short supply.
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Climate change and its effects are accelerating. Consequently, communities are suffering from more frequent and higher intensity climate-related disasters – from hurricanes to wildfires to flooding. With each new event, we have an opportunity to reconsider how we repair and rebuild disaster-damaged homes and how we design and build new homes.
Enhanced resilience is an essential part of any comprehensive green building certification. A green building standard like the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS) is designed to eliminate or reduce the environmental impacts of the homes we build (or rebuild), and also includes practices to help homes better withstand future disasters.
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This month we celebrate another NGBS Green milestone with the certification of our 250,000th NGBS Green Home. When we started the NGBS Green certification program in 2009, our goal was to provide a national, credible, rigorous, and affordable green building certification for the residential construction industry. Until NGBS Green started, residential building certifications lagged significantly behind other building types. The places we lived – our homes, townhouses, multifamily buildings, housing for students and seniors, and assisted living facilities – were foregoing high-performance green building programs because they were too difficult and expensive to attain. We had the audacity to believe that needed to change – and understood the role we could play in helping our entire industry do better. Better for the environment. Better for climate change. Better for homebuyers and renters.
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With the 2020 NGBS, single-family homes can earn the NGBS Green Certified level if they comply with all applicable green practices from the 2020 NGBS Chapter 12. This streamlined yet rigorous certification path requires homes to be designed and constructed to be more efficient than 2018 IECC code-compliant homes and to include important building practices that ensure the home provides a healthier indoor environment, is more water efficient, and is more durable. The NGBS Chapter 12 Certified Path focuses on the most impactful practices that improve energy and water efficiency, create a healthier living space, and manage potential moisture issues. For energy efficiency, builders have a choice among Prescriptive, Performance, and Energy Rating Index (ERI) paths. For water efficiency, builders have a choice between Prescriptive and Performance paths. This certification option is more streamlined and, to keep verification costs lower, NGBS Green Verifiers can batch multiple homes for both registration and verification report submittal. Find out more about this option.
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Energy-efficient home builders report that their homes sell faster, for more money, and perhaps more importantly, that their buyers are more satisfied with their energy-efficient home than with their former inefficient homes. Win-win-win. Builders are rewarded for their energy-efficient homes, the environment benefits from homes that require fewer nonrenewable resources, and homebuyers get a more high-performing home. But, is an energy-efficient home the golden ticket for builders? Unfortunately, no. Energy codes are becoming more stringent, so now, depending on a home’s location, even code-minimum homes can be relatively energy efficient. That makes energy performance less of a distinction among builders. Now may be the perfect time to consider emphasizing the health & wellness features of your green homes over their energy efficiency.
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When first approved by ANSI in 2009, the NGBS was notable because it was the first national green building rating system specifically designed for residential buildings. Before the NGBS, national programs such as LEED and Green Globes were designed to address the specifics of commercial buildings. Consequently, only a few multifamily buildings in the pre-NGBS days tried to adapt to the compliance requirements of the early green certification options. But even the first few iterations of the NGBS did not cover all types of residential construction. The 2020 NGBS Consensus Committee sought to remedy this issue by revising the NGBS’s definition of residential. Now the NGBS is inclusive of all buildings within which we live during the various stages and phases of our lives. Find out more about the new opportunities now available to multifamily and mixed-use builders and developers.
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Today, it can seem impossible to find a new appliance that isn’t a “smart” product. I recently purchased a new washer and dryer set, and I noted so many models with mobile and voice notification and control. Some products even featured automatic reordering of detergents and softeners based on sensor feedback!
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Prior to COVID-19, a tightening labor supply and hot housing market portended a bright future for offsite housing construction methods, such as panelization and modular. In the wake of coronavirus and rising availability of workers sidelined from other industries, at least one key driver of builders adopting offsite methods may have faded. Are builders less inclined to adopt offsite construction now? Or are there other factors making them more ready for the change? A recent survey aimed to find out the answer to these and other related questions.
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In early 2020, ANSI approved the fourth version of the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS) as an American National Standard. Now, builders and developers have a choice to seek NGBS Green certification based on either the 2015 NGBS or the 2020 NGBS. Which is the best version for your project and your market? Some may presume that compliance with the 2015 NGBS would be less challenging and/or less expensive to achieve compliance. But, don’t be so quick to dismiss the 2020 as a more beneficial option. The 2020 NGBS Consensus Committee made several important improvements that warrant strong consideration before embarking on your next green building project. Check out this post on some factors to consider as you make the decision.
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A lot of attention has been given to offsite building solutions in recent years, and data show that it’s quickly making inroads in multifamily and commercial construction. Offsite construction has also been touted as a solution to the shortage of skilled construction labor that has hampered housing production in the past few years. Large single-family builders have told us repeatedly how difficult it has been to keep up with housing demand because they can’t get homes built fast enough – they attribute this to the tight schedules of subcontracted labor who can’t find enough skilled workers to keep up. NAHB reports that the average cycle time for building a single-family home has increased from 6 months to 7 in the past few years.
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Homebuyers look for sustainable and efficient design, but they also bring their own values to the home search. Health is top of mind for consumers right now, and many buyers recognize the role that our homes play in keeping us healthy and safe. Since we’re all spending more time at home, some buyers look for the convenience afforded by smart home systems and accessible design. And, while there is so much uncertainty globally, some crave the security that is afforded by energy and water independence and resilient design.
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The national news and trade press have regularly kept us up-to-date on the COVID-19 traffic boost in home improvement warehouse (HIW) stores, largely due to their visibility with retail locations across the country and publicly-traded stock, which makes information on their performance readily available.
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Building products manufacturers, mills, and wood treatment facilities are keenly aware of the COVID-19 traffic boost in home improvement warehouse (HIW) stores, such as Home Depot, Menards, and Lowes. If they have a strong presence in those locations, these manufacturers are happy about that boost. But many who aren’t well established in HIW stores and are more dependent on lumber and building materials dealers are feeling like they’re missing an opportunity.
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As you may have seen in our recent news announcement, Home Innovation recently celebrated the licensure of Nay B. Shah as one of Maryland’s and Home Innovation’s most recent Professional Engineers. Home Innovation is known for conducting cutting-edge building science research, green building certification, laboratory testing, and market assessments. As part of this culture, we highly encourage and support the licensure of all of our engineers. We believe it not only adds value to our clients and our work, but is an important step in the career progression of our engineers.
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With most of the 2020 Builder Practices Reports now available, we’ve been anxiously reviewing each report for new trends in building products for new homes. In addition to our traditional line up of questions, the 2020 survey contained some new topics—for example, we added questions on air sealing methods for new homes.
