VISION House Las Vegas Walkthrough

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Sara Gutterman: Hi, I'm Sarah Gutterman, CEO of Green Builder Media, and I'm here today at the vision House Las Vegas with Green Builder Media President Ron Jones and Director of operations for the Las Vegas division of Beazer Homes, Justin Anderson. They're going to talk with us today about how Beazer Homes is helping the industry cross the Rubicon, so to speak, with respect to their commitment to building zero energy ready homes across all the homes and their portfolio throughout the country.

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Sara Gutterman: We're happy that you're here today with us to learn about this wonderful journey.

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Ron Jones: Justin. Hey, Ron. Great to see you again. I've been looking forward to this visit.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's good to have you here.

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Ron Jones: And we're in the heart of the home right off the bat. We're here in the kitchen where everybody wants to be.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

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Ron Jones: I really like the openness. I like the illumination. I like the feeling of being tied indoor and outdoor at the same time.

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Justin Anderson: The windows, the the windows, the lighting, the flooring, the floor tech product that we've got. It's really let this room up. So I think we're we're really got something going on here.

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Ron Jones: It's very comfortable as well. Yeah. And also it's a very spacious feel. I like the way it flows from one use to another. It's very nice.

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Justin Anderson: Being able to the sightline of being able to see right, kind of right through the space and see what's going on outside. And we're still living in here and we're so comfortable.

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Ron Jones: It's a critical space. I want to ask you. Who is the family that Beazer sees living in these homes?

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Justin Anderson: One of the groups that we kind of market to is the newer move up family. Like somebody that's an emerging family that's got maybe a, you know, maybe a younger kid and they're kind of coming through. They're moving up a little bit. They've probably had a house somewhere else, but they know that, you know, cadence is the place to be.

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Justin Anderson: And this is this is how they're going to live. Ready for indoor outdoor.

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Ron Jones: Ready for more comfort and certainly ready for more efficiency and a little more luxury.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Knowing that they can get a product here and the solar array on their roof is going to provide them the the electrification that they need to to live the way they're going to live.

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Ron Jones: Yeah. And no compromise in terms of the quality of the products as well. I see you've got extraordinary appliances.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Absolutely. We've got with full electrification, we've got electric, induction stove. So we've got that cooktop that, that you can boil, rapid boil your water and kind of get food cooked and get on with other things.

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Ron Jones: Exactly. And also not creating a lot of excess heat that needs to be removed. You don't have, the noxious fumes from other types of cooking fuels and so forth, and so also safer. Absolutely. And especially you mentioned young families. If you've got young children or intermediate size, you want to make sure that that that's a safe place for them.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. They come up when we're boiling water and they can put their hand up there and you don't have to worry about you don't have to worry about and putting them on a hot stove or getting burnt by a flame.

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Ron Jones: And then your, your, your countertops and that sort of thing.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. The Dow tile product is fantastic. We've got the Dell, tile on the backsplash. And just the way that it's tying this room from the floor all the way through the cabinets up into the back is so light and bright.

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Ron Jones: And then, of course, water is a critical element here. One of the largest users of water in the house, the kitchen. Tell us about.

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Justin Anderson: That. We've got Moen, Moen flow sense product. So as you turn the faucet on, you're going to consume less. You're still going to have the quality of water at the at the fixture. But it's mindful we're going to use less from the point of hot water tank to the, the water source. We're using less we're able to consume, pipe.

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Justin Anderson: We took a mindful approach to make sure that we've reduced the amount of feet between that. So when you're calling for water, it's there when you need it.

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Ron Jones: And the nexus between water and energy. Absolutely. Every time we turn the faucet on, we don't realize it. We're flipping on a switch at the same time. So whether it's cold water or hot water that, you know, the movement, the transportation of water, the purification of it, all of those things matter. And especially in this desert climate, they're not only beautiful, but they're functional.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

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Ron Jones: Yeah. You have some great finishes.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. They tie it. It ties everything together. The way that the finish goes with our hardware and some of the other features that we've got in the home. It just it makes it to where it's one space. And you can really tell that it was mindfully put.

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Ron Jones: Well, I think that your designers did a wonderful job with the palette as well. I mean, the wall finishes, the ceilings. It just all flows together.

