Building Science Builds Award Winning Business

Each year LBM Journal recognizes three companies of different sizes to acknowledge outstanding performance with their annual entrepreneur of the year awards. This year one of Mark’s clients, Parr Lumber of Oregon, has won that honor. Parr Lumber has spent considerable time in the past few years reorganizing and adapting systems to better meet its customers’ needs.

Beginning in 1996 individual store locations were integrated into a single cohesive organization to create supply side efficiencies and a focus on the fundamentals of good material supply. After realizing initial economies of scale, Parr Lumber began to develop strategic marketing services to support their builder customers' success. This unique approach for adding value led to deeper partnership with customers through an initiative called Plant-Based Housing.

By building walls, trusses, and envelope assemblies in a controlled factory environment Parr Lumber was able to increase quality assurance and minimize waste, passing those benefits on to customers. A natural outgrowth of this initiative was to address the technical challenges of ensuring best practices, once adopted, were continued and maintained in the field. Through a partnership with Building Knowledge and under the direction of Mark Laliberte, Parr Lumber launched “Parr High Performance System”.

Introduced in January 2008 the system consists of four key elements: sealing the home against air and moisture; retaining all HVAC duct work in the conditioned air space; using advance framing techniques; and testing the home’s improved efficiency after construction. Builders who use "Parr High Performance System" are able to quickly align themselves with good building science, a better economic value proposition, and homeowner’s demand for green building.

Parr continues to extend their commitment to best practices by identifying environmentally friendly products in a program called “Get Real" that provides detailed information via a website as well as in stores . Under Mark's guidance, Parr Lumber has focused on simplifying the green building concept for builders to make it easy to understand, reliable to build, and a strategic advantage for builders and homeowners alike.

Congratulations to Parr Lumber for applying innovative thinking to create new opportunity in a sluggish market. To read the complete article in LBM Journal click here.

Artistic Homes Makes a Difference

Artistic Homes, a high performance home builder in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has decided to take their homes to a new level. The State of New Mexico recently established a new set of tax incentives designed to encourage green building. To date, Artistic Homes is the only builder in the State that's been able to meet the new performance requirements. Doing so, allows them to offer their buyers a more affordable home -- under $250,000 -- as well as tax credits of up to $10,000.

On my last trip to Albuquerque, I spoke with Jerry and Tom Wade, owners of Artistic Homes, about this new opportunity. They were exited that in a tight market, this incentive could make the difference for consumers hoping to buy a new home. It is also motivating that at any price point, it is possible to build a home that is efficient, healthy, safe, durable and affordable to operate and maintain.

The final benefit is to Artistic Homes. These homes have fewer warranty calls and customer satisfaction is high. This will result in higher profits and more referrals. Just smart business. Visit Albuquerque and see what dedication and commitment to quality can do. These guys are doing it right.