EarthCraft House - Why build EarthCraft?

Why Build an EarthCraft House?

In addition to being the right thing to do for the environment, building an EarthCraft House is really about building a more valuable home. Taking a systems approach to homebuilding and understanding how the different components of a home work together result in a home that performs better and costs little more to build than a comparable home built with standard construction practices. The main advantages to the EarthCraft House builder are reducing callbacks, differentiating your business and your homes, increasing profits and enabling potential home buyers to access special mortgage products.

Reduced Callbacks

Callbacks eat directly into a builder’s profit, and many callbacks are due to comfort or moisture problems that can be eliminated with a systems approach to homebuilding. Every home in the EarthCraft House program is inspected and tested so that many potential problems involving the building envelope or heating and cooling systems can be identified and corrected before the homeowner moves in. EarthCraft House inspectors do more than simply identify problems; they report directly to the builder and provide suggestions for cost-effective solutions.

"We experience fewer callbacks and our actual warranty dollars spent have gone down. We have also seen increased customer satisfaction and comfort levels with the homes we build today.

I personally believe we get better work from our Trade Partners and I know there are better communications between our individual neighborhood Builders and our Trade Partners.

We have greater confidence in our product: We know the homes we build today have better indoor air quality. We know they are more economical to operate and we know our customers will continue to reap these benefits for the rest of the life of the home.”

– Dave Milner, Haven Properties, Inc.

Product Differentiation

Being an EarthCraft House builder is a great way to show home buyers that your company is dedicated to quality, sustainable construction and that the homes you build are superior. EarthCraft House builders have earned the reputation of being leaders in the industry as well as good environmental stewards. To the consumer, an EarthCraft House is a home that is energy efficient, durable, healthy and comfortable. Sales agents that are able to talk about indoor air quality, diagnostic testing of air leakage and durability, for example, are distinctly remembered over all the other sales agents that talk only about fixtures and finishes.

“Our home buyers have given us very positive feed back regarding the savings in energy costs on our EarthCraft certified homes.

Having built EarthCraft, we use this as a selling point with our prospective home buyers – and this does distinguish our product from other builders.

EarthCraft homes have given us a competitive advantage given educated home buyers in our market.”

– Scott Pohl, Touchstone Homes

Increased Profit

Home buyers try to get the most house for their money. If one house is more expensive than another, they want to know why they should pay the extra cost. Energy efficiency, indoor air quality and durability are easy features to sell, even to lower income buyers, if the buyer understands the concept of the “true cost of home ownership.” In addition to paying a monthly mortgage, homeowners must pay for gas and electric bills, water and sewer, maintenance and repair, and in many cases, doctor’s bills for health problems related to poor indoor air quality.

Access to Energy Mortgage Programs

If the “true cost of home ownership” concept is not enough to sell a home, there are several special energy mortgage programs available that can reduce a buyer’s mortgage payments, increase the loan amount for which they can qualify, or even eliminate the down payment. This opens the market to many more people who can afford homeownership at any given price point. As a case-in-point, Energy Efficient Mortgages open the market to more than 44,000 additional families in Atlanta alone who are able to afford a home at the median price.