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The 1970’s was the greatest home building decade in U.S. history in terms of the total number of new homes built—nearly 18 million residences in that decade. Fueled by the Baby Boom generation’s need for housing, there was a rental housing boom in the early 70’s, followed by a very strong starter home market, and later as the Baby Boom generation continued to move through its life cycle, began buying move-up homes like they did starter homes a decade earlier.
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For the past several years, Outdoor Living upgrades have been getting a lot more attention as homeowners seek to expand their living space from within the walls of the home to beyond those borders. Average new home size has shrunk in the past few years, but the expansion of outdoor living space has more than filled the gap the shrinking home has left.
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Our 2020 Annual Consumer Practices Survey is complete, data compiled, and reports will be available starting this week. More than 110,000 U.S. and Canadian households participated this year and provided highly-detailed information on their remodeling activities and purchases from nearly 40 different product categories. This is an incredibly important data year as it establishes a pre-COVID-19 benchmark to measure against. The home flooring replacement market, for example, was anything but static in the preceding year.
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Occasionally, unforeseen opportunities arise in the course of research where data can be analyzed for a purpose that was not originally intended. Collecting data from our 100,000-response Consumer Practices Survey (CPS) occurred from mid-February to mid-April 2020; this collection period spanned the period of time when we first began seeing COVID-19 as a serious threat in the Unites States and governments began restricting certain businesses and activities.
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While in most states home construction has been considered “essential” in our COVID-19-restricted economy, that doesn’t mean that all things have been “business-as-usual.” Quite the contrary. Builders and contractors are reporting that social distancing measures and shut downs in other sectors of the economy have slowed sales, lengthened construction times, and reduced the reliability and flexibility of their workforce. As states begin allowing limited re-opening of more businesses, construction companies are focusing on how to handle a surge in demand. But will the building product industry, with its own COVID-19 curtailments, be able to sufficiently supply a robust rebound of the residential construction industry? And, just as importantly, what product mix will satisfy the needs of the new industry environment?
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In theory, business disruptions, even one as unexpected and drastic as COVID-19, can spur innovation in an industry as companies adapt to overcome new challenges to their economic viability. However, reality often favors the opposite end of the spectrum, where companies opt to retrench, preserve cash, and focus on short-term, revenue-generating functions as they prepare for a potential protracted downturn. This tactic likely results in reallocating dollars away from R&D and market expansion efforts. And, since these activities are generally associated with a company’s innovativeness – and further, its long-term health and viability – the chasm between the theoretical benefits and harsh reality of major disruptions widens.
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One of the hottest topics in the industry press prior to March of this year was the ongoing and growing shortage of skilled construction labor. The coverage reflected the perceptions of home builders across the country as they faced this daunting issue and its effects on their businesses. Over the past few weeks, however, with builder confidence about future sales dropping sharply in response to COVID-19, we felt it was time for us to re-assess the labor environment as a builder priority.
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Moisture control and dehumidification are increasingly hot topics among residential builders and property managers in hot-humid climates. Home Innovation's Cindy Wasser recently spoke with a couple of our manufacturer partners with NGBS Green Certified Products to learn more about the industry trends they’re seeing, and the solutions their companies are implementing to ensure energy-efficient green homes maintain proper moisture and humidity.
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Most researchers associate discrete choice methodologies with surveys where the objective is to measure the “What” of buyer preference. But in qualitative research, where exploration is a common objective, discrete choice methodology can be applied to better understand the “Why” of decision dynamics and to identify what tradeoffs buyers are making when choosing building products or services. Home Innovation offers clients this powerful way to explore decision making through discrete choice qualitative research.
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Growing interest in Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) have some believing it will soon rival Energy Efficiency in consumers' housing-related decision making. So we put it to the test, adding a question to our 2020 Consumer Practices Survey. Take a look at my summary of what we found.
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We understand the concern and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) and want you to know that the entire Home Innovation team is committed to being responsive to the needs of our clients as the situation evolves. At Home Innovation Research Labs, the health and safety of our clients and our employees is our number one priority. As such, we are taking necessary measures to ensure the safety of our staff, while also remaining open for business to provide full business continuity for all of your testing and code compliance needs.
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Finding and surveying a consumer group with specific home repair or remodeling purchase experience can be challenging, at best. Sometimes, it’s like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Here’s why it can be so difficult — each year…
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The NGBS Green Certification program team is monitoring the ongoing situation affecting the nation and the globe with the coronavirus/COVID-19. We have put certain practices into place and provided guidance to our NGBS Green Verifiers (who are all independent contractors subject to their own business requirements) and other program partners, and will continue to update as best practices and guidance from the CDC dictate.
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You know your product addresses the growing construction labor shortage, but your claims are falling on the deaf ears of skeptical potential buyers. They’ve heard that claim before and want someone to provide verification that it really works. Unfortunately, for manufacturers who have developed truly improved products, there are few standard test methods to empirically validate benefits like these.
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Historically, one of the biggest challenges home builders have faced is keeping rainwater out of wood-framed walls. Earliest techniques included big roof overhangs to shelter walls from rainwater, lapping siding boards to push water away from walls, protecting the framing with moisture-resistant sheathing materials, and later, placing a water-resistant layer like asphalt felt beneath siding to protect wood elements from rot.
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As many of us prepare for the upcoming holidays, I thought I’d do my part by scouting out changes Santa might see as he readies to land on the rooftops of U.S. homes next week. I did some fact-finding in our Annual Builder Practices Reports to determine how changes in new home construction, particularly on roofs, may impact his annual Christmas eve mission. So below is my list – neither naughty, nor nice; just the facts as revealed in Home Innovation’s 2019 Builder Practices Reports … but I did check them twice!
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Going with a really cheap survey sample may be one of the biggest mistakes your company could make in conducting market research among construction pros. No doubt, you can get cheap survey sample for about any set of qualifications for just $5, $10, or $20 per completed response. However, we have found through our own experience, as well as anecdotally from clients who’ve been lured in by cheap prices in the past, that more than 75% of “qualified” construction pros from consumer panels are not really construction pros at all; and the rest of the list is typically of questionable quality. As they say, garbage in, garbage out.
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During this week’s Housewrap 2019 conference in Ft. Lauderdale, I presented, “Trends and Opportunities in the Residential Housewrap Market.” The presentation included information from our Annual Builder Practices Reports and Annual Consumer Practices Reports.
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At Home Innovation Research Labs, we’re continuing to monitor the building industry climate and market opportunities for offsite housing construction through our surveys of home builders. Most recently, our August 2019 Omnibus Survey of builders included several questions on this topic.
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In recent years, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on the skilled labor shortage affecting construction and the related changes in building and buying patterns this has caused among home builders. But there may be an even greater pain-point among builders that’s getting a lot less attention—builder sensitivity to increases in building materials prices. Given the nature of the construction business, price increases over the course of home construction (currently averaging 7 months from breaking ground to completion) cuts into margins, while price declines are a windfall. The problem is that lately price increases have far outweighed decreases.
