Home Professionals | 1:1 Program | Live with Marla
The Green Home Plan Program
Healthier, more comfortable homes are in high demand. Knowing and communicating the specific features of your homes which contribute to healthier, more comfortable living helps your buyers have the peace of mind of a better home.
Distinguishing your homes with a green home certification, such as the ICC-700 National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS) brings the long-lasting validation that your home truly is what it says it is. This validation offers your buyers the assurance of getting a holistic approach to their home and its capabilities for healthier, more comfortable living.
Give them a home that looks good and performs well!
The Possibility
Many homes of all types – custom, production, single-family or multi-family and new construction or remodeled – are beautifully appointed and many of the interior finishes, fixtures and features may include health and comfort benefits. Many additional health and comfort benefits are available by adding performance to the structure of the home and the major systems. Adding this performance to your homes and projects will offer your clients healthier, safer, and more controllable homes that look great and perform well.
Green home certification shows a home’s quality and performance. Green home certifications such as the ICC-700 National Green Building Standard (NGBS) mandate certain building practices considered essential to a home’s performance. These homes are inspected at least twice by an independent, third-party verifier to ensure the home or project meets the rigorous, yet flexible requirements. Green certifying your homes or projects brings distinguishes your work by providing quality, innovation, and performance.
The Process
The goal of this Green Home Plan service is to document the specifics of each of the elements pursued and any additional planned practices and/or products by category. This builds on the high-level list of the features and building processes compiled in the Can My Home or Plan Be Green? Program.
Homes are evaluated by practices in different categories which work together to create homes that are more holistic, healthier, and more efficient. These categories are:
- Lot Development
- Resource Efficiency and Durability
- Energy Efficiency
- Water Efficiency
- Indoor Environmental Quality
- Homeowner Operation and Maintenance
From analysis of these categories, a detailed list of products, materials, and practices will be built to meet the requirements of an NGBS Certified home. Your discerning buyers will receive quality, integrity, and attention to detail in all aspects of their homes, including how their homes perform.
NGBS for Green Certified Homes
Your homes or projects will be compared to the ICC-700 NGBS 2020 Certified path. This path offers the simplest path to certification, as compared to the four levels – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald – offered by the traditional path to certification. Should the home or project comparison exceed the Certified level, additional higher levels will be included in the comparison.
NGBS is the only residential green building rating system approved by ANSI as an American National Standard – as the chosen green rating system for this project provides a path that has been followed by over 352,000 homes and units as of April 2022.
The 2020 NGBS Green Certified Checklist covers the six categories of practices and may be found on the Home Innovation website.
The benefits of green building have historically focused more on cost savings through energy efficiency. Homeowners want the benefits of healthier, more comfortable, and efficient homes. In many cases, “homeowners aren’t asking for green homes,” simply translates to “homeowners have not yet figured out how to connect what features are needed to provide a better home with the aforementioned benefits.” Distinguish the quality and performance of your homes and projects with green home certification.
Next Steps
Should green home certification be a consideration, our next step will be to address the questioned practices in each category. From there we would research the practices to address the gaps. There may be areas where trade-offs may be made to help keep value and costs in balance. Working together, we can determine next steps and appropriate services from Green Home Coach and partner service providers to meet your next goals.
Follow-on Services offered by Green Home Coach (GHC) include:
Green Certification Support builds upon what we learned and prepares to seek Green Home Certification using NGBS. Green Home Coach provides support and documentation services in support of the certification and works with both you and the verifier to seek certification.
Green Marketing Messages Service provides custom tailored messages to reflect the distinction of your homes through their benefits and value, including health, wellness, and comfort messages.
Again, Thank You … for trusting me to work with you and your homes. I look forward to our next possibility.
“We often forget to look at how much it is going to cost to run a home (in money and time!).”
- Marla
Meet Marla,
Your Green Home Coach
Hi, I’m Marla Esser Cloos, your Green Home Coach and consultant. I help people and businesses discover and create better homes to live in or work on for healthier, more comfortable lives. With my 15+ years working with green certified homes and projects, you get the knowledge and experience gained through my 4 accreditations – NAHB Master Certified Green Professional, LEED AP, NAR Green, and Wellness Within Your Walls Certified Professional. The groundwork was laid with my BS in Engineering and Public Policy from Washington University in St. Louis.
When I saw a need for more outreach about the benefits and value of green homes and living, I founded and continue to host the Everyday Green Home podcast. My curated collection of healthier and greener products comes from my years of research and experience with green homes, and you can find them in my Everyday Green Home shop.
My certifications include: NAHB Master Certified Green Professional, LEED AP, NAR Green Designee and Wellness Within Your Walls Certified Professional. The groundwork was laid with my BS in Engineering and Public Policy and a Certificate in Energy from Washington University in St. Louis.
My Green Home Coach programs and partnerships help people and businesses get on the path to creating better, healthier homes and lives.
