The September RESNET Builder of the Month is New Tradition Homes serving Oregon and Washington. New Tradition Homes is a national leader in energy-efficient home building, recently receiving the 2019 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award for continued leadership and superior contributions to ENERGY STAR® by the US Environmental Protection Agency. This month’s profile includes a selection of photos from New Tradition Homes and an interview with Project Manager and Building Science Team Leader Steve Tapio. Tapio says having a HERS® Rating on each home built by New Tradition Homes “…allows us to see if we ‘hit the mark’ in regards to meeting our internal quality and performance standards that we have set for ourselves. As a 100% ENERGY STAR® builder, it is one of the foundational criteria in meeting our goals and maintaining standards.” In the recent Builder Magazine article, How Low Can You Go? An Inside Look into HERS® Scores, Tapio discusses the builder’s relationship with HERS® Raters. “The first step is to seek out a qualified HERS® rater, and use them as a consultant to help you in the process. For those who are just starting out, it can be very daunting. But the HERS® raters will tell you what will get you the most bang for the buck.” From the consumer perspective, Tapio says “the HERS® Score is quite simply the very well understood ‘miles-per-gallon’ rating equivalent for homes and that homes without a HERS® rating have no scorecard, no ability to show what typical monthly operating costs might be. Knowledgeable buyers should be asking any builder…how does your home measure up?” Each month, the RESNET website, RESNET HERS® Index, highlights a Builder of the Month that has its homes’ HERS® Rated. To view the feature, click here.