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Data collection for our Annual Builder Practices Survey is complete and initial findings are now being published. More than 1,500 U.S. home builders participated this year to give us highly detailed information on their new home characteristics and the products they purchased for their homes.
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Data collection for our Annual Consumer Practices Survey is complete and we’re now compiling and publishing the initial findings. More than 110,000 U.S. and Canadian households participated this year, and provided highly detailed information on their remodeling activities and purchases in 30 different product categories for the last year.
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During this year’s International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, I presented, “When and Where Off-Site Housing Technologies Will Emerge” to members of NAHB’s Building Systems Council (BSC). The presentation included information from a 10-year summary of our Annual Builder Practices Reports and a survey conducted in December 2018 of home 300 builders who were asked about their future intentions for using building components and off-site housing technologies. While I’d provided an overview of December’s survey findings here on our website, the presentation was based on a more in-depth analysis based on builder type, size, and region.
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Two weeks ago, I blogged about a summary of findings to a builder survey, where more than 250 write-in responses to the question, “What are your biggest challenges in constructing homes to meet current energy codes?” were received.
Responses varied widely. In an attempt to summarize the breadth of responses, I would say they indicated that building more energy-efficient homes means the home building industry has to change, and change can be painful — particularly painful when the industry is producing at near capacity, labor and materials costs are rising, and both management and jobsite labor are in short supply. The 85% of respondents who indicated having challenges seemed to convey that the fast pace of building code changes is disrupting the design and construction of homes, and they are trying to sort things out.
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In December 2018, Home Innovations Research Labs fielded our Omnibus Survey of 300 U.S. home builders, which included dozens of questions from sponsoring manufacturers. We also included some of our own questions to gain insight into current building construction issues.
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It’s been about 30 years since Home Innovation Research Labs built the first Smart House prototype in Maryland research home park. The whole “smart home” concept has been on the verge of exploding in the market for decades, but along the way changing homes, demographics, technologies, and lifestyles have continued to evolve and caused wrinkles in the plans of companies and organizations bringing this technology to market.
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There are lots of passionate individuals and companies in our industry who are working to bring about positive change. Whether developing a new product, testing a new construction technique/method, introducing a new building code provision, or advocating for a new industry policy, cost is always a factor that needs to be considered on the road to innovation. Cost can be the factor that stops a great idea from going forward.
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While PV technology has made considerable gains in terms of cost reduction and increased efficiency over the last decade, often the bureaucracy surrounding it has not. Government often gets credit for growing the solar market through subsidies, but this ignores regulatory hurdles in the way of project completion such as old timey zoning laws, overly burdensome permitting practices, and time-consuming interconnection policies. All of that sticky red tape can stifle PV growth. Check out this guest post from Solar Builder magazine to find out what's being done to overcome these obstacles.
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The data is in! Home Innovation’s 2018 Builder Practices Survey continues to reveal many new trends and reversals. Some of the most notable changes we’ve seen so far have been highlighted in my recent Trends posts. Here are a few more points I’ve found interesting during my ongoing analysis…
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Trends will come and go, but one thing that’s always been consistent about the construction industry and markets for building products is that it is highly fragmented. A product manufacturer’s success in one of the many market segments almost never indicates if they can or will be successful in another market. Buyers of materials have very different purchase journeys, depending on whether it is for a production home, non-residential building, infrastructure project, home remodeling done by a professional, or a do-it-yourself undertaking.
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With increasingly stringent energy codes, building product manufacturers are developing new products and innovative construction techniques to improve the thermal envelope. Code officials, builders, and architects want reliable thermal conductivity data. But, without testing, you can't know the U-value of the assembled component. Hot Box testing is a reliable way to capture shareable, marketable data that is far superior to modeled performance.
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For many smaller building product manufacturers, simply following best practices and common sense may work most of the time. But, for those looking to grow market share and compete on a regional or national level, that may not be enough. Having a formal quality assurance (QA) system is often the next step in your company's journey to market growth and success; and it is a must for getting your product certified as code compliant.
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Greenwashing. Unfortunately, it’s not a new form of consumer deception. But, fortunately, there are both new and improving means of shining a light on those who seek to deceive, as well as recognizing and rewarding those who provide true value with high-performance, green building.
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Based on my past 25 years of researching innovation in home construction, I’ve seen the impact of building code changes on market and industry practices. Normally, however, it’s industry and market adoption of superior building practices that lead to building code changes.
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One market, one message, one ad strategy, one set of product options — sounds simple and efficient, doesn’t it? But we all know that’s not how modern marketing works. As marketers get more savvy, and buyers more discerning, lumping everyone into a single bucket is only a simple and efficient way to continue losing ground against competitors. Even “segmenting” your market by Builder, Retailer, or Contractor channels falls short of a strategy that will propel you ahead of competitors and help you make the most of your advertising, marketing, and communications budgets.
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Energy codes have more stringent insulating requirements for cooler climates. So, wouldn’t it be logical to assume that a manufacturer offering a new insulation product touting better energy performance should introduce it the cooler, Northern region of the country? Perhaps. But the market doesn’t always play out the way you think it will; the way that seems most logical. As a prime example, Spray Foam Insulation has enjoyed much bigger market share in warmer climates than in cooler (see map below). Using Tableau, Home Innovation’s Builder Practices data can provide insight not readily seen using more traditional methods of analysis.
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In our wind-blown rain and air infiltration chamber we huff and puff and see what it takes to blow water into even the tiniest entry points of a home's exterior envelope. Would your products pass our rigorous testing?
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Over the past several years of visiting IBS and conducting field and lab research on labor-saving materials, tools, and equipment, Home Innovation market expert Ed Hudson has seen some that have been really successful for the manufacturers who seized on the opportunity. Check out some more of his insights on providing market solutions to the current labor shortage.
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It’s no secret that there is a labor shortage in construction. But every unmet building industry need creates an opportunity for manufacturers and suppliers in that segment of the industry. Over the past several years, Home Innovation Research Labs has conducted dozens of studies on new labor-saving materials, tools, equipment, and installation techniques. Find out things we've learned that can help you be part of the solution for your customers.
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Is it best to take total control of your business experience at the upcoming International Builders' Show and walk the floor, or should you work the booth and make something of whoever comes your way? Or maybe both? It really depends on your objectives. Find out how to make the best decision for your company.
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Why work harder to find products that meet your NGBS certification needs, when you can work smarter by specifying NGBS Green Certified Products? Our NGBS Green Certified Product program bridges the gap between manufacturers who produce NGBS-compliant products, and the builders/designers who want to use them.
