Featured Home

This month's featured home was built by Quadrant Homes, Washington's Number One-selling home builder. Every home that Quadrant sells is 3-Star Built Green certified, and two entire master-planned communities at Redmond Ridge and Snoqualmie Ridge are also Built Green certified. As one of the first Built Green member companies and builders, Quadrant has certified thousands of homes such as the one pictured. Using a highly efficient panelized construction method, Quadrant reduces or eliminates jobsite waste materials, and recycles most of any remaining waste that is generated. Formaldehyde-free and recycled materials are incorporated into all its homes. Control of surface water runoff is strictly practiced to protect wetlands, streams and rivers. Quadrant also offers Energy Star® options that include upgraded heating and air conditioning systems, super-efficient appliances and lighting. As a company, Quadrant’s land stewardship extends beyond its homes: Every new homebuyer is offered a free membership to the Cascade Land Conservancy to help protect our region's wild and open space lands. Building in the Seattle area since 1969, Quadrant Homes was awarded "Builder of the Year" in 2004 by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. Read more on this case study.

To see other previously featured virtual tours, click here. Virtual tours created by Northwest Property Imaging.

Remodeling Not-So-Big

Calling all Architects and Remodeling Professionals!
Author Sarah Susanka is looking for a few good architecturally designed remodeling projects to include in her newest book: Remodeling Not So Big. Susanka is the award-winning architect and author of the best-selling Not So Big House and Home By Design, and will be our keynote speaker at the next Built Green Conference in March of 2006. The selected projects will range in size from whole houses to a single room, to even a single element, like an added window seat, and will be exceptional interior spaces — rich in detail, spatial ideas, design features, materials and craftsmanship. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Dec. 16. If you have projects ready to send now, you may do so, or wait until closer to the new deadline. For further information about criteria and submission requirements visit the website. Please send an email with questions.

New Members

As a member of Built Green, your company name will be designated in the MBA’s 2006 Membership Directory as a Built Green member. For further information on the Directory, email Larry Chimenti or call him at (425) 460-8238. Your company also is listed on the Built Green website. Welcome to our newest member companies!

Harborside Homes Inc.
Building unique homes in West Bellevue

Flip Builders LLC
Beautiful, highly crafted spaces and buildings

Triad Development Inc.
Real estate development for master-planned
communities, office and mixed-use commercial, residential rehabilitation, in-fill commercial and suburban retail centers

M 1 Dezine
Client-focused architectural design

Northshore Development Corp
Snohomish development

Western Exposures Construction Inc.
Seattle builder at (206) 282-8000

Parker Paint
The largest paint manufacturer in the Northwest, celebrating its 60th anniversary.

View our current members.

MBA Website Listing

MBA Website Listing
Are you an MBA member? If so, you can have your listing on the MBA website upgraded with a hyperlink to your own website. The cost is $200 for a hyperlink to your website for one calendar year. Email Janna Williamson if you’d like to particiapte. The MBA website averages 8,000 unique visitors per month and is searchable by type of business, so your business could benefit from the added accessibility!

Recommended Reading

Small Is Beautiful
In an article from the Journal of Industrial Ecology from MIT Press, the authors examine some of the trends in single-family house building in the United States and provide recommendations for downsizing houses to improve quality and resource efficiency. Although NAHB has not compiled data on material use as a function of house size, Gopal Ahluwalia, the director of research at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), believes that because larger houses tend to have taller ceilings and more features, larger houses may consume proportionally more materials. In new, single-family houses constructed in the United States, living area per family member has increased by a factor of three since the 1950s. Read the entire article Small is Beautiful: U.S. House Size, Resource Use, and the Environment.

Events

Saturday, August 6 & Sunday, August 7
Orlando, Florida
The 2005 Solar World Congress will be held in Orlando, Florida, from August 6 through 7.

Friday, September 16 through Sunday, September 18
Built Green Showcase Home
Kittitas Valley Tour of Homes will feature a Built Green Showcase Home located in the Suncadia Resort near Roslyn, WA, among many other fine homes. This Built Green demonstration home will be partially completed so the structure, systems, insulation and other internal materials are visible. For more information, call (800) 492-9422 or click here.

Saturday, October 1
Washington State Solar Tour
The Washington State Solar Tour will be held in conjunction with the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour, which showcases solar, renewable energy, green building, energy efficiency and more! For more information or if you would like to sign-up your Solar Site on the ASES National Solar Tour, please email Pamela Burton or call her at (206) 706-1931. Click here for an Online Solar Tour.

Thursday, October 6 through Sunday, October 9
Plan Ahead!
The Seventh Annual Seattle Home Show 2 will be held Thursday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 9 at the Qwest Field Event Center in Seattle. Built Green will have a staffed booth again this year, where we’ll answer questions about green building, products and technologies, and provide examples of green materials.