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Justin Anderson: You sure? Sure. Yeah. And Sherwin Williams, we've got a, paint in here that helps absorb VOCs from the air. So really, it's a it's a kind of a newer product.

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Ron Jones: And it's.

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Justin Anderson: Pretty cool. We're pretty excited.

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Ron Jones: That's pretty pretty neat. Tell me a little bit about the origin of Beta's commitment to superiority to to moving up to an even higher standard than yours?

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Justin Anderson: Sure. Sure. So we've been on this journey for more than a decade now. We went and took an energy star and said, we're going to commit to making our homes energy star. And each year we've kind of raised the bar on what we're going to do. What's next? What's next? We're going to raise it. We're going to raise it.

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Justin Anderson: And this journey that we've got now to where we're zero energy ready homes is has been exciting. It's been challenging. We've had some, you know, some some learning things along the way. But to get to the point now where our customers can come into this home and produce enough energy to live off of from their own roof array.

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Justin Anderson: It's it's really.

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Ron Jones: Exciting. They must be stunned when you tell them that.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. Yeah, it's it's, it's a change for the buying public to know that I can make what I consume. Yeah. So it's just it's kind of a shift in thinking for. For folks.

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Ron Jones: You know, I had an old cowboy friend that that talked about water in that concept, and he said, when you are a water harvester, you become a water steward. And the same thing is true with power. The same thing is true with electricity. When you are generating your own power, you become a water, an energy steward. And so you're more cognizant of it.

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Ron Jones: You're more likely to not be wasteful because you know what it takes to actually create enough energy to to, run a house.

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Justin Anderson: Sure.

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Ron Jones: So it's pretty special. That's got to be a great look in people's faces when they come in. And they hear that.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah, they realize that I won't have a power bill. How does that work? We got a connection fee to the grid for that off case that, you know, maybe something happens. We've got to borrow some power from the grid.

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Ron Jones: Absolutely.

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Justin Anderson: But between the Sonoma panels on the roof and our Tesla Powerwall assembly out in the garage, we can make power, store power and use the power that we're making. It's pretty. Pretty fantastic.

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Ron Jones: Great, I love it. I love it. Yeah.

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Justin Anderson: Good stuff.

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Ron Jones: That's what sustainability is all about. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, we touched on, the induction cooking and the improved environment. That's a result of that. What about indoor air quality in general? What are you doing to approach that?

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Justin Anderson: We've got an ERP system that we have in each one of our homes that we build. That's the energy recovery ventilator. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the way that that works is we're taking air from outside. We're taking air from inside the house. The air that we've already conditioned. We've already paid to heat it. We've already paid to cool it.

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Justin Anderson: And we have it cross paths inside the energy recovery ventilator right as it crossed paths. There's an energy transfer. So we're all breathing constantly. So we're all breathing air that's been purified constantly inside this home. So we've got clean breathable air inside here. And we're not adding to the pollutants by burning, stove or running with these other appliances that burn gas.

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Justin Anderson: So we've we've taken that and reduced it.

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Ron Jones: So it's it's difficult to control the air quality on the outside, but you're able to, to do it in such a way that that air exchange keeps the air clean, but then it also harvests the energy that you've already used to either heat or cool, and it transfers that into that fresh air.

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Justin Anderson: Yes. So we're not introducing unconditioned air from 115 degrees outside Las Vegas.

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Ron Jones: Into your 70.

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Justin Anderson: Degree. Absolutely. We we've already paid for that 70 degree air. So as we're bringing it in, it's cross and powered.

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Ron Jones: By the same real estate twice.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah, absolutely.

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Ron Jones: It's it's astonishing that we can find that technology down to the single family home level.

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Justin Anderson: Sure. And as as we're building the home, we've got third party inspectors that come out and make sure that we're covering the ducts and we're doing the things so we can get a certification at the at the end of the home that says, this is good quality home. It's a tight build. We've got our number down. We've got our air changes per hour down to where we can live efficiently off our own solar array on the house.

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Ron Jones: Let's talk a little bit about those third party certifications in particular. A Herz rating for the uninitiated. What is the Herz rating mean?