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The flooring market in new homes has been in flux in recent years, and some notable trends have emerged—carpeting is retreating to bedrooms; resilient flooring is losing its already dwindling share to tile; and hardwood finish flooring is now dominating the main living areas of new homes. The biggest winner among all flooring types in the past decade has been engineered hardwood, capitalizing on the style trend toward wood finishes and the need for quick and trouble-free installation.
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Home Innovation Research Labs has been conducting our annual surveys of both builders and consumers for decades. Over time, we’ve adapted and augmented both the content and the options available to our customers to meet the rapidly changing needs of their businesses and adapt to changes within the residential construction industry. This year, we’ve added some of the most exciting and beneficial upgrades ever to our offerings. See below for details on the latest advancements.
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While construction labor shortages are getting a lot of warranted press lately, it’s also very apparent that the industry is suffering from a lack of experienced and skilled staff at the supervisory and project management levels. A lot of talent left construction during the Great Recession, and while the industry is rebounding, the talent pool may not have caught up with the improving economic climate.
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Despite the best efforts of the Home Innovation green team, and volumes of information available to dispel the myth, some builders still believe that getting a home green certified is a difficult, costly, and time-consuming task. Perhaps one of the greatest proof points that NGBS Green Certification is none of these things is its market share – in a relatively short period of time, NGBS Green has gone from a start up to the leading green home certification provider in the country. Many NGBS Green Verifiers say the builders who participate in NGBS Green find it a more straightforward and affordable way to stand out from their competition.
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Soft costs can often be a deal-breaker for solar installation. DOE's SolSmart is helping builders and developers overcome barriers to solar in residential construction that can often come from arduous local zoning, permitting, and inspection requirements. Find out more about the program and how it can help in your community.
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2016 was a good year for NGBS Green, marked by steady growth. As we head into the new year on the brink of recognizing our 100,000th NGBS Green Certified home, it's a good time to reflect on the keys to the market success of green certification and how they will continue to benefit participants going forward.
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Home Innovation Research Labs recently announced a data sharing agreement with my company, Pivotal Energy Solutions. The announcement may have seemed inconsequential at the time, but I’m convinced that what this agreement represents is a critical next step in the marketing of energy-efficient homes and has potential to impact your business in a BIG way.
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DOE's SolSmart is helping builders and developers overcome the barriers to solar in residential construction that can often come from arduous local zoning, permitting, and inspection requirements. Find out more about this new program and how it can help in your community.
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ANSI approved the 2015 NGBS in April. This latest version preserves the standard's tradition as the building industry’s benchmark for residential projects designed and built for high performance, and makes it easier than ever to incorporate green features into your next project. Find out how Home Innovation's NGBS Green Certification program and its rating system are keeping up with latest in green building.
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Embarking on the 7th year of operation for NGBS Green, Home Innovation Research Labs has made some program improvements -- some big, some not so big, but all geared toward delivering the most responsive, reliable, and cost-effective green home certification program available.
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Home Innovation Research Labs recently debuted its inaugural green certification program annual report, “NGBS Green: A Better Place to Call Home.” The report provides a new advocacy quill in the quiver of builders and verifiers around the country hoping to promote more choice in the marketplace in regions where green building is required by code.
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The FTC is becoming ever more vigilant on pursuing those who mislead consumers on the "green" attributes of their products. While homes are very different than cleaning products and other consumer goods, find out why Home Innovation’s NGBS Green certification program offers a safe haven for builders to deliver consumers green, high performance homes, and not run afoul of the FTC.
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Many builders mistakenly believe that green certified homes are a niche product; that only the most environmentally-conscious consumers care about green features. Instead, they reason, homebuyers are all about the sales price. Find out why, more and more, that's simply not the case.
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Kaizen is the practice of continuous improvement; a belief that big results come from many small changes accumulated over time. In the six years since Home Innovation played a critical role in the development of the National Green Building Standard ICC-700 (NGBS) and began to offer NGBS Green Certification to the residential industry, our kaizen approach has helped drive our success.
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According to Home Innovation's latest Annual Builder Practices Survey, the home building industry is finally climbing out of the doldrums, and some exciting and unexpected opportunities are revealing themselves. For over 30 years, our annual survey and reports have tracked market shares of building material categories. Find out what the latest data tell us.
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As a builder, member of Home Innovation's Board, and chair of the new NGBS Green Advisory Group, it was affirming to hear builders and developers on the Advisory Group recently discuss how NGBS Green has helped them transform their specific projects, but also to acknowledge the challenges that remain to transform the market. Quite simply, this is the value proposition of NGBS Green. It helps builders be more successful and at the same time produce buildings with greater inherent value and smaller environmental impacts. Find out more about the growing momentum of NGBS Green.
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With the 50,000th NGBS Green Certified home in our very recent past, it seemed like a perfect time to look back on what a game-changer the NGBS rating system has been to the home building industry, and celebrate the achievements of our dedicated NGBS Green Partners who have sought third-party green home certification.
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One of the most important aspects of multifamily construction is scheduling. If done properly, it can save the owner and the
general contractor a lot of time, money, and frustration. But all too often, this process is not monitored closely enough. In large multi-million-dollar projects,
the smallest mistakes in construction sequencing can be devastating to
the project by causing costly delays, damages, and legal actions. NGBS Green Verifiers can help you plan so that a small error in scheduling doesn't result in a major catastrophe in your green building.
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Despite green building experts’ declarations to the contrary, a truly high-performance, green home is not always easy for builders to design and construct, and there are always additional costs involved as compared to building a code-minimum home. These are facts. But we do all that we can to make the process easier and more affordable for builders, so that more builders will build green homes and verify performance with independent, third-party verification.
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In light of the recent approval by Congress of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and specific recognition of the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) in that legislation, Balfour Beatty's Hayley King discusses how the NGBS can work well for military housing and the land on which it’s developed.
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Imagine a buyer expecting you to provide a proposal for a new home without knowing what size or type of home they want you to build. Ridiculous! Impossible! Well, that's not too far off from what often happens in high-performance appraisal requests. Find out how to take full advantage of the "Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum" recently issued by the Appraisal Institute to ensure your appraiser can properly value your NGBS Green Certified home by knowing the details of the construction and the high-performance features.
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A recent national consumer insights study estimated that 60 percent of Americans, roughly 185 million people, are interested in green and healthy living. OK. So you build green homes. But are you doing your best to reach those green-hungry consumers? Don't go to the effort of having your home NGBS Green Certified and then keep it a secret. Following some simple green home marketing rules can help you get the most out of your commitment to green by helping buyers better understand what they will get (and what they won't be lacking) by buying a green home.
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Rigorous verification is a hallmark of NGBS Green Certification. No other green building certification has a similarly thorough verification protocol, while still being affordable. Our national network includes over 400 accredited NGBS Green Verifiers trained to inspect every conceivable residential project. An experienced verifier can help your project team get the most value out of the verification. So don't just endure verification; embrace it. After all, you are paying for it – might as well maximize the value!