Built Green booth at the 2004 Seattle Home Show 2

We’ll also have our website available at a kiosk, and will play a continuous slide show about Built Green with seating for the convenience of visitors. The Seattle Home Show 2 supports Built Green, as well as saving gasoline and reducing air pollution! Vehicles with four or more people park for free at several show-designated lots near the event! Plus, free Metro bus shuttles are provided from Bellevue, Northgate and south Renton. Show sponsors include James Hardie Building Products and the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. For further information.

March 16, 2006
The Built Green Conference 2006 will be held March 16, 2006! Read about last year’s event.

MBA Calendar of Events is posted at the bottom left of the homepage. For more information, contact James Cadungug at (425) 460-8213.

Salmon Recovery Plan

Shared Strategy publishes Draft of Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan
The Draft Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan is a user-friendly blueprint for how people across the Puget Sound plan to recover salmon and preserve our regional culture and quality of life. The plan responds to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and federal agency requirements, describes regional, cross-watershed strategies and actions, and summarizes the local watershed chapters. The Shared Strategy is a groundbreaking collaborative effort to protect and restore salmon runs across Puget Sound. Read the plan.

Resources

Don't overlook our own online resources for Built Green. Organized to follow the Built Green checklists, these resources can help you with local codes, site and water issues, energy saving strategies, indoor air quality, materials and recycling, and other topics – all conveniently organized according to the Built Green checklist categories. Also, stop in the MBA Member Center to read books about green building in the Built Green library.

From the Director

Built Green Showcase Home Located at Suncadia
There’s big news this month: A new Built Green demonstration project is in the works that is planned for completion in the spring of 2006! The Built Green Showcase Home located at Suncadia, in Roslyn, WA, will be a Five-Star Built Green home -- the highest level of certification in the program, with only one other project qualifying at that level so far. The builder, Contracting Management, Inc., is planning to install innovative systems including a geothermal heat pump with radiant floors, tankless hot water, heat recovery ventilator and air purification systems, increased R-values for insulation, insulated concrete forms (ICF) for basement walls, and the use of engineered lumber products.

Trees cleared from the site will be milled for use in the project

In addition, selective site clearing of trees and protection of native vegetation will be a priority, and trees cleared for construction will be milled and reused in the project. Pervious paving will be installed in the driveway and parking areas for better rainwater drainage on site.

Vendor Lunch
Does your company have a green product or service that you’d like to have represented in the Built Green Showcase Home? If so, please join us for a vendor lunch on Thursday, Aug. 18 at Suncadia Prospector Inn, The Colliery Room from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event will provide an opportunity for subcontractors, suppliers and other vendors to hear from the builder, architect and developer. You’ll also get the chance to review plans and look over the site. Those interested in attending should RSVP to Pam Worner via email or call (425) 460-8217. Click here for directions.

Homes Tour
In September, the unfinished Built Green Showcase Home will be open to the public as part of the Kittitas Valley Tour of Homes from Friday, Sept. 16 through Sunday, Sept. 18. Visit to see what the underlying systems of a Built Green look like, from the ICF foundation walls to the framing and insulation, and from the geothermal heat pump to radiant floors.

Supporters
Current project participants include Suncadia, Puget Sound Energy, Whirlpool, Contracting Management Inc., Energy Star, Associated Earth Sciences, Environmental Home Center, Richard A. Fisher Architects and The Frause Group.

Collaboration
This demonstration home is a pilot Built Green project in Kittitas County where there is not yet an established Built Green program. The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and the Kittitas Chapter of the Central Washington Home Builders Association are working together to bring the first Built Green project to the eastern side of the state!

The river runs through it at Suncadia

Sponsorship
If you are interested in the many sponsorship opportunities, contact Pam Worner via email or call (425) 460-8217.

You may remember the highly successful Puget Sound Energy Built Green Idea Home in Issaquah Highlands. That demonstration project won a coveted Gold Nugget Award at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference last June and received more than 8,000 visitors over the nine weekends it was open to the public. If the success of the Idea Home is any indication, sponsoring the upcoming demonstration home will be a great way to get exposure for green products, ideas, technologies and services – and your company could be involved. If you’d like to get on the list for the vendor lunch, send me an email.

– Robin Rogers, Program Director

Product Spotlight

SF Rima® from Mutual Materials is an interlocking, permeable pavement system that provides solutions to the problems associated with storm water runoff. SF Rima pavers are versatile and can be installed two different ways, for two different results. Designed to reduce or eliminate storm water runoff, the product is ideal for your environmentally friendly turf pavement projects.

