In order to get home builders to change the way they build, the buying public has to demand the changes. In an effort to educate the buying public to ask the right questions, two local Richmond builders, Bain-Waring Builders and R. E. Collier, Inc., Builder are constructing demonstration homes under the newly developing Virginia Building America Program. Based on the national Building America program started by the U.S. Department of Energy seven years ago, it strives to educate and train builders to build affordable homes that will use less energy, reduce construction time, decrease indoor air pollution and cut construction waste by almost half. The two Richmond demonstration houses are part of eight houses being built across the state to serve as educational tools for builders and buyers.

"I think it is a good way to build and one of the benefits is to make homeowners aware that this technology is available so they know to ask for it," said Mark Waring of Bain-Waring Builders that is building a demonstration house in the Rolling Hills subdivision in Henrico County. The 2600 square foot rancher has a price tag of $243,750. The house will include such features as Optimum Value Engineering to use less wood in the building process; sheathing and cabinets built with products free of urethra formaldehyde, high-density cellulose insulation, sealing the house tight, low-E Argon windows, an insulated sealed crawl space and a high performance HVAC (heating ventilation air conditioning) system with mechanical ventilation.

"The average buyer is not aware of what is available and part of what Building America is about, is to educate the public on things that can be done," said Dick Collier of R. E. Collier, Inc. Builders that is building four Virginia Building America demonstration homes as the model homes in The Village of Amberleigh in Chesterfield County. The homes will range in size from 1550 to 2300 square feet with a price range of $235,000 to $350,000. "We hope to educate builders and consumers what to look for and what to ask for when they are buying a home."

Along with the demonstration model homes, Collier will also build all 131 residential homes in The Village of Amberleigh subdivision as Virginia Building America homes. The homes will have high indoor air quality, energy efficiency and sustainable features, using many of the same features as the Bain-Waring home.

Several groups joined forces in the fall of 2000 to develop the Virginia Building America Program, spearheaded by the Virginia Housing & the Environment Network (VaHEN). VaHEN partnered with the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, the Virginia Housing Development Authority and the Home Builders Association of Virginia (HBAV). "We found that the Building America program was complimentary to what our mission is which is promoting environmentally sound building and development practices for Virginia's current and future generations. So we began to develop a Virginia program," said Annette Osso, executive director of VaHEN, explaining that State's energy division is the program manager and VaHEN is a subcontractor. The program falls under special projects and is funded with grant money. "The energy division decided they were supportive of this concept of promoting energy efficiency in the residential sector so they supported developing it in the state."

But not all the partners came to the table eagerly. The HBAV had some concerns to clear up before they agreed to become a partner. "Our initial response was some resistance based on concerns about government mandates for building and some concerns about any type of change. It is human nature to resist change," said Mike Toalson, executive vice president of HBAV, adding that after initial concerns were addressed, the group came behind the program. "We went to some great lengths to overcome the resistance and now we endorse it wholeheartedly."

The Virginia Building America Program currently does not have a specific mandate for building homes. "In other areas they have created a voluntary set of standards and a related benefit to the builders such as marketing and consumer education and outreach to give them a program that is identifiable," said Osso. "We are now at the starting gate of working to create a program like that in our area." Right now, builders in Virginia must submit their plans to be reviewed by an energy building expert to make sure that they are using as many features, materials and building practices as possible to reach the goals of energy efficiency, indoor air quality, comfort and affordability. Charles B. Bowles of The Energy Consortium in Doswell, Virginia is the local expert for this area.

For Waring and Collier, making the shift to building a Building America home was relatively easy, since they were already building homes that used many of the techniques and materials. Both builders were also trained by the American Lung Association of Virginia on "healthy" home building.

For Waring, his main impetus in joining the program was less about changing the way he was building and more about getting the information out to his buyers that he was building a home above the norm. "There is no one umbrella that I build under that says how good these house are, so it is left to each individual person or the real estate person to tell my buyers," he said. "It really comes down to trying to get some more recognition for this type of housing."

Collier has been on the forefront of healthy and energy efficient building for many years and includes conditioned crawl spaces, blown cellulose insulation, fresh air exchangers and low-E Argon filled windows as standard in all of his houses. "We really have not had to make many changes," he said. "The benefit to me is to know that I am doing the right thing."

Affordability is a major issue for the Virginia Building America Program. "People say that resource efficient building practices and energy efficiency is only for the wealthy or high end housing and the criticism is that it costs more and can't be done in lower end homes," said Osso. "Programmatically we are interested in showing everything from a Habitat house to affordable homes to more expensive homes." VHDA recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity, building a 1250 square foot home in the Merriwood subdivision in Chesterfield that met the Virginia Building America Program standards.

"We think with these modern techniques that have been developed by Building America partners we can do it in a fashion to display that there is little increased cost and that can be recovered quickly through energy efficiency," said Toalson adding that they are now trying to develop seminars and forums to help builders and subcontractors, "understand how making these simple changes can create a better product for the same price."

Waring said that none of the materials, techniques or features he used in his house cost more money with the exception of the mechanical ventilation system that he chose to put in that has a base price of $700.00.

While a Virginia Building America Program home produces a house that has less impact on the environment, there are also health and monetary benefits to the homeowner. "Number one for the homeowner is reduced heating and cooling costs for the life of the house," said Waring adding that the cost reduction is about 40 percent. "With the sealed duct it is a more comfortable feeling house and by bringing in fresh air it creates a pollutant free environment."

The Virginia Building America Program is still in the developmental stages and recently received a second grant will provide funding to build more demonstration homes. The hope is to get the word out so that this way of building homes can become more commonplace.

"Some of the demonstration techniques make us believe that if we can get this information in front of people we can make a difference," said Toalson. "I think if we can get to a point where 20% [of the builders] will employ these new approaches sooner than later it won't be long before everyone uses them. It is not something that will happen immediately but over the long term I think education will put a demand in the marketplace."

"My hope for the future is that we will educate the buyers and they will start asking for it," said Collier. "The general public has to demand these things to get the builder to change."