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Some builders are adamant that homebuyers don’t care about green. They rationalize this conclusion because homebuyers don’t typically ask for green features explicitly. However, market research consistently confirms that a majority of mainstream Americans do care about sustainable choices. One national consumer insights study estimates that 60 percent of Americans, roughly 185 million people, are interested in green and healthy living. So what's missing? Builders need to apply the basic tenets of effective marketing to their green home marketing -- deliver the right message to the right audience in the right way.
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Homebuyers want much more out of their homes than just energy efficiency. The research findings proving this point are irrefutable. Yet there are still builders who put all their marketing might onto the single-point message that their homes are energy efficient and will provide a tangible, monetary payback. That's leaving a lot of unclaimed marketing chips on the table for the home features buyers value even more than energy and the related cost savings. Isn't it time to face the facts and deliver what homebuyers really want? Homes that provide a healthy place for their families, comfort, and contribute to a sustainable lifestyle — truly green homes.
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Frustrated by lack of local knowledge about or interest in green home building? See how one local jurisdiction in Washington State used the National Green Building Standard as a catalyst for positive change in job creation and green home market development.
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The National Green Building Standard (NGBS) provides consumers a single standard by which to make informed decisions for what may be the most important, if not most expensive, purchases of their lives: their homes. With an NGBS Green Certified home, consumers rest assured that the appropriate practices and products have not only been installed, but have also passed (at least) two independent inspections by an accredited, third-party verifier. Consumers should look for the NGBS Green Certified mark to help separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to truly green homes and apartments.
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No home is made of just one product. And no one product within a home works without some reliance on one or more other products. Does your product play well with others? Don't be the weakest link in your clients' home systems, or get in your own way on the path to your next innovation. Understand how your product works in relation to a range of connections and assemblies by conducting non-standard testing with Home Innovation Research Labs.
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As a building product manufacturer, it’s important to base your assessment of market change on reliable data and not the latest industry hype. Find out how our product usage data helps vigilant product managers spot changes as they're beginning to happen, when there's still time to act and not just re-act.
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Too often, the value of the green features in high-performing homes have been either underestimated or overlooked during the appraisal and lending processes. This limits the ability of builders to properly differentiate themselves in the marketplace, and the ability of homeowners to get the full value of their homes in appraisals and resale pricing. But the times they are a changin’! Over the last year, important strides have been made to ensure that appraisers and lenders are equipped to recognize and value green home features.
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With model building codes ramping up thermal envelope requirements for homes, and homebuyers becoming increasingly concerned (and knowledgeable) about managing their energy bills, both builders and buyers are scrutinizing the performance of the insulative products used in their homes. R-value is the most obvious and universal “proof point” that batt insulation will perform as expected, but how confident can you be that the R-value posted on a label actually reflects how that product will perform? Very confident … as long as the product also carries our Lab Certified mark.
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As the Sustainability Coordinator for Balfour Beatty Communities’ diverse housing portfolio, Hayley King's chief objective is to recommend and execute efficient products and services that reduce our operating costs while increasing the bottom line. Find out why she's found the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) an invaluable resource to accomplish these corporate goals, and why she values the openness, transparency, and diversity of stakeholder input in the development of the 2015 NGBS.
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Compared to other national third-party green certification programs, Home Innovation’s NGBS Green Certification fees are remarkably affordable. The “bricks and sticks” costs to comply with the NGBS are also relatively affordable for most projects, due to the expansive point-based system to achieve green certification. So, verification costs end up being the biggest bucket of “added cost” for projects seeking NGBS Green Certification. But experienced NGBS Green Partner builders and developers will attest to the benefits and value that independent, third-party verification provides green projects.
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As Ronald Reagan famously declared, “Trust, but verify.” We concur, especially when it comes to green home building. All good intentions aside, there is a lot of complex and interdependent building science at work behind the scenes of any high-performance home, which is why third-party verification is critical for us to have confidence declaring a project “green” via our NGBS Green certification program.
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While we know there's increasing awareness and demand for green homes among homebuyers and renters, it's interesting to note these "typical" consumers are not the only drivers for residential green certification. Builders and developers are frequently (and pleasantly) surprised by the wide variety of projects, other than traditional home construction, to which they can apply the National Green Building Standard. Find out a little more about some unique, but practical, applications for NGBS Green Certification, such as student housing and even some hotels.
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One of the most significant obstacles to green home building is the prevailing builder myth that ALL consumers ONLY care about energy efficiency because an energy-efficient home will cost less to operate. It's just not that simple. While many consumers do care about energy efficiency, and a portion of those care about it specifically because a more efficient home, apartment, or car will save them money, that only tells part of the story. Find out more about the other pieces of the green home marketing puzzle that builders must learn to solve.
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With new single-family housing starts up 16 percent from the previous year, 2013 brought some needed relief to a beleaguered industry. What did that mean for building products usage? After comparing data from our 2013 Annual Builder Practices Reports to the previous year, what we saw largely met our expectations. However, there were a few surprises that may signal some fundamental changes in builder preferences for new home materials. Take a look at what we observed for residential exterior materials.
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The phrase, “You’re being audited,” can strike fear into the heart of anyone. I am personally recovering from our latest lab audit, or, more accurately, our latest surveillance assessment. Unlike an IRS audit, however, the audits we undergo as an accredited third party are not at all unpleasant; in fact, they’re very beneficial. But they do take a big commitment of time and energy, and involve a certain amount of stress as our company’s credibility relies heavily on the value imbued by our accreditations. Find out what's involved and how this helps define our culture of accountability.
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Having just marked our 50th year in business last week, it seems like a perfect time to look back on some of the key home building innovations our team has helped to gain acceptance in the mainstream by eliminating barriers to market penetration. While there's probably no one builder who uses all these innovations, I bet most builders use at least one on a regular basis. We're proud of that legacy.
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For decades, cities have been grafting green building certifications into commercial building codes, but more and more they're doing likewise with residential building. Rather than invent yet another green code, building departments can benefit from using a proven, off-the-shelf green home building certification that can be implemented quickly and effectively. Plus, homeowners get the added benefit of having a nationally recognized green home certification, adding market value to properties in a sale or refinance.
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When the NGBS was originally developed, some builders opposed it for fear that local jurisdictions would adopt it as code, turning a voluntary, above-code program into a mandate. Those fears have been largely unfounded. A number of government agencies and a few public utilities have incentivized NGBS compliance, but very few have outright mandated the NGBS as code. Find out why Home Innovation encourages the incentive approach.
