Green home first of its kind in Independence

An economic recession presents a green opportunity to try something new in a business, and Eastern Jackson County home builder Steve McBee took that literally.

McBee, an eastern Independence-based builder and owner of McBee Custom Homes LLC, recently received the honor of building the first certified green home in Independence.

“When there is an economic downturn like what we’re in, there is a lot of opportunity, but you can’t be the same ‘ol song and dance,” said McBee, who has been a builder since 2001. “You’ve got to get outside the box and think of things that are different.”

McBee’s superintendent, Kevin Perrin, took courses and earned the certification for properly building green houses. McBee said he wanted his business “to be on the leading edge” rather than trying to play catch-up when green building is an industry norm.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, residential green building is more than just a trend – the association considers it the future of building.

“I think there’s going to be a time down the road when most people are going to want to go green,” McBee said. “It’s maybe even going to be a city or state code or compliance. We just decided to bite the bullet and be on the leading edge of that.”

The homeowner moved in nearly two months ago. The 2,200-square-foot house cost $300,000. The going-green efforts cost an additional $5,000, which includes third-party verification costs to ensure the home’s green certification.

The house at 3218 S. Brookridge Court looks just like any house in the Meadowbrook Estates subdivision. The difference is in the details, though, and there are multiple ways to earn a point-based green rating.

For example, McBee said, points are earned when products like lumber are purchased locally. Here are several other ways that McBee Custom Homes earned its green points:

•  McBee Custom Homes LLC also uses pre-manufactured trusses, which reduces lumber waste, McBee said. (A truss is a rigid framework that is designed to support a roof.) The Brookridge Court house includes a conduit, a passage through which electrical wires can pass, from the electrical box to the house’s roof south-facing roof plane that would allow homeowners to later add solar panels.

•  The insulation package, Blow-In-Blanket-Insulation, is a registered insulation system that blows dry, white fiberglass insulation into walls, floors and attics and helps eliminate voids and air gaps, according to its website. BIBS also is included in McBee’s green-building efforts.

•  Air-exchange rate efficiency. Most new U.S. homes include an air exchange rate of 50 percent per hour, McBee said, meaning the home has to reheat or recool 50 percent of its air to maintain the degree settings on a thermostat. With BIBS, McBee said, the builder’s houses average a 25 percent per hour air exchange rate, which helps conserve energy.

•  Low pressure fixtures, including faucets, helps conserve water.

•  Duct work is sealed with Underwriters Laboratory Inc. 181 tape so air is retained within the house. (UL is a nonprofit organization that tests and rates electrical products for public safety.)

McBee Custom Homes also worked with Independence Power & Light in its going green efforts. The Brookridge Court home earned a five-star energy rating on the Home Energy Rating System program.

For future building projects, McBee said his business is already implementing the green procedures, though a certification process won’t necessarily take place for every house. The independent third-party certification tacks on additional costs to the home’s final price, he said.

“As more and more people consider what their carbon footprint is and what their effects are on the planet, every generation will be trained a little better and a little better,” McBee said. “It’s got to start somewhere, so we just wanted to be on the leading edge of it.”