Beazer Homes is steadily developing a reputation as an industry-leading home builder in the United States, and it has come into the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program in a big way.
After building its first DOE Zero Energy Ready-certified home in September 2022, Beazer now constructs 98 percent of its new home starts to ZERH program requirements. More than 3,200 homes have been certified as of December 2024.
The builder is on track to certify 100 percent of its new homes by the end of 2025. DOE recognized Beazer’s efforts with a Housing Innovation Grand Award for most homes certified in 2024.
Beazer has a commitment “to provide homeowners with extraordinary value at an affordable price,” but the American home buyer might be the biggest winner of all.
The builder, who constructs about 5,000 homes annually and is active in 13 states and 17 submarkets, is no stranger to above-code, high-performance construction. Beazer built its first ENERGY STAR-certified home in 1998 and made a national commitment to build 100 percent Energy Star dwellings starting in 2011. As soon as the ZERH Version 2 program requirements were released in 2020, Beazer voluntarily began certifying homes at that more-stringent level.
The Hampton Hills project in Ellicott City, Maryland, is a prime example of how well that program works. “We’ve always been focused on doing more and offering a better product for our homebuyers,” says Brian Shanks, Beazer’s manager of governmental affairs. “Comfort’s got to be No. 1, so we’ve focused on the building envelope first.
The next step was determining how to deliver a zero-energy home. That includes looking toward renewables and battery storage opportunities.”
Although installation of photovoltaic panels is not required by the DOE program, on this home Beazer chose to install a 10-kW PV array and two batteries providing 27 kWh of storage capacity, for 12 hours of resiliency running entirely off the battery. This home also has an electric vehicle (EV) charger.
Beazer worked with building scientists to develop a housing assembly that uses common construction materials combined in uncommon ways to provide the highest performance possible. The 2-by-6, 24-inch on-center wall panels are first sprayed with 2.5 inches (R-18.5) of closed-cell spray foam that helps to insulate the walls and improve the air infiltration barrier for an airtight outer layer. The wall cavities are further filled with R-12.5 of blown fiberglass and topped with half-inch drywall.
“Combining spray polyurethane foam with the loose fiberglass enabled us to achieve a more-robust wall assembly without increasing the wall cavity depth,” says Shanks.
In addition, taped house wrap provides a weather-resistant barrier under the vinyl siding and masonry accents. Tape flashing around windows and doors and rubber flashing gaskets around piping provide air sealing and water control around any holes in the exterior walls.
The simple gable truss roof tops a vented attic insulated with 20 inches (R-60) of blown fiberglass. Raised heels lift the trusses 16 inches to provide more room for insulation above the top plates at the exterior walls. A synthetic underlayment protects the OSB roof sheathing. The entire roof is covered with inconspicuous photovoltaic tiles.
The 2-by-4 walls in the home’s finished basement are filled with R-19 faced fiberglass batts. The 14-inch I-joist ceiling above the garage is densely packed with R-47 of blown fiberglass.
In addition to traditional air sealing measures, Beazer used a whole-house aerosolized air sealing process to help reduce air leakage to 1.09 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals pressure differential (ACH50), well below the 3.0 ACH 50 air leakage maximum required by the program.
To provide ventilation to the home, Beazer installed an energy recovery ventilator (ERV). “We put ERVs in our homes as a normal course of business,” Shanks says. “The program doesn’t require it, but the program validates it and gives us the acknowledgement.”
The ERV brings in outdoor air through a dampered fresh air intake and pulls that air through a heat exchanger before distributing it in the home. The intake fan is operated simultaneously with an exhaust fan that pulls stale inside air from the home and passes it through the heat exchanger on its way out. The heat exchanger transfers heat—warming incoming air in the winter and cooling incoming air in the summer.
The ERV is equipped with an electronically commutated motor (ECM) for efficient operation. The incoming air passes through a MERV 8 filter capable of trapping dust, pollen, pet hair, and smoke particles.
