Green Builder Media's Ronan Mirza runs through the week in housing and sustainability, covering Florida's coming building code overhaul, Realtor.com research showing new-home buyers save about $25,000 over a decade, a rising wave of construction defect lawsuits against major builders, and cities pushing back on data centers competing with communities for power. The episode closes with a clip from Matthew Cooper on rethinking how home value is measured.
00:00:06:13 - 00:00:26:13
Ronan Mirza: Welcome back. I'm Rhona Mirza, and this is your weekly look at what's changing in housing, sustainability and the future of the built environment. This week, Florida may be rewriting the rules of home. Building. New homes might actually save buyers money. The AI boom is suddenly competing with communities for power. And yes, we'll be talking about mushroom insulation. Let's get into it.
00:00:26:19 - 00:00:53:06
Ronan Mirza: First up, Florida could be a preview of where housing is headed next. The state is working through major updates to its building code, set to take effect at the end of 2026, and the changes could ripple far beyond the Sunshine State. We're talking stronger hurricane standards, tighter roofing requirements, tougher building envelopes, and potentially better energy performance. Homes may need to better withstand extreme wind events, flying debris and increasingly volatile weather.
00:00:53:09 - 00:01:19:20
Ronan Mirza: There's also a surprising twist. Florida is looking at cutting permitting requirements for certain smaller home projects under $7,500, while simultaneously tightening resilient standards for larger systems. And honestly, it gets at one of the biggest tensions in housing right now. Can homes become stronger, healthier and more resilient without becoming unaffordable? Which brings us to a new study that challenges one assumption about cost.
00:01:19:21 - 00:01:48:24
Ronan Mirza: Because if you think new homes are automatically too expensive, the math might be more complicated than that. According to new research from Realtor.com, buyers of newly built homes save an average of $25,000 over the first ten years of ownership, compared to buyers of a 20 year old home. The savings mostly come from lower utility bills and avoiding expensive repairs things like HVAC systems, roofs and water heaters that newer homes simply don't need to replace right away.
00:01:48:25 - 00:02:15:14
Ronan Mirza: And here's something interesting. In 16 metro areas, those long term savings completely erase the upfront price premium of buying new. The biggest savings are actually showing up in New England, where stricter building codes and colder winters make energy efficiency matter more. Massachusetts buyers could save nearly $39,000 over a decade. Meanwhile, the South Seas smaller savings because milder climates and weaker energy codes narrow the gap between old and new homes.
00:02:15:15 - 00:02:47:28
Ronan Mirza: It's a useful reminder that the cheapest house to buy isn't always the cheapest house to own. But, and this is an important but building newer doesn't automatically mean building better because, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, some of America's biggest homebuilders are facing a growing wave of lawsuits over alleged construction defects. Homeowners are reporting issues ranging from sinking foundations and mold to roofing failures and moisture problems with major builders like Dr. Horton, Lennar and Pultegroup seeing rising legal liabilities.
00:02:48:03 - 00:03:15:27
Ronan Mirza: Doctor Horton's reserves for construction defect claims reportedly climbed to 1.1 billion, while Leonard's self-insurance reserves rose more than 20% last year. Builders say these cases represent only a tiny fraction of homes and often stem from subcontractor mistakes. Homeowners and attorneys argue labor shortages, rush timelines and cost cutting are leading to quality problems. And that labor piece matters because construction is already under pressure.
00:03:16:01 - 00:03:48:06
Ronan Mirza: A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research is raising tough questions about one of the biggest assumptions behind mass deportation policy. Will it actually create more construction jobs for Americans? Researchers found that in areas with deportation surges, both undocumented and American born construction workers lost jobs while wages stayed mostly flat. In fact, for every immigration arrested in construction, researchers found six American born workers lost jobs, compared to four undocumented workers.
00:03:48:07 - 00:04:16:20
Ronan Mirza: Why? Because companies often slow projects instead of raising wages, especially in an industry already dealing with labor shortages, high material costs and financing challenges, and when fewer workers are available. Projects take longer, which ultimately affects housing supply and affordability. But workers aren't the only thing communities are suddenly competing for. Increasingly, it's electricity. The AI boom is starting to run into resistance, and not for the reasons you might think.
