Featured Home

This month's featured home is a 3-Star Built Green™ remodel by Fradkin Fine Construction in Woodinville. Fradkin Fine Construction believes that quality building and green building go hand in hand. For example, because the original house was built with a high quality ceramic tile roof, the company was able to remove the roof ridge, add a ridge vent and then put back the original ridge tile. A high degree of material re-use makes this an exemplary green remodel. Additional attention was paid to making the home more energy efficient and improving indoor air quality. For more information on this home's green features, view the case study here.

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

New Members

Are you a Built Green member and a member of the Master Builders Association? Then your company is designated with a small green tree on the Master Builders Association website as a Built Green member.

All Built Green members are also listed on the Built Green website.

Welcome to our newest member companies!

3 Square Feet LLC
Real Estate Development
(425) 803-0500 in Kirkland

Bonterra Homes Inc.
Building the Place You Call Home
(425) 608-2725 in Lake Stevens

Eng Construction
(206) 778-1035 in Mercer Island

Frederick Winfield & Associates
The Future of Residential Water Reclamation
(253) 350-7314 in Gig Harbor

Graham Northwest Inc.
Because It's the Right Thing to Do for Your Family, for the Environment, for Life.
(425) 788-2891 in Woodinville

Hanis Greaney PLLC Attorneys-at-Law
Land Use, Development and Construction Law - Advocates/Litigators
(253) 520-5000 in Kent

Insite Homes LLC
(206) 334-5712 in Bothell

Northlight Photography Inc.
Specializing in Architectural, Interior and Product Locating Photography
(206) 915-1397 in Renton

Pro Grass Landscape Inc
Landscape Care and Design
(206) 571-1026 in Woodinville

Trex Company Inc.
The Deck of a Lifetime
(253) 770-0394 in Puyallup

Grand Tour of Homes

Built Green Benefits from New Program
Built Green has a powerful new ally with the launching of the Master Builders Association's new program, The Grand Tour of Homes. This scattered-site event will showcase new home construction. The tour is strongly encouraging builders to meet Built Green standards for their homes on the tour.

The Grand Tour of Homes event, dubbed the Northwest's biggest "House Party," is expected to feature 300 homes throughout King and Snohomish counties. Consumers can view the homes on the tour from noon to 7 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays from Sept. 21 to Oct. 15. The Grand Tour of Homes event, a guidebook and an interactive website will all be free to the public.

Tour of Homes Director Karen Anderson says, "The tour champions Built Green and we have designed our builder entry fees for the tour to reflect our support. Here in the Northwest our members are pioneers of environmentally conscious construction and we want to continue to advocate their outlook." According to Anderson, encouraging builders to enter homes that meet Built Green requirements is all part of the Master Builders Association's vision. She adds, "Our members are literally building the communities we call home. Being environmentally responsible not only makes us good neighbors, it helps keep our community healthy and prosperous."

Builders interested in participating are welcome to attend the orientation meeting from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 2 just prior to the General Membership Dinner at the Westin Bellevue, 600 Bellevue Way NE, WA 98004. The General Membership Dinner is at the same location and begins at 5 p.m. RSVP to ensure we have enough food. To get additional information or to register, please contact Tour of Homes Manager Melanie Workhoven at (425) 460-8226 or via email.

Events

Visit the Built Green Washington website for green home building courses and events across the state of Washington.

Thursday, March 9
NBIS Business Leaders Forum
Join the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability (NBIS) for their inaugural season of the 2005-06 Business Leaders Forum. The next event, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 9, will feature Gary Smith, senior vice president of supply chain management of The Timberland Company, will discuss how Timberland delivers record financial results through doing well by doing good! The cost is $20 for NBIS members; $30 for non-members (continental breakfast included). Click here to purchase tickets online. For more information, contact NBIS Co-Director Mary Rose at (425) 828-0982 or via email.

Friday, March 24
Affordable Housing Goes Green: Means and Methods
Examine the merging of two major social trends: affordable housing and green building with Sandra Mallory, of Environmental Works and Betsy Hunter, of Capitol Hill Housing on Friday, March 24 from noon to 2 p.m. at Sellen Construction, which is located at 227 Westlake Ave. N in Seattle. This lecture is a part of the Buildings in Balance green building lecture series hosted by the Cascadia chapter of the US Green Building Council. Registration includes lunch, and the pre-registration cost is $15, or $25 at the door. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. Further details and registration information is available at www.cascadiagbc.org.

Friday, March 31
Sustainable Urban Site Design: Battery Park City and Beyond
Come hear Drew Gangnes, of Magnusson Klemencic Associates and Susan Kaplan, of Battery Park City Authority talk about the Solaire, the first green residential high rise in the world and efforts to focus sustainability beyond “the building” from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday, March 31 at Sellen Construction, which is located at 227 Westlake Ave. N in Seattle. This lecture is a part of the Buildings in Balance green building lecture series hosted by the Cascadia chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Registration includes lunch, and the pre-registration cost is $15, or $25 at the door. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. Further details and registration information is available at www.cascadiagbc.org.