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Justin Anderson: The Herz rating is a home's energy. It's how much energy your house is using. So the higher the number, the more energy that you need. The lower the number, the better. So this particular home, we've got about a 36 Herz rating. If we've done nothing, we've built this house. We've got a 36.

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Ron Jones: Now that's on a scale. Zero being best, up to 100 being the poorest. Sure. So so 36 is in a range. If you're in the 30s you're you're doing something right.

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Justin Anderson: We're doing some good things. So as we've added the components of this house, we brought that number down. And when we've introduced the solar array to the roof, we've got this home. The way that it's built, the way that it stands right now is a minus two on the Herz rating.

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Ron Jones: Wow. And that originates with the building envelope? Absolutely. It originates with the insulated, foundation that that you employ. And I know that's extra expense. I know that people ask you why in the world you would spend money on that. Why would you spend money on that?

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Justin Anderson: We're trying to keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold. So the easiest way to explain that is if we've got hot air outside in Las Vegas, it gets hot here. If we've got 120 degree air outside, and we've paid for and conditioned the air on the inside of the house, let's create a thermal break and keep that stuff on the outside of the house.

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Justin Anderson: So all the way from the footing, all the way through to the roof assembly. We're trying to keep all of that air that we're not conditioning on the side of the wall, that we don't have to pay for.

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Ron Jones: And this is a passive strategy, but it's also permanent. It's there as long as the house is there. Absolutely. So the the first home buyer or the, the next occupant of the house or even a couple of generations away would benefit from that without even knowing it.

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Justin Anderson: We've created a durable product for this home homeowner and for the next homeowner also. So that durable product, it's going to outlive kind of some of the things that you think of as, different surfaces within the home. We've got this product on the outside of the house that's trying to keep that air that you've paid to, conditioned on the inside of the house, the temperature.

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Ron Jones: You like it? Yeah. So the comfort, the durability, all of the things that, sort of get lost behind the walls instead of all the glitz and glamor. Yeah. And that's really. I like to think that the best homes, have the best work, where you can't see.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah, absolutely. We put the care into the work that that probably isn't as as neat to look at. But when you understand the science behind it, we're trying to keep you comfortable in this house.

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Ron Jones: I think you've covered them both. That's awesome. Yeah. Hey, so now we find ourselves in the master tour. Tell me about it. I want to know.

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Justin Anderson: Well, we've got our continuation of the pure tech flooring. It runs from front door through the all of the main living area. So we've got that. We're still living on the recycled product that we've got there. Sherwin-Williams, the low VOC. VOC eating paint. We've got that through out here. And then as we transition into the bathroom, we've got our dual tile countertops and the tile surfaces throughout this, the shower area.

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Ron Jones: I really love the way the flooring ties the floor plan together. And it allows you to give that openness without a break. Sure. Yeah, I think that's excellent. And then you said the countertops are the the Dell product.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. Dell product.

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Ron Jones: And then beautiful Sherwin-Williams. Looks like you've got some custom, closet setting.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Organized living has got a, organizer for the primary closet, so you can kind of get your stuff in there, and.

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Ron Jones: Everybody could use that.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

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Ron Jones: Absolutely. I could use that. Yeah.

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Justin Anderson: A little bit more organization. Terrific.

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Ron Jones: And it's a nice separation I like the floor plan with. It's close enough, but separate it off for a little privacy. A little, little special status for.

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Justin Anderson: It's a little retreat. Yeah, a little retreat for.

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Ron Jones: Yeah. You need to get away sometimes.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

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Ron Jones: Very nice. I really like the tone of the tile. I like the spaciousness of the shower. And especially I like the natural light. I think that that really helps to open the space up and it highlights all the wonderful products. Also, in this water starved environment, I'm sure that you guys address, water conserving plumbing and fixtures and everything.

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Justin Anderson: Sure. Yeah. I'm sure mowing has, provided us with flow sense. It's a product that helps consume less. Every time you turn a fixture on. We've got every single fixture everywhere. We've got shower faucet, faucet. We've taken a mindful approach to limit the amount of water draw that we're taken from the water tank to the fixture.

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Justin Anderson: And it's also allowed us to get a water scent certification. So we're doing our part for the environment.

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Ron Jones: That's special. It's increasingly important in all parts of the country to address, the availability and the quality of water. And so this is not something that's going to go away. It's actually going to become more important as time goes by.

