Homecrete Homes recognized as pioneer in the Florida green building market
Jul 13, 2007
By NADIA VANDERHOOF
nadia.vanderhoof@scripps.com
ORLANDO — In the building industry, Jim Leatherman's company may have been ahead of its time.
"There is an increased awareness concerning energy efficiency and green building now," said Leatherman, national sales manager for Stuart-based Greenblock Insulated Concrete Forms. "We were green before the whole green concept really started going mainstream."
Leatherman was among 1,000 exhibitors in attendance at the South Eastern Builders Conference at the Orlando Convention Center on Thursday. With the residential construction market slowed, the underlying theme at the conference, organized by the Florida Home Builders Association and the Florida Green Building Coalition Inc., is focused on energy efficient homes, materials and environmentally friendly building.
"Home buyers' demand for environmentally sound homes is huge," said Robert Cenk, vice president of Stuart-based Homecrete Homes, which builds across the Treasure Coast. "They (new home buyers) have a different mind-set than our parents did, especially because the costs of energy, that's not going down anytime soon."
Both Greenblock and Homecrete Homes have offered insulated concrete products and homes for several years on the Treasure Coast.
Bill Glendenning, business development representative for West Palm Beach-based Royal Concrete Concepts Inc., said in additional to building homes that are more energy efficient, homebuyers want homes that will with withstand massive hurricanes.
"Everyone in Florida wants to buy a house that can sustain a category five hurricane," said Glendenning, who company builds home out of reinforced concrete. "It's great for us as a selling point because we can tell people that they can save 30 percent off your power bill and 20- to 40-percent off your insurance — and that's the honest truth."
Ben Vuolo, with Tampa-based Energy Saving Products of Florida, said installing vinyl frame windows has also become a popular alternative to traditional aluminum or metal-framed windows. "Vinyl isn't a conductor of heat or cold," Vuolo said. "When you put all these materials together, every little bit helps the homeowner."
As builders and their material providers become sensitive to green trends, so do the vendors they use.
Nicola Weston, marketing director at Bonita Springs-based Virtual Solutions, a full service marketing company for architectural firms, said her company has changed the products they use for because of clients' requests.
"All of our printed materials go on 100 percent recycled paper," Weston said. "We don't use any plastics on our CDs — instead of plastic sleeves we use recycled paper."
Some exhibitors said using natural products like pinewood lined with a special type of aluminum foil on roofs could also reduce the amount of energy a family uses at home.
"Think of it as an umbrella for your roof," said Rick Sanders, lumbar sales manager for Valdosta, Ga.-based Langdale Forest Products Co.
Desiree Pendersen, director of marketing for Winter Park-based architectural firm Fugleberg Koch said green building isn't a just a faze.
"The industry is evolving," Pendersen said. "We are collectively growing in the direction."
Although the overlying theme at the conference was green building, chatter around some of the exhibitors revolved around the softer housing market.
Jack Haynes, executive vice president of Countrywide Home Loans, which also sponsored the event, said the real estate market will need to rid itself of excess inventory before it can fully recover.
"We're in a downturn right now and that will begin to subside when all this inventory is reduced "once we lose some of that we'll be back on track," Haynes said. "I see a continuum of this throughout the rest of the year."
