The HTRC – Page 54 – The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

ENERGY STAR Updates (v. 3.5)

As many know the ENERGY STAR program has recently underwent a major upgrade from just ENERGY STAR (ES) to ES3. During that time over 4300 builders, 900 raters / verifiers & 330 HVAC contractors completed the necessary steps to learn & comply with the new guidelines. During this period many of us participating forwarded questions, […]

Construction Marketing Idea’s: Best Construction Blog Contest

For the third year in a row, we have been nominated to Construction Marketing’s Best Construction Blog Contest. This year there are a total of 30 blogs listed & the competition looks to be pretty tough. With that said, not only would we love for you to vote for us, we would like you to […]

Guest Post: Energy Audits – What’s in a Price?

I don’t know, I am sensing a strange pattern here – it appears every time I do a guest post on JB’s excellent blog something major has changed. In this case he has a nice new logo & completely revamped the site which now flies. With that said, I encourage you to check out his […]

New Home & Condensed Maintenance Checklist

Based on a few requests & comments, we are proud to provide you with two new checklists. The first one is for those moving into a new house. The second one is a shortened & condensed version of our regular Monthly Maintenance Checklists which we still encourage you to check out and come up with […]

Are you up to the Challenge – the Building America Challenge?

Since 2008, hundreds of builders in cooperation with DOE, the NREL and numerous other parties have taken up the Building America Challenge to build thousands of high-performance homes. The end goal is to too help all builders reach the Net-Zero mark by 2030 as economically as possible. Since 2008 the target has been set at […]

LEED Habitat: Let the concrete flow

(UPDATED: Video added from WKU’s trip at the bottom) As you may recall the original schedule called for the concrete to be poured last Friday, but alas the best laid plans… and the weather said otherwise. At least today that wouldn’t be an issue and the weather was being nice as it was relatively warm […]

LEED Habitat: Weather & Scheduling

In our last post on “Let’s get this project rolling” we caught up with the project & mentioned some of the weather that was liable to make life a little difficult. When I left the schedule & weather forecast stood as follows: Monday: Official kickoff (Invite news crews, etc…) Tuesday: Start laying up walls & […]

LEED Habitat: Let’s get this project rolling

In our last article, we introduced you to a program where Habitat affiliates can team up with local professionals looking at becoming LEED AP’s and also obtaining LEED Certifications on their buildings (at no cost to them). In this series we are going to take you through the EverBuildPRO process & the actual construction of […]

10 Point Quick Start Guide to Solar

For many people thinking about solar, it can be pretty easy to get confused or overloaded with all the information out there. With that in mind, we created a simple 10 point quick start guide that covers many of the basics & things most often left unsaid. The type and size of a system depends […]

Becoming a LEED AP: Habitat for Humanity, BOULD, and You?

So you have decided you want to earn or become a LEED AP. There is just have one small issue, unless you have or are working on a LEED project, just how are you supposed to gain the experience & show documented involvement on a project registered or certified for LEED? (AKA a letter of […]