Recommended Reading

Two books by our 2006 Built Green Conference & Expo plenary speaker, David Johnston! David Johnston has been developing green building programs for the last 10 years. Named one of the top 50 remodelers in the country by Remodeling Magazine in 1990, he developed the first green remodeling program in the country in Boulder, Colorado, and trains remodelers across the United States.

Green Remodeling: Changing the World One Room at a Time by David Johnston and Kim Master is a new bestselling, comprehensive guide to green remodeling. It first points out the advantages of remodeling, then discusses simple green renovation solutions for homeowners, and finally, in an easy-to-read format complete with checklists, personal stories, expert insights and an extensive resource list, it covers easy ways to save energy, conserve natural resources, and protect the health of loved ones. Addressing all climates, this is a perfect resource for conventional homeowners, as well as architects and remodeling contractors.

Building Green in a Black & White World covers everything from the home design process to green substitutes for products ranging from foundations to roofs. The publication includes case studies of successful green companies and useful resources.

Letter from the Director

Each year, the Built Green Conference and Expo is our largest, most anticipated and most celebrated event. In 2006, we will have two nationally recognized speakers, nine educational sessions and approximately 44 exhibitors enlighten and excite more than 300 building industry professionals about the latest and greatest in sustainable building. The organization, planning, and ultimate success of the conference rests squarely on the shoulders of the many volunteers who donate tremendous amounts of time, energy and professional expertise into bringing the northwest its premier green building conference and trade show.

I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize those volunteers and their respective companies for their invaluable participation and passion for promoting sustainability as a principle, and the Built Green program:

Brenda Nunes, Associated Earth Sciences Inc.
David Manning, Triad Associates
Deanna Carveth, Snohomish County
Donald DeSantis, John L. Scott Real Estate
Donna Shirey, Shirey Contracting
Grey Lundberg, CMI Homes
Lise Glaser, Cascadia Consulting
Mike Folden, John L. Scott Real Estate
Pam Perry, Parson's Public Relations
Patti Southard, King County
Robin Rogers, Otak Inc.
Sonya Poland, Parson's Public Relations

These volunteers have played a critical role in developing both the 2006 Built Green Conference and Expo on March 16, and the Innovative Built Green Site Tour of Shamrock Heights the following day. As a non-profit, largely volunteer based organization, Built Green would not be the success that it is without the volunteers' collective brain trust, and willingness to share it. Thank you, conference volunteers, for all of your hard work.

Aaron Adelstein, Built Green Director

Featured Event

Join us for our annual Built Green™ Conference and Expo, presented by King County and the Master Builders Association, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 16 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. The Northwest's premier green building conference for industry professionals will feature a keynote speech from Sarah Susanka, a plenary speech from David Johnston, a green products and services tradeshow, numerous educational workshops on green building, design, marketing and real estate, and a presentation of the new Built Green Hammer and Pioneer Awards. Eco-Broker will teach a three-hour class for Realtors® (clock hours pending). More information on the conference program, educational sessions and registration details are available on our website.

Register Now!
Download our Registration Form (pdf 160kb)

If you register by Monday, March 13, you can take advantage of the pre-registration discount fees of $145 for Built Green members, $175 for non-members and $95 per person for group registrations of three or more people from your company -- that's pretty much three for the price of two for Built Green members! To register, download the form here and send it to Built Green, 335 116th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98004. If you have questions, call Built Green Coordinator Amanda Reed at (425) 460-8238 or send an email.

Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities are also available! For information, please contact Sales & Marketing Director Pam Worner by phone at (425) 460-8217, or via e-mail at pworner@mbaks.com.

Featured Event

Innovative Built Green Site Tour

Join us for one of two Built Green site tours of CamWest's Shamrock Heights in Renton on St. Patrick's Day, Friday, March 17! As King County's Low Impact Demonstration community, Shamrock Heights has more than 30 acres of sustainable stormwater features including Rain Channels, rain gardens, greenbelts, parks, ponds and wetlands. The community also has two beautifully furnished eco-friendly model homes that will be Built Green 4-Star and Energy Star certified. A tour of the site and homes is a unique opportunity to see Built Green in action!

You can choose from two four-hour sessions, which include breakfast or lunch, professional presentations, and transportation to and from the MBA Housing Center and Shamrock Heights. All participants will meet at the MBA Housing Center in Bellevue at the start of their respective session.

Register Now!
Download our Registration Form (pdf 160kb)

The registration fee for the tour is $50. Session 1 includes breakfast and runs from 8 a.m. to noon, and Session 2 includes lunch and runs from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Please indicate which session you would like to attend on the conference registration form, which you can download here, and send it to Built Green, 335 116th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98004. For more information, visit the website or contact David Manning via email or phone at (425) 821-8448.

