A relative newcomer to the Lexington homebuilding scene shared a Washington, D.C. stage with the likes of 3M, GE, Raytheon and fellow Kentucky company Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America in receiving honors from the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA's Energy Star program for its commitment to energy efficiency.
Ideal Homebuilders was one of just five homebuilders nationwide to receive Energy Star's Excellence Award for building certified Energy Star and Green homes that have been proven to cut household energy costs by 30 percent.
"It doesn't have to be a log cabin in the woods with solar panels to be energy efficient," said Ideal co-owner Matt Fiscus (pronounced "fis-cus") who along with his business partner Chris Woolery made Ideal Homebuilders an Energy Star partner in 2005 as soon as a third party verifier was available in the state to certify their construction using a "blower door" test. The blower door test uses large fans to pressurize a house in order to measure its airtight qualities.
It was important from day one for Ideal, according to Fiscus, to build energy efficient homes. In those days back in 2001 Woolery was on his own and the company was building just two homes a year, long before official certification could be obtained.
Before and after Fiscus came aboard in 2003, Ideal started attempting to document the measures taken that would make a home energy efficient. "Showing pictures and telling people it is built with integrity helps, but giving them a certified document from the EPA, it just goes a long way," Fiscus said while leafing through the homeowner's manual in the company's Blackford Farm model home off Man O' War near Hamburg.
The manual is one part of the process certified as both an Energy Star home and a Green home. Included in the three inch binder is the home's individual certificate showing the exact ratings in a number of energy efficiency tests. It is not enough for a home builder to be certified. Each and every home Ideal builds must pass third party tests to obtain Energy Star certification.
Since launching earlier this decade, Fiscus and Woolery confined their projects to the Greater Lexington area, building homes in Lawrenceburg and Nicholasville after finding the Fayette County market hard to crack as often subdivisions require plot purchases far beyond what they could afford. Fiscus said a beneficial partnership developed when Jimmy Nash Homes allowed them to enter the Lexington market after a few small forays into the county.
Ideal was able to purchase a chunk of properties from Nash instead of having to buy upwards of 50 lots, which Fiscus said is often the threshold to enter many of Lexington's new subdivisions - helpful to a builder that erected 11 homes in 2007 and aims to build 15 in 2008.
"(While being a Green home) helps close the deal, it is not the first thing that makes (customers) want to buy," said Fiscus whose homes top out in the mid $300s. "It's that whole system, because I have had customers walk through and they're a customer that's not really on the hook, I don't know if I am going to be able to sell them a home or not. When they come through I ask them, 'what would you like to do different about the home you live in now' and they say 'I'd like a bigger bathroom'Ö 'I want a bigger master suite'Ö 'I need a bigger kitchen' Ö I'm going to give you all that and a comfortable home."
Fiscus said Energy Star tracks certified homes and builders across the country and often sees a "wildflower" effect: when one pops up, many more soon follow. That seems to be occurring across the Bluegrass as 17 companies in the area have partnered with Energy Star since the beginning of 2007, though other than Ideal only Artique Custom Homes has built an Energy Star certified home, according to an Energy Star Online database.
A home can be an Energy Star home without being a Green home, but in order to be certified as a Green home, it must first be certified as an Energy Star home.
"Energy Star is centered around the blower door (test) and the rating of how energy efficient the home is," Fiscus said. "Green building has additional sections. Number one, you have to have the Energy Star label to be Green. But (for) a Green certified home you have to have achieved certain points on water (efficiency); paints must have less global impact; carpets that have to be certified that they are green products, that they are recycled," and any hardwoods used throughout the home must come from sustainable sources like bamboo.
Fiscus said Ideal Homebuilders caught Energy Star's eye because of the relatively low demand for energy efficiency in the state.
"When (Energy Star) saw Kentucky they got really excited because Kentucky has the fourth lowest utility rates. States like California have to do it because they are dying for energy," Fiscus said.
In 2007, Energy Star homes and appliances saved Americans $16 billion in utility bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of eliminating 27 million vehicles.