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For multifamily building owners, the old excuse that the appraiser "just didn't get it" when it comes to receiving a green appraisal, doesn't have the validity today that it once did. It's more a matter of owners not knowing how to properly seek an appraisal process that values green attributes. Bob Sahadi of the Institute for Market Transformation discusses the existing gaps he's seen in green multifamily building owners receiving appropriate green appraisals that reflect their buildings' inherent benefits — lower operating expenses, faster absorption, lower vacancies, and even more favorable capitalization rates.
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Product failures happen. Because they do, builders tend to stick with the “tried-and-true” building materials, believing that wise builders don’t get fooled by new product claims. So how do new products break through? Consistently, our research shows the most important factor in a builder’s decision to try a new product is confidence that the manufacturer has done the proper testing and evaluation on the product. Have your products been tested?
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Use of the NGBS for multifamily construction has been booming over the past few years, and it's being accepted as the green program of choice at near exponential rates. All NGBS Green Verifiers are trained by Home Innovation to verify all types of green projects, but on-the-ground expertise varies. If you are transitioning from multifamily low- and mid-rise buildings to multifamily high-rise buildings, it's important to work with an NGBS Green Verifier who understands the "gray areas" and differences with this kind of project to maximize the value of your verification.
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Energy efficiency requirements in the building codes are becoming more and more stringent. This has lead to the unintended consequence of builders having to contend with and mitigate excess moisture in the homes they build. Making houses tighter with less air infiltration creates positive energy benefits but, unless adequate ventilation is provided in the right way, there can be moisture-related issues like mold growth. Proper moisture testing for building products is crucial to ensure they perform as manufacturers, builders, and homeowners desire.
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It's 2014, the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is gaining ground and being accepted in many states, and it is no longer a question of "if" but "when" you will be required to meet a certain building leakage number. So if you're a home builder still asking, “Isn't it better – and greener – to just let my homes 'breathe' naturally rather than sealing them tightly and relying on mechanical ventilation?” you're in for an abrupt and rude awakening when the new code comes to town. Don't wait. The future is now. And certification to the NGBS is your best tool.
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Homes today, especially high-performance green homes, are complex – they involve systems within systems, integrated technologies, and dozens of “pieces” or components that homeowners rely on every day. Each home component – including systems, appliances, finishes, and more – has its own make, model, serial number, user manual, warranty information, and more. A homeowners’ manual is the key to maintaining and understanding all of these components, and providing a comprehensive manual to your homeowners is the key to establishing yourself as a reliable resource for them.
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Across the real estate transaction process, various users are obtaining and utilizing green home data for their own purposes, but that information is not necessarily translatable to other users. There's a significant lack of interoperability in the system, where everyone is speaking on different frequencies, and often even in different "languages" about green. This undermines the ability of anyone to fully and effectively communicate about green home features and have them recognized and valued throughout the process. Last week's unveiling of NAR's Green MLS Implementation Guide v1.0 is a huge step toward rectifying this situation.
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Some U.S. manufacturers of building materials have overlooked Canada as an important part of their market development efforts, instead concentrating on expanding their presence into new U.S. geographies or penetrating deeper into existing markets. This may have been rational, for example, in 2005 when the Canadian housing market about 1/10th the size of the U.S. market (measured in new homes completed). Last year, Canada’s housing market was about 1/5th the size of the U.S. market. The stability of the Canadian housing market is also noteworthy, and the anemic rebound of the U.S. new home market are more reasons to take a closer look at Canada.
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Consumers are crying out for ways to live green. They intrinsically believe that it’s the right thing to do. However, when faced with the most important decisions about where to live, green just can’t compete against more important criteria. That’s fine, because living green is an important part of each box prospects are looking to check.
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This week I was on a mission to purchase sneakers. I am a loyal consumer to a brand known for their technological innovations and superior performance. Given their extensive product line, I sought to narrow my choice by reading online customer reviews. What I learned was interesting, and a problem not unfamiliar to the residential construction industry: they lost control of their quality.
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While LEED® for Neighborhood Development™ (LEED-ND) continues to hold greater name recognition, a lesser-known certification option of the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) is the Green Land Development certification. This green rating system covers the design, planning, and development of residential and mixed-use green communities. Since 2009, Home Innovation Research Labs has certified 22 land developments, representing over 1,500 lots, with nine communities currently in progress, representing 21,382 lots!
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A successful year for your company may mean a couple percentage points gain in market share against your competitors. But how do you know your competitive position with any certainty? Are sudden changes in sales affecting only your company, or is the entire market or product category up or down for some reason? Since most companies' product category sales and production figures aren’t made public, companies often resort to conducting their own brand share study to answer these and other questions.
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Guests who tour Home Innovation Research Labs are impressed with our sizeable Hot Box. Indeed, we have one of the largest in the country. Less brawny, but equally titillating, are our four heat flow meters. This equipment is essential to measure the thermal efficiency of insulation (and a variety of other building products), commonly measured by R-value, a measure of resistance to heat flow. And increasingly, as Professional Builder magazine recently noted, energy efficiency is table stakes for the new market.
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Today’s housing market presents builders and remodelers with lots of changes. More stringent energy codes. A shortage of skilled labor. Changing consumer preferences. Advanced building science technologies. Rising land and material costs. As a result, builders' and remodelers' practices are changing at a similar pace.
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At Elevate Energy, we design and implement efficiency programs that lower costs, protect the environment, and ensure the benefits of energy efficiency reach those who need them most. As a provider of these programs, we understand that future success is dependent upon energy efficiency becoming transparent in the real estate transaction of high performance homes.
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Shortly after last year's USGBC GreenBuild conference, an online publication queried building professionals as to their thoughts and expectations of the future of green building. Overwhelmingly, it seemed the green building experts interviewed believed that eventually there would be no distinction between green, high-performance building and standard construction, simply because conventional construction would be so much more efficient than current industry standards. Similarly, I often hear builders opine that because energy codes have become so much more stringent, there soon will be no need for above-code green certification programs.
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High-performance homes appeal to consumers because of their touted benefits: a healthier indoor environment, lower operating costs, and increased durability. Certainly, the benefits are compelling. But do we know if high-performance homes can live up to these elevated expectations?
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If you are a builder or developer who is just getting started with green home construction, look no further than Home Innovation Research Labs' NGBS Green Certified product mark on product packaging and marketing materials to identify and source green building products. NGBS Green Certified products are pre-approved by Home Innovation to contribute toward a home or building meeting specific NGBS practices, and use of certified products offers labor-savings and streamlined verification to builders/developers.
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There is a common barrier to innovation faced by builders and product manufacturers alike. They may be certain their product or technology is superior, but can they convince relevant decision-makers to change from tried-and-true methodologies and products? The answer is yes – if they have credible and demonstrable proof to back up their claims.