Coupled with their versatility, they are sturdy enough for heavy vehicle traffic areas, while providing flexible and attractive design options. For more information on the SF Rima pavement system, please visit our website.

For information on how to list your "green" products* in this space, please contact MBA Sales & Marketing Director Pam Worner by phone at (425) 460-8217.
*Products must be able to meet at least one Built Green credit (see the four Built Green checklists on our website) to qualify, and the company must be a member-in-good-standing of Built Green.

Special Event

For the Built Green Home at Suncadia, August 18 at Prospector Inn. More info...

New Certifications

Congratulations to DR Horton Custom Homes for certifying two new single family homes at the three-star level!

Kudos also go to Centex Homes for certifying four more new single family homes at the three-star level!

Building Blitz 2006

Next June, Habitat for Humanity of East King County is planning a five-day Built Green Builder's Blitz in Snoqualmie Ridge, a development near the city of Snoqualmie. If you would like participate in this highly visible way of helping the community, please email Tom Granger or call him at (425) 869-6007.

Upcoming Awards

2005 BetterBricks Awards for Commercial Buildings
Do you have a commercial building that is part of a residential project, such as a community center, retail space, fire station or other building? If so, consider applying for a BetterBricks Award. The BetterBricks Awards recognize architects, engineers, developers, facility managers, service providers and other building professionals for their support, use and design of sustainable, high performance, commercial buildings in the Northwest. Deadline for entries in Seattle is Thursday, Sept.15.

AIA-Sunset Western Home Awards 2006
Co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and Sunset magazine since 1957, the Western Home Awards program spotlights outstanding residential design in the 13 Western states and western Canada. Categories include Custom-Designed Northwest Homes; Remodels; Restorations; Cabins; Mass-Produced and Speculative Houses; and New Planned Communities.

Dream Turf

Dream Turf Installed at MBA
Built Green member company Dream Turf recently upgraded the surfaces of the MBA’s exterior terraces with synthetic lawn. It’s not only green in color, but it’s environmentally responsible, too. Partially made with recycled tires, Dream Turf requires no mowing so eliminates lawnmower fumes, and requires no toxic fertilizers or pesticides. It also does not need watering, so it saves water!

Ecological Footprint Quiz

How much nature does your lifestyle require?
How much productive land and water do you need to support what you use and what you discard? This Ecological Footprint Quiz estimates for you after answering 15 easy questions.

BG Member News

Martha Rose Construction was in the news in an article about the use of solar energy in homes and the new proposed incentives from the state. Click here to read more.

Kennan-Meyer’s wind turbine on Guemes Island

Architect Lisa Kennan-Meyer penned an article for Home Power magazine about her family’s experiences with installing a hybrid photovoltaic-wind energy system on Guemes Island.

Pride Plumbing Co., radiant heating specialists, has a new office! They’ve moved to 9700 Harbour Place, Unit 218, in Mukilteo. The new phone is (425) 290-9444. Click here for directions.

Now through Sunday, Aug. 14, Seattle Street of Dreams is offering the nation's largest attended one-site luxury home and garden tour. Several Built Green members are represented including Curtis Gelotte Architects, Redman/CJ Design and Construction and Lifestyle Landscapes. (The homes on the tour are not Built Green certified; however these members can help you if you request a Built Green project.)

Shea Homes, the largest privately owned homebuilder in the country, will be Builder Captain for a new facility to house homeless in Bellevue. Shea will partner with Housing at the Crossroads to construct the Kensington Project that will add three buildings and six apartment units with 15 bedrooms, for a total of 8,200 square feet. The project is being facilitated by HomeAid Master Builders Care, one of the Master Builders Care Foundation’s (MBCF) community service programs whose mission is to help the construction or renovation of facilities for charitable organizations to provide shelter and assistance for the temporarily homeless. Kelly Molstad of CamWest Development is serving as HomeAid liaison for the Kensington Project. MBCF provides building resources and expertise to service organizations dedicated to housing individuals and families in need. For further information about the Master Builders Care Foundation or how you can become involved, email Jay Schupack or call him at (425) 460-8238.

Snohomish County

Sustainable Development Task Force
The Sustainable Development Task Force put together a document that is designed to provide suggested approaches and ideas for jurisdictions to follow to incorporate sustainable development strategies and principles into the update of their local Critical Areas Ordinances (CAOs). The paper, Technical Paper on Incorporating Sustainable Development Methods into Critical Areas Ordinances, identifies three main areas of focus: (1) programmatic strategies for preserving shallow groundwater recharge functions; (2) incentives for incorporating sustainable development strategies; and (3) incorporating the use of pervious concrete in new development, where applicable. Click here to read more.

