Building Green Homes in Las Vegas
Building Green Homes in Las Vegas
On June 25th of 2007 The Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership announced that Signature Custom Homes of Las Vegas was the first home builder to sign up to participate in their program. The program was established to help builders design and construct more environmentally sensitive, or “green” new homes in metropolitan Las Vegas.
The Green Building Partnership, a program of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association and the Green Building Initiative of Portland, Ore., will provide Signature Custom Homes, and other home building companies that sign up for the program, the technical expertise to use the program’s 10-page green building guidelines developed specifically for conditions in Southern Nevada; administer an impartial, third-party inspection and verification that the program guidelines have been met in the design and construction of the home; and issue certification that the home has been constructed to the program’s green building requirements.
“Signature Custom Homes is honored to be the first home builder to sign up for this green building program. We want to be part of this locally based effort that’s bringing green building to residential construction in our community,” said Brian Plaster, 29, president of Signature Custom Homes, and son of longtime Las Vegas home builders, Richard and Wendy Plaster, founders of the Signature Homes.
The environment for homebuilding in Las Vegas has been precarious at best and there are few brave souls out there actually building new homes. I have written articles on a couple of the companies that are involved with the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership; Signature Custom Homes and Pulte Homes are two companies that are actively creating homes that meet the guidelines of the partnership.
Pulte Homes was the first production homebuilder to join the partnership and you can view my post on their Villa Trieste Community in Summerlin by clicking here.
The primary means to achieving a green home profile include radiant heat barriers, low-flow water fixtures, dual-flush toilets, tankless hot water heaters, dual-glazed and tinted windows filled with argon gas, solar systems to produce power, A/C units with SEER rating of 17 and Energy Star appliances.
Photo of the insulation at Hacienda Verde
Much of the work that is put into a green home is not very visible upon the completion of the home. Brian Plaster’s (Signature Custom Homes) Hacienda Verde is nearing completion. I was able to work with Brian on a couple of posts that show you the construction process involved in going green.
While the costs associated with this type of construction can be higher; the savings in electricity, gas and water will even that out in 5 to 7 years.
Concordia Homes, a green home builder, shut down their operations in October of 2008 due to slack demand in the housing market. I think that it is important to get the word out about our green home builders; Pulte and Signature Custom Homes are planting the seeds of change. Building green in Las Vegas just makes so much sense; the climate and water shortages that we experience in Las Vegas should make this type of homebuilding a priority for our community.