Thank you to our tour sponsors Triad Associates and Associated Earth Sciences Inc.!

Member News

A Built Green certified remodel in Phinney Ridge, by member Blip Design, is featured in the March/April issue of Northwest Home + Garden magazine.

Built Green member companies Alexander Lighting, and Black Dog Woodworks are featured in the February issue of Seattle Homes + Lifestyles magazine in the "Style: Shopping" and "Home: Room for Improvement" sections respectively.

If you are a member of Built Green and have news you would like to share with our readers, please email your announcement to Built Green at builtgreen@mbaks.com.

Call for Entries

2006 Building With Trees Awards of Excellence
Conservation-minded builders and developers from around the country are invited to enter the 2006 Building With Trees Awards of Excellence recognition program. Sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of Homebuilders, the program recognizes builders and developers who save trees during construction and land development. Residential, commercial, retail, industrial, public and mixed-use projects of all sizes are eligible to compete. The deadline for entries is Friday, March 31. For more information about the awards and applications, see The National Arbor Day Foundation's website.

Dream Green House on HGTV
EcoLogical Home Ideas is helping High Noon Productions, producers of the popular HGTV series, Dream House, search for families who are building green homes! To be eligible, you must break ground on the Dream Green House in late 2005 or the first half of 2006 and be willing to have their camera crews follow your home's construction from start to finish. They are accepting both new builds and extreme renovations done to existing structures. They are looking for unique designs, inspiring styles, and outgoing personalities willing to share with the nation the challenges and rewards of building green! Interested families, contractors or architects may send an email with a brief description of the home and some of the green features it will have.

Thank You PSE

We welcome Puget Sound Energy as an Industry Ally and thank them for renewing their commitment to supporting the Built Green program for another three years!

Classes

Classes listed below with a "Built Green credit" in the description are approved workshops for fulfilling the annual Built Green education requirement for certifying projects.

Visit the Built Green Washington website for green home building courses and events across the state of Washington.

Wednesday, March 15, Seattle
Green Roofs & Cisterns: A Practical Design Workshop
This workshop is designed to help architects, builders, and engineers of residential and small commercial projects learn how to design and build green roofs, and cisterns for stormwater detention and rainwater reuse. Learn from the practical experience of local experts, through projects around our region. The workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15 at NHS Hall, UW Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. For more information see the flyer available for download here. The cost of the course is $50 and includes lunch. Pre-registration is required. Built Green credit. To register, call (206) 685-8033.

Monday, March 20, Seattle
Solutions for Wood in Green Building: Vision to Reality
A half-day workshop about the use of Forest Stewardship Council certified products in building projects for building and design professionals, contractors, homebuilders. The workshop will be on Monday, March 20 at the University of Washington in Seattle. Attendees will earn three AIA HSW Credits. Built Green credit. For more information or to register, contact Terry Campbell via email.

Tuesday, March 21, 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, March 21 at the Master Builders Association Housing Center in Bellevue. Learn how to certify a project and use the checklist, how to join, how the program works, and other resources. The seminar presents examples of projects and covers how to fill out the Built Green checklist. This orientation is required in order to certify homes as Built Green. To register, contact the MBA University registrar at education@mbaks.com or (425) 460-8208. If you can't make it on Tuesday, March 21, the class is also scheduled for later in the term on Tuesday, May 16.

Letter from King County

February was an exciting month at King County for working on green building and I continue to be enthusiastic about the potential impacts we can have in this region through working harder on code incentives. On February 14, staff members set up a summit for Snohomish County, Kittitas County and the city of Cle Elum to meet with David Eisenberg, founder of the Development Center For Appropriate Technology. The premise of the summit was to explore how jurisdictions can support Built Green innovations and assist builders and developers in the permitting process.

It was inspiring to hear how Eisenberg has worked innovatively with codes for more than 20 years to execute green techniques. Eisenberg, in turn, was pleasantly surprised to hear about King County's local achievements with Built Green. This month we will not only be involved in the 2006 Built Green Conference and Expo, but also supporting the Innovative Built Green Site Tour at Shamrock Heights. Having toured Shamrock Heights this fall and witnessing first-hand the power of low-impact development (LID), I encourage others to join in on March 17.

Shamrock Heights is one of three developments permitted to use unconventional approaches to storm water under King County's 2001 Low Impact Development/Built Green Ordinance. More than green homes, Shamrock Heights is an entire green community, and one of the first of its kind. It includes rain gardens, rain channels, expansive vistas into open green space, and other built green amenities. Both the homes and the community will be Built Green certified. The developer, CamWest, is tracking the construction costs of this new development approach. King County with Triad Associates are tracking the performance of the LID elements over the next five years.

Patti Southard, Project Manager
Recycling and Environmental Services and Chair of the Built Green Executive Committee

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.