by Ron Jones
Reprinted with permission from Green Builder Media
It seems that, once again, size does matter. Recent statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that the average new home in America in 2005 enclosed some 2,434 square feet of conditioned space, an all-time high and up from an average size of 2,349 just a year earlier. This is an issue worth talking about and one that presents an especially troubling problem for those builders who profess to be green.
The size issue has been at the center of many discussions (and several somewhat heated discussions), that I have had with
all sorts of green building experts and sustainability advocates in recent years. Some of the critics of large houses have been strident, almost militant, in their assertion that a house above a certain size cannot be considered environmentally acceptable.
In a memo from one national green building organization, I read that the problem is “largely an issue of the luxury-home market, where the owners’ (or buyers’) wealth and social stature is such that they feel compelled to build homes comparable in size to their peers’ [homes].” The memo goes on to say that the push toward larger houses also comes from “builders in areas
where land values are so high that they are by definition dealing with ‘carriage trade’ [wealthy] customers who won’t pay the high price dictated by land values for a small home.”
The first point about the homeowners’ wealth sounds particularly judgmental to me. Are we now set up as the “green police” and prepared to indict offenders on the basis of their net worth as well as their buying decisions? The second point illustrates a concern that was well addressed in an article (Green Builder Magazine, March/April 2006) by our colleague and contributing editor Peter L. Pfeiffer, FAIA, in which he confronts the flawed method by which we appraise and price houses in this country.
It is also worth noting that a number of our readers have respectfully taken Green Builder Magazine to task over our involvement with demonstration projects that include homes of considerable size, some totaling more than twice the average size
reported above. We are concerned with the message we send to our readers, consumers, and the wider industry when we spotlight oversized projects in our pages, even though the projects are “show house” models. Our editorial has repeatedly supported the idea that bigger is not necessarily better, and that quality is a much better metric than quantity for evaluating and expressing the true value of a house, particularly in the context of what constitutes environmentally appropriate building practices. The difficulty is that it’s much simpler to calculate conclusions with a tape measure than to take on the daunting task of defining quality.
I have always maintained that at least a part of my job as a builder is to be an advocate for my customers, even when I don’t agree with them, and that their right to exercise choice is at the core of what home ownership is all about. But you know what? While I believe this remains true, it is no longer good enough. I learned a lesson about this from one recent client when she
told me that she really didn’t care how big the dining room in her new home was going to be, as long as she could seat 26 people for Thanksgiving. Her needs were predicated on one meal out of a thousand over the course of a year. But she was adamant in her demand. My task was suddenly clear. I had to design and build a space that was not defined by the number of square feet, but by the usability of that space based on my client’s expressed needs. So, I made it possible for her to expand her table into adjacent rooms by being creative in the design and execution. For the rest of the year, her dining room could be modestly comfortable.
Building housing for my clients will always be about choices, but it is increasingly becoming about making good decisions too. A smaller footprint, less consumption of materials and resources, more efficient use of energy, water, and space, durability, healthy indoor environment . . . these are inescapable parts of the equation, and, as green builders, we are obligated to lead the industry in finding solutions.
The cornerstone of Green Builder Media's operations is Green Builder Magazine, the third-largest publication in the residential building space and the only one to focus on green building and sustainablility issues. Green Builder Magazine reaches more than 105,000 of the most productive and forward-thinking building professional firms in the top 50 markets across the country. These firms employ 2.3 million people, have an annual purchasing power of over $60 billion, and actively specify products within the home. You can view past issues on the web at www.greenbuildermag.com