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It's a basic rule of business: if you're not moving forward, you get left behind – and the green building market is no exception. With the ink barely dry on the 2012 National Green Building Standard (NGBS), Home Innovation Research Labs is starting the development of the 2015 NGBS. It will take us about two years to fulfill ANSI’s demanding requirements and comprehensive process. That's why it's critical that we start early to have a completed NGBS when the market is ready.
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New consumer research by NAHB and GuildQuality, a leading provider of customer satisfaction surveying for the residential building industry, offers unique insight into how green homeowners feel about their homes – particularly regarding overall satisfaction and promotion.
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Home Innovation Research Labs began to certify homes and multifamily buildings to the NGBS in 2009. Since then, we have certified over 30,000 homes and lots as NGBS compliant; and have almost 50,000 homes registered as seeking certification. Until recently, however, we have not had an effective way to reach consumers. A new and exciting partnership with Porch.com will help us overcome that challenge.
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I saw an ad recently that was so good I watched it several times on the DVR. It not only made me feel more positive about the brand, it made me want to use the brand more often. Don’t you hope all the ads you have a hand in crafting are this effective? We can help.
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We are an enigma -- a for-profit operating as an independent subsidiary of a non-profit. At the same time, our by-laws outline a corporate mission of research and development aimed at increasing the affordability, and improving the quality and performance of homes nationwide. Our mission appears to belie our for-profit organizing principle, but it actually offers insight into barriers to innovation within the residential construction industry. Find out how we help clients navigate those challenges.
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With all the work GSA has done recently to establish leadership in sustainable commercial building and development, there's reason to be optimistic and anticipate similar leadership on their part in regard to green housing. Find out why I'm hopeful.
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Is it best to take total control of your business experience at the upcoming International Builders' Show and walk the floor, or should you work the booth and make something of whoever comes your way? Or maybe both? It really depends on your objectives. Find out how to make the best decision for your company.
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The next generation of housing industry professionals has to be better trained to deliver the home of the future. The DOE Challenge Home Student Design Competition is part of this important transformation process toward creating better homes and communities.
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2013 was a year marked with change and innovation in the world of green. Find out about some of the leading trends we saw in our green home certification program.
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Are you planning to do focus groups at IBS? Shouldn't you be? The attendees will represent everyone from the guys who pound the hammers, to the guys who make the multi-million dollar deals, and everyone in between. Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to get their insights on your products.
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It’s not always easy to collect the right kind of information from the right kind of respondents for the residential construction industry. But with 50 years of expertise on the ins and outs of the housing industry, we have the know-how to overcome the potential difficulties that come with getting meaningful, actionable data.
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In mid-December, we closed out registration for the DOE Challenge Home Student Design Competition. The response we got from colleges and universities across North America was really inspiring — all told, 32 teams have stepped up to the challenge in DOE's "race to zero" in energy-efficient home designs. Find out more.
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Over the past decade, we've undertaken dozens of market research projects to uncover what consumers know or don't know, like or dislike, want or don't want in green homes. Find out what insights this long-ranging look at consumer preferences has given me, and some of the most meaningful and easy remedies to barriers that might confront builders heading down the green home path.
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While its name might conjure up images of a middle ages torture machine or a modern-day MMA move, our "Racker" is actually used to understand the shear wall performance of building assemblies. Find out what makes this custom piece of test equipment particularly well-suited for ensuring structural systems are up to the test.
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Elvis was right. “Changes are a-comin', for these are changing days.” The housing industry is no stranger to change; many of our clients have successfully navigated the cyclical housing market. But it certainly seems the pace of change within our characteristically slow-to-change industry has accelerated.
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The National Green Building Standard (NGBS) has broad applicability for projects of all sizes and designs, including single-family homes and multifamily buildings, and both new construction and rehab/remodel projects. This post breaks down perhaps the “best kept secret” of the NGBS - the option for multifamily rehab projects.
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Think all Universal Test Machines are the same? Think again. Find out more about our large-scale Southwerk-Emery UTM, one of the workhorse pieces of equipment in our product testing lab.
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The old adage says consumers can pick two — good, fast, or cheap. So if you want good + fast, the result will be expensive. Contrary to this common belief, when designing NGBS Green Certification our goal was to deliver a program that met all three criteria. Find out how we've met this goal.
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Continuing my series on NGBS "firsts," find out more about the first student housing community to ever be NGBS Green Certified. In keeping with market demands for multifamily development, Home Innovation now offers NGBS Green certifications for some hotels, barracks, and dorms.
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Home design may be holding onto to tradition on the exterior, but on the inside, consumers are yearning for more and different all the time. Find out how some recent data from a builder survey may reveal where the action really is for home innovation -- after all, it's what's on the inside that counts!
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Is just building a high-performing home enough? Is there value in a third-party validation that what you say about the homes you build is actually true? Find out more about how NGBS Green certification is not just an added cost on your bottom line, but an added, marketable value to the products you offer consumers.
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Ever sneak a peak at what's inside your neighbor's cabinet? Not to be creepy, just to see if they were KCMA Certified. Let us quell your curiosity by telling you a little more about the third-party product testing we provide to give KCMA confidence in the products that bear their mark.
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Continuing my series on 2012 NGBS "firsts," this post talks about the first basement remodel to ever be "NGBS Green Certified." Small/functional/area remodel certifications are a new option that had not been available in the previous version of the NGBS.
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Continuing my series on 2012 NGBS "firsts," find out more about the first home in the country to achieve Emerald, the highest certification level under the new standard.
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This summer, two single-family homes and a remodeled basement became the first projects certified by Home Innovation to the 2012 version of the NGBS. Check out this first post in my blog mini-series about the first single-family home that was 2012 NGBS Green Certified.
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Consumers hate fine print, for good reason. Now, in addition to the extra level of quality NGBS Green Certified homes already provide, there's even more reason for builders of these homes not to hide behind fine print and stand behind their homes with the Bonded Builders Warranty Group Residential Energy Guarantee.
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As new and improved building products come onto the market, how do you know what's going to stand the test of time? It's easy — just look for the Home Innovation Lab Certified mark.
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While cost is always a factor with home builders, we've seen through data collected in our Annual Builder Practices Survey that value is often an overriding consideration. See what we've found for how builders address the cost vs. value equation when increasing R-value in their new homes.
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One of the barriers to green certified housing is the ability for architects, builders, and remodelers to find products that help their project attain certification. That's why Home Innovation Labs created our NGBS Green Certified Products Program.
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The impending growth of the housing market will likely require builders and contractors to do some hiring. New staff means training and quality management challenges (and opportunities) ahead. Before the market shifts into full gear, now may be the best time to XYQ - examine your quality - to position yourself for the rebound.
