Green is all the rave – everywhere you look you can find information on green materials and building products. Most of the people we meet at home shows are looking to build the most energy efficient home they can afford, but, in their efforts to research energy efficient homes, have been besieged with green systems, green technologies, green materials, and green businesses and services who will install them. “We have been attending home shows, seminars, and visiting log cabin / timber frame manufacturers for the past eight years and have not gotten half as much out of the time as we did from your seminar.”
Our philosophy is that anything that can be done better and is financially feasible, should be done. In order to encourage and promote green building and sustainable construction practices, technologies, materials and energy conservation, we team with builders and renewable energy experts to host seminars on designing and building green homes.
Our seminars feature specific topics: Green Home Design, SIP panels (structural insulated panels), Timber Frame Homes, and Renewable Energy Systems. We emphasize the fact that a green home starts with a green home design, and so naturally the first topic discusses the aspects of green home design and what it means to be “sustainable”. This presentation includes passive and active design, guiding principles, and the phases of home design. 
We recommend using SIP panels to clients, whether or not they are interested in building a timber frame home. SIP panels create a high performance, continuous thermal envelope which keeps the home warm in winter and cold in summer. Timber frames, a specialty green building system, are not only energy efficient but beautiful as well. Hybrid homes (utilizing two or more building systems, i.e. a home with a timber frame main section and SIP panel wings for bedrooms, bathroom, etc.) are very popular, as they create visual interest in specific areas of the home for generally less money.
What have our guests said about our seminars? Here are two comments we received:
“Thank you for preparing such a well-organized, informational day. We really enjoyed all of the speakers and learned so much.”
We also have guests tell us they were not going to use an architect for their home design, but the seminar showed them the benefits of working with a design professional:
“Jeremy's presentation was brilliant and made more sense than all the reading and on-line investigating I've been doing. I had not been considering working with an architect before, but am convinced now that I should."
For a list of our upcoming seminars on building a green home, visit our green events page. Together we can make a difference – one green home at a time.