00:04:16:21 - 00:04:42:22
Ronan Mirza: And a 6 to 1 vote. The Reno City Council of a temporary moratorium on new data center applications, buying time to figure out how to manage explosive growth tied to AI, cloud computing and digital infrastructure. And Reno isn't alone. From Seattle to Indianapolis. Cities are increasingly pumping the brakes on data centers of a concerns about massive electricity demand, water use, infrastructure strain and who ultimately pays for it.
00:04:42:22 - 00:05:11:03
Ronan Mirza: And according to a new report from fortune. The effects may already be showing up nearby. Lake Tahoe could lose much of its electricity supply after 2027. As Nevada utility and the energy shifts capacity toward booming data center growth in northern Nevada, companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft are rapidly expanding in the Reno corridor, where data centers could add nearly 6000MW of new demand by 2033 for Tahoe, 49,000 residents and millions of annual visitors.
00:05:11:05 - 00:05:36:13
Ronan Mirza: The question is pretty simple who gets the power? Because suddenly the digital economy has a very physical footprint. And in a world where energy security feels less guaranteed. Solar may be entering a whole new chapter. As oil prices spike and geopolitical tensions rise. One uncomfortable reality is back in focus. Dependance on fossil fuels makes homeowners vulnerable. At the exact moment, energy resilience matters more than ever.
00:05:36:15 - 00:06:00:01
Ronan Mirza: Federal support for residential solar has been scaling back, but homeowners with solar and battery storage, they're insulated from at least one piece of the uncertainty. They can power heat pumps, charge EVs, and keep the lights on without watching every utility headline. And speaking of homes getting smarter. New research from Parks Associates says the connected home market is finally moving beyond gadget obsession.
00:06:00:03 - 00:06:26:25
Ronan Mirza: Consumers increasingly want smart systems to actually solve problems. Things like energy savings, wellness, aging and place support, safety and peace of mind. The catch? People still hate complicated setup and unreliable tech. So the real challenge may not be inventing smarter homes. It's making technology feel simple enough to disappear into the background. Okay, quick science detour because this one is genuinely cool.
00:06:26:29 - 00:06:54:07
Ronan Mirza: Our Editors Product Pick of the week answers a pretty wild question what if construction waste could literally grow into insulation? Researchers at the University of Bath found that a common fungus, the turkey tail mushroom, can break down hard to recycle wood waste and transform it into a low carbon insulation material. The resulting material reportedly performs on par with conventional insulation, while generating more than ten times lower carbon emissions during production.
00:06:54:07 - 00:07:20:01
Ronan Mirza: So, yes, the future of insulation might actually grow itself. What makes people fall in love with a home? According to New Cognition Smart Data, it's not the countertops, it's the feeling. In fact, 42% of buyers say how a home feels during a walkthrough is the number one factor when choosing between similar homes. But there's a catch. People can't relax into that emotional moment if they're stressed about hidden costs.
00:07:20:02 - 00:07:47:28
Ronan Mirza: Nearly two thirds of buyers want clear long term ownership costs up front, including energy and utility information before they buy, which actually connects perfectly to this week's episode of The Valuation Metric. Sara Gutterman sits down with Matthew Cooper, a PFG, to ask a deceptively simple question. What if we've been measuring home value all wrong? From indoor air quality and resilience to embodied carbon and long term operating costs, there's more to house than square footage.
00:07:47:29 - 00:08:08:20
Ronan Mirza: Cooper explains why Price per square foot no longer tells the full story, and how new tools like ResNet 1550 could fundamentally change. Our homes are designed, financed, and valued. If you care about what actually makes a home valuable. Definitely give that one a watch here on the Green Builder Media Network. Here's a clip.
00:08:08:22 - 00:08:24:29
Matthew Cooper: You know, I would say that that probably that the closest thing to a central principle for, for me and for, for PG is to, to not let the way things have always been done stand in a way of implementing a better process.
00:08:24:29 - 00:08:43:09
Ronan Mirza: And one more thing before we go. Have you registered for Sustainability Symposium 2026 yet? It's happening June 3rd and fourth, and we'll drop the link in the show notes so you can reserve your seat. That's it for this week. If something here made you rethink housing, cities or the way we build, send this to someone who would care.
00:08:43:13 - 00:08:46:01
Ronan Mirza: Thanks for watching and we'll catch you next week.
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