New Home Construction

Better Than The House Next Door

Building a certified green home is a way of ensuring that your new home provides you with an energy saving, healthy, and resource-efficient environment for you and your family. The home must perform well as a unified system and must be verified to meet green building standards by independent consultants through on-site checks and quality testing.

Garden Grove, Portland, OR Earth Advantage Certified

Green Homes Look Like Your Home

Certified green buildings can look like just like any other home on your block or in your neighborhood, and don’t need to cost any more than a conventional home. Building green is not about building differently -- it’s about building smart. Green builders still use standard processes and typically use standard materials, but they use best practices and techniques that help seal the house for energy efficiency and that ensure adequate air flow. They choose lumber that has been certified as sustainable, and they use paints, finishes, cabinetry and carpeting that emit fewer harmful fumes.

Choosing a Builder: Experience and Chemistry 

Just as with building a conventional code home, building a certified green home means carefully selecting a builder based on a number of criteria. While green building experience is certainly beneficial, potential home buyers must always consider whether the chemistry is right. They must assess the builder’s integrity, reputation and financial solvency, and ensure that the builder will be accessible for questions and consultation for the duration of the project.

Home buyers interested in building a certified green home may already have a builder they know and trust but who has not previously constructed certified homes. This is where Earth Advantage Institute can offer homebuyers and their builders expert assistance, walking them through the steps of green home building, verifying correct installation of materials and equipment at multiple stages of construction, and offering expertise on any specific questions or challenges that occur.