Support and Sales Increase for High Performance Homes in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell recently awarded a $5 million grant to Summerset at Frick Park, an energy efficient housing development whose builders partner with IBACOS through the Department of Energy's Building America Program. This substantial grant from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program indicates growing support for high quality residential communities and highlights the success of builders who bring energy efficiency to focus in new construction.

New home sales in the community have been strong and steady. During the first construction phase, 58 homes were sold and have resulted in high customer satisfaction and low utility bills. The first and only resale occurred just recently. A home originally bought at $306,000 was sold at $476,000, showing a 56% increase in value in a 22-month period. As the second construction phase progresses, interest persists in the community’s high quality, energy efficient homes--36 lots out of 58 available lots have already been reserved. All cottage-style homes, which are 1400-2000 square feet and include two or three bedrooms, are sold out.

The quality of the homes was planned for early in the development stages of the community. The development team and IBACOS devised a set of Home Performance Standards, to which they agreed all homes must adhere. Construction teams participated in a series of training sessions held by IBACOS, who later performed tests on the homes to confirm that systems performed to expectations.

Homeowners benefit from the increased quality, efficiency, safety, and comfort that the Home Performance Standards ensure. Builders who participated in the project benefited two ways; first they learned current techniques in building high performance homes, and later they reaped the benefits of customer satisfaction and increased sales.

The Home Performance Standards for Summerset at Frick Park for a single-family home are as follows:

• Site and buildings are designed to minimize percolation of water through the soil.
• Homes incorporate an integrated gutter, flashing, exterior drainage plane, and a foundation drainage strategy.
• A building airtightness meets 2.5 ACH @ 50 pa pressure difference as measured by a blower door.
• A vapor barrier on the interior surface of approximately 1 perm allows “drying to the inside.”
• Fresh air ventilation system is installed in all homes.
• Homes are designed and wired to facilitate future expansion and utilization of computer-connected technologies.
• Combustion appliances (except ranges, cook tops, ovens) are vented to the outdoors and selected so as not to allow combustion by-products into the home.
• Radon and Carbon Dioxide pre-mitigation systems are installed so as not to allow combustion by-products into the home.

The $5 million state grant will be used to develop the next major construction phase of the housing development, primarily to grade the future construction site and build an infrastructure. The process involves the reclamation of a brownfield, a symbol of revival in Pittsburgh. The community is being built upon a former slag hill where steel mills once left their byproducts of the steelmaking process. Grading activity will create a soil cap of slag mulch and topsoil that will prepare the development plateau for homes and restore the surrounding park areas.

This high level of community-wide home performance and careful brownfield restoration brings a new level of quality, responsible homebuilding to the greater Pittsburgh marketplace. Development of Summerset at Frick Park involves a total of three major phases that will complete a community of approximately 700 homes with access to citylife and shopping districts as well as local wooded trails and a stream. Homes for this next phase are expected to be available in late 2006.

Previously at IBACOS