NOTE: If you are interested in hosting the portable, professionally designed information kiosk or interested in joining the task force, please call Chris Fate at (425) 783-8274.

The Sustainable Development Taskforce Steering Committee meets the third Friday of each month from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the EDC Offices at 728 134th St. SW in Everett. Click here for directions.

Courses

See the MBA University Spring/Summer Education Catalog for a Full List of MBAU Courses. Email or call (425) 460-8238 for information or to register.

Friday, September 9, Tacoma
Energy Efficient Construction
Energy Efficient Construction will be taught by Bruce Carter in this all-day seminar at the Pierce County Master Builders Association in Tacoma. Call 253-272-2112 or visit the BIAW website for more information.

Tuesday, September 13, Bellevue
Introduction to Built Green
This free seminar provides an introduction to the Built Green™ program from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 13 at the MBA Housing Center in Bellevue. Learn how to certify a project, find out what “green” means, how the Built Green program works and other resources. The seminar presents examples of projects and covers how to fill out the Built Green checklist. This seminar fulfills the course requirement to certify homes as Built Green. For further information, contact them via email or call (425) 460-8238.

Thursday, September 15, Olympia
Nuts & Bolts of Built Green I
This half-day workshop offers residential builders an overview of the Built Green rating system and an introduction to basic green building approaches, for contractors, designers, developers, project managers, and other allied professionals. Contact Built Green of the Olympia Master Builders Association for more information at (800) 456-6473 or visit their website.

October 2005 – June 2006, Seattle
Sustainable Building Advisor
The Sustainable Building Advisor Certificate Program is a nine-month, specialized training program, designed to enable graduates to advise employers or clients on strategies and tools for implementing sustainable building. Taught by Built Green-member company O’Brien and Company, classes meet once a month on a Friday and Saturday at Seattle Central Community College. The registration deadline is Thursday, Sept. 1. For more information.

King County

Increased surface water runoff from developed sites can cause significant downstream impacts. To promote the responsible management of increased surface water runoff from developed sites and the reduction of total impervious surface, the main contributor to increased surface water runoff, the King County Water and Land Resources Division offers three Surface Water Management (SWM) fee discounts for commercial properties and two SWM fee discounts for residential properties in unincorporated King County. Properties may qualify for a discount if they are served by an owner maintained flow control or water quality facility, are at least 65 percent forested, or are a commercial property and utilize infiltration and/or dispersion to mitigate runoff from the site. Grants are also available to further reduce your SWM fee by converting existing impervious surface to compost amended lawns, native vegetated landscapes, or grassed modular grid pavements. To learn more about these incentives, email Brian Sleight or call him at (206) 296-8025. You can also click here for find more information.

To learn about about other new incentives contact the King County Green Building Program at (206) 263-6037 or look online.

Snohomish PUD

PUD Re-Launches Refrigerator & Freezer Recycling Program
Snohomish County PUD is now offering $35 to customers willing to give up their older, energy-wasting refrigerators and freezers. Some of these units can use three times the energy of newer models. In addition to the energy that customers save, the PUD also ensures the old units are recycled in an environmentally-responsible manner. Units must be in working condition, greater than 10 cubic feet in size, and be 1995 models or older. There is a limit of two units per PUD account. To schedule a pickup for an old refrigerator or freezer, customers need to call toll free, 1 (877) 577-0510.They should have their PUD account number ready when calling. The program will end December 31, 2005 or when 3,700 units are collected, whichever comes first.

Puget Sound Energy

PSE Seeks Ideas for Power and Conservation
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is seeking proposals for equipment and technologies that could make its customers more energy-efficient. Possibilities include replacing electric furnaces in mobile homes with more efficient heat pumps, and incentives for buying retail appliances with high energy efficiency ratings. The utility is asking regulators to approve both RFPs and allow final issuance of bid requests by Nov. 1. PSE sought out similar bids in 2003 and secured about 150 average-megawatts of new power sources, mostly from two large wind farms, one in southeastern Washington and another in central part of the state. This effort is part of PSE's plans to boost its power supply nearly 60 percent by 2015, and to improve its energy conservation programs. The company will consider proposals involving any type of power-generating fuel or technology, looking for ways to meet wintertime peaks in power use and avoid summertime surpluses. A public meeting will be held Thursday, Aug. 18 at the Sheraton Bellevue Seattle East Hotel in Bellevue to discuss the request for proposals with potential bidders.

Contact Built Green

Master Builders Association
335 - 116th Avenue SE
Bellevue, WA 98004
P: (425) 460-8238
F: (425) 646-5985
builtgreen@mbaks.com
www.builtgreen.net

Master Builders Association Calendar of Events

If you have news items for this newsletter, please send us an email.

Click here for directions to The Master Builders Association.