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Despite having tens of thousands of green home certifications under out belt, the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) and Home Innovation's NGBS Certification Program are still not as well-known as LEED. Find out why NGBS is still the best choice.
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The IRC now has provisions for unvented crawlspaces, which can be practical, energy-efficient options for those building in hot-humid climates. But what's the best way to build these types of crawlspaces? Our new builder resources can help.
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In this third and final in our series discussing our recent consumer survey on garages, I cover some of the "wish list" items consumers say would help them enjoy their garages more. There are potential market opportunities for product manufacturers and other industry professionals.
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In this second of a three-part series, find out some of the demographic differences we found in terms of how people use their garages. There are potential market opportunities both in what has changed and in what has remained the same.
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We investigated all-things-garage in a recent survey commissioned by the Wall Street Journal, and found some interesting market opportunities for product manufacturers who can satisfy the garage makeover needs of today's homeowners, renters, and buyers. In this first of a three-part series, find out some of the regional and demographic differences we found in terms of garage size and type.
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So far this is turning out to be a really transformative year for green home building generally, and the Home Innovation NGBS Green Certification program specifically. Find out why.
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Quarter-inch by quarter-inch, nail by nail, panel by panel — our lab testing procedures "sweat the details" of every test we do to ensure our clients have comprehensive, credible, and actionable data.
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What's the difference between Invention and Innovation? And why is the later more important than the former in the home building industry these days? Our newly-appointed VP of Innovation Services provides some perspective.
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And I thought it was tough naming my four kids -- that was nothing compared to renaming/rebranding our company! Find out a little more about the process that resulted in the NAHB Research Center becoming Home Innovation Research Labs.
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What does ANSI approval of the 2012 National Green Building Standard mean for home buyers and owners? Plenty ... and good! Find out more about the consumer benefits imbued in the 2012 NGBS.
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Like seeing your child graduate and walk across the stage, diploma in hand, it's always gratifying for us as researchers to see a building product we tested gain commercial success. Check out this example — we can do the same for you.
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It's all relative. That adage certainly holds true when considering moisture content in wood-based building materials. A retrospective on what we've found over the last five years of our investigations on moisture performance of common wall assemblies, and a call for the next round.
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With the January 10th approval of the 2012 National Green Building Standard by ANSI, here's a glimpse into the practice of “due process” – a hallmark of a formal consensus process that sets the NGBS apart.
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The International Builders' Show is an outstanding place to gather market intelligence and uncover current trends shaping our industry. Learn six tried and true ways to enrich your show experience from a market researcher, analyst, and IBS veteran.
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The 2008 National Green Building Standard has been helping transform the residential construction industry since it was published in January 2009. With the ANSI approval this week of the 2012 version of the NGBS, I look forward to the even greater transformation to come.
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Like many, a new year has me reflecting on past accomplishments, pondering new goals, and committing to a few new resolutions. Why not make a resolution that gives you the possibility of success and provides some extra joy – resolve to build a green certified home this year.
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In our wind-blown rain and air infiltration chamber we huff and puff and see what it takes to blow water into even the tiniest entry points of a home's exterior envelope. Would your products pass our rigorous testing?
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Don’t throw in the towel on the luxury home market just yet. As single-family housing is coming back to life, some hints of a strengthening luxury home market are appearing as well. Find out what's keeping me optimistic about a bright future for building product manufacturers and suppliers.
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The multifamily market is booming and the forecast is bright. So why is voluntary green certification for multifamily also booming now? See what's driving this decision in many markets.
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Visions of holiday savings at the mall may be dancing through the heads of consumers across the country this Thanksgiving weekend, but I've been thinking about percent energy savings instead. What can I say? I'm an energy code geek!
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How can we get more builders to build green certified homes and more consumers to seek them out? So glad you asked! Weigh in on this “99% solution” toward building a brighter future for green residential.
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With thermal performance requirements being ratcheted up throughout the building code, it's more important than ever to get a true sense of how the building envelope performs as a system. The Home Innovation can help with our large-scale hot box.
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What's lurking in those dark attics and creepy crawlspaces just in time for Halloween? Market opportunities, if you know what to look for. An Home Innovation Research Labs nationwide survey of builders earlier this month showed some interesting new trends in unvented attics and crawlspaces.
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What's one of the "low-hanging fruits" when creating an extremely energy-efficient home? Wall insulation. Be sure not to overlook some of the best practices in this area that can get you closer to your high-performance home goals.
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The Home Innovation Research Labs recently ushered the ANSI square footage standard through a regular review and updating process. Are you confident in your ability to assess square footage? This standard can be a huge benefit.
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued updated Green Guides earlier this week that emphasize the value of third-party certifications in minimizing potential consumer confusion and "greenwashing." A must-read for those who market their homes as green.
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The next version of the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard is soon to make the scene in the home building industry. Find out what has changed from the 2008 version.
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In the highly competitive building product market, find out how Home Innovation Research Labs is helping manufacturers highlight the "gee-whiz" product attributes that set them apart from the competition.
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Think all green rating systems are the same? Think again. Let's set the record straight on some common “unknowns” about the National Green Building Standard and continue the important business of building truly green certified homes and apartments.
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Don't be fooled – just because prospective homebuyers don't ask for "green" specifically, doesn't mean they don't want the benefits that living in a green home can provide. A homebuyer survey we conducted earlier this year proves that green marketing can be very successful as long as you don't leave the meaning of green open to interpretation.
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There are lots of ways to describe a net-zero home. But no matter the terminology, there is a real-world proven methodology that Home Innovation Labs has used successfully with builders and remodelers across the country to achieve net-zero – it could work for you too.
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Many know Home Innovation Research Labs for our product testing and certification marks, but here are some examples why we’re much more than just a pretty certification label. The invitation is open – get to know us!
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A recent shopping trip highlighted some very salient elements about marketing "green" to consumers – find out my lessons learned.
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Mechanical ventilation has become a must-do in most parts of the country with the implementation of the 2012 IECC. What do you need to know?
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The Home Innovation is helping builders and manufacturers prepare for more stringent air sealing requirements in the 2012 IECC.
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Suburbia, which has taken its share of criticism from planners, is still the preferred housing location of a majority of households, according to Harvard's latest state of housing report. Some builders and developers are quieting the suburban critics by doing it right.
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Our Annual Builder Practices Survey shows a return to some pre-recession higher-end preferences and an increase in energy efficiency practices.
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A new online training platform is hoping to become a one-stop-shop for interactive energy efficiency training.
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Turn the Homeowner’s Manual that is required for NGBS green certification from a challenge into an opportunity with these five easy steps you can start doing today.
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Moving new technologies into the marketplace is a difficult and daunting task. Usually, the risks are perceived by the private sector to be too excessive given the potential rewards, and opportunities to advance technologies aren’t pursued. That's where we come in.
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