After passing through the ERV, the tempered fresh air is supplied to the return side of the air handler for the home’s central air-source heat pump. The heat pump is equipped with a variable-speed compressor and a true variable-speed inverter.
The system provides heating with an efficiency of 8.1 HSPF2 and cooling with an efficiency of 16.7 SEER2.
Beazer has invested in a commercially available but uncommon duct distribution system that uses small-diameter ducts to quickly and efficiently distribute hot and cold air throughout the two-story home plus basement, while keeping the ducts within the home’s conditioned space.
“By pairing the efficient inverter heat pump system with the communicating
Wi-Fi-enabled thermostat, the homeowner is provided with infrastructure capable of monitoring IAQ and an ecosystem that could include HEPA filtration, UV purification, and whole house dehumidification, should they choose to add it in the future,” Shanks says.
An 80-gallon heat pump water heater provides hot water with a coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.45, more than three times the efficiency of an electric resistance or gas water heater. The water heater is centrally located within the home to speed hot water to the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms. The heat pump water heater’s location in the basement in a utility closet off an unfinished storage area ensures that any noise or cold air will cause minimal discomfort to occupants.
Many of the products and technologies Beazer used in Hampton Hills are featured in every home the company constructs. As a volume builder with a national scope, it was important to Beazer that those products be readily available through normal supply chain distribution partners.
All construction techniques and methodologies Beazer utilizes during the build process are commonly known practices, although not often associated with home building at scale.
“In some cases,” says Shanks, “Beazer has worked with manufacturers to identify beneficial products for high-performance homes, helping to accelerate their development-to-delivery cycle.”
Shanks points to Beazer’s work with a leading ventilation product manufacturer as an instance where the company’s buying power has bolstered the supply of balanced ventilation products, improving their marketplace availability for all builders.
It hasn’t always been easy. “We had to take a deeper look at how our processes and components work together,” says Shanks. “We had to research which improvements to building materials or component specifications were impactful, and which weren’t.”
For Beazer, in some cases, it meant searching for manufacturing and trade partners with the same passion for delivering efficient homes, or working to improve training for staff and partners. Sometimes “we’ve had to train the local workforce, but ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” says Shanks, acknowledging that other builders have benefitted from Beazer’s innovations.
Shanks sees the move to 100 percent DOE ZERH certification as part of a corporate philosophy of continuous improvement. He credits Allan Merrill, Beazer’s chairperson and CEO, and Jim Moore, senior vice president of operations, with the vision to “keep doing better.”
Air sealing: 1.09 ACH50; traditional air sealing practices and aerosolized acrylic whole house air sealant.
Appliances: ENERGY STAR appliances.
Attic: Vented, 20-inch R-60 blown-in fiberglass; 16-inch raised-heel trusses.
Energy management system: Wi-Fi thermostat could control IAQ monitoring, HEPA filtration, UV purifier, and whole house dehumidifier.
Foundation: Insulated basement, poured concrete walls, interior framed wall with R-19 faced fiberglass batts, half-inch sheetrock.
Hot water: Heat pump water heater, 80-gallon, 3.45 COP. Central hot water distribution design with the water heater centrally located.
HVAC: Central air-source heat pump, 8.1 HSPF, 16.7 SEER; compact duct design, variable speed compressor and inverter system.
Roof: Gable truss roof, 24-inch o.c., 7/16-inch OSB roof sheathing, synthetic roofing underlayment, integrated solar roof tiles.
Solar: 10.08 kW PV, 27 kWh of batteries.
Ventilation: ERV, integrated with HVAC system that monitors IAQ, ECM motors; MERV 8 filters.
Walls: 2-by-6 24-inch o.c., R-31 total: Advanced framed, R-12.5 blown fiberglass, R-18.5 closed-cell spray foam, 7/16-inch OSB, house wrap, vinyl siding with masonry accents.
Windows: Double-pane windows, U=0.28, SHGC=0.25.
Other: Electric vehicle charger.