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Justin Anderson: Sure. And we're you know, we're trying to do our part for Lake Mead.

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Ron Jones: Yeah, absolutely. So every homeowner's dream, enough storage space, enough elegant display for that wonderful wardrobe. This is the, Organized Living Select product.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. So we've got an option for folks as they come through and purchase a home. They can come in and kind of customize their closet to how they're going to live in the space. Help them get the place for longer hanging things, some drawers for storage, and then just trying to maximize the amount of real estate that we've got in here.

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Ron Jones: Really important because we collect so much stuff and we got to have a place to put it. But more than that, it doesn't get lost. You know where things are, you can find it when you want it and it just opens up your wardrobe for you.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. Everything's got a place and there's a place for it that's terrific.

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Ron Jones: Oh. Thank you.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. So some of the cool stuff that we've got going on here and, kind of the central hub for everything. Our Rheem Proterra heat pump water heater. So it's a full electric heat pump. So it takes energy that's already in the air, uses that energy and makes hot water.

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Ron Jones: And no venting, no venting.

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Justin Anderson: No venting. One of the cool things about it with our climate is as it's taking heat from the air, it's also producing a little bit of cool air. So as it's drawn that energy from the hot air into the tank, it's making it's making all that hot water as it's doing an exhaust, there's some cool air that comes in.

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Ron Jones: It helps lower the ambient temperature.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

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Ron Jones: Get that car down to 110.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah, from 130. From 130 down to 110. But no, it's a it's a really cool feature. Super efficient. Yeah. And it's just using the power that we're making from the roof when the whole.

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Ron Jones: Notion of electrification, where we're going to a single fuel source, in this case electricity from the sun. Simplifies the mechanical to such a degree. You know, for a long time, the efficiencies just weren't there. And you would have to oversize units. Sure. Systems and products in order to get enough, production. But that's not the case anymore.

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Justin Anderson: Nope. This thing will will keep your, your family taking hot bath as long as they want to take a hot bath. And it's all from the sun. Which brings us into our our kind of our next feature we've got out here. With this home, we've got our panels on the roof. So we've got our full solar array, and we're storing it in here.

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Justin Anderson: And our Powerwall. So we've got the option to not only have 100% offset in our house, but if we're making more than what we can consume, we can store some of it here. So later on, when the sun goes down late at night, we want to still have the lights on us, still be comfortable. We're using the power that we've already made.

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Ron Jones: For us to have more flexibility for things like, the clothes dryer or the dishwasher, for sure. Those kinds of things. You're not having to time out when the sun's out.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. You don't have to worry about turning the lights off when it gets dark. You can stay comfortable all night.

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Ron Jones: If you have some, storm surge or something that creates a problem. I mean, life's not perfect, so it's good to have some backup.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Absolutely. The way that the energy management system works through here, we've also got a span panel. So it's an energy management system. So as electrification happens, we can have the ability to if we've got a car that we're charging, if we're running the the washing equipment, if we've got the oven running, it's something where we can control how much energy that we want to consume.

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Justin Anderson: So if we know that we don't need to drive our car till tomorrow when it's charging now we've got a lot of consumption, we can turn that down. And with the integrated span car charger, it's. It'll hook up to any car, any brand. It could be adapted. And you can control the rate at which your car charges.

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Ron Jones: Awesome. So you can charge your car after the night whenever you sleep.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. It's amazing. You can choose to do it while the sun's out. You can choose to do it off your battery. And you can choose the rate that it's going to be charged.

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Ron Jones: Allows you to prioritize all of the systems.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

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Ron Jones: Regardless of what they are.

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Justin Anderson: And heaven forbid, something happens, there's a power outage. And, you know, I want to keep the cold stuff in my refrigerator cold. You can prioritize the consumption. If there ever is an event where there's no power.

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Ron Jones: Coming from the grid. Well, plus it's streamlined. It's it's beautiful. You know, it's really clean.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah.

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Ron Jones: Nobody I mean, how could you object to anything?

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Justin Anderson: Right? It's wonderful. It all fits right in with our light and bright and airy and kind of the way that we live in our homes nowadays.

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Ron Jones: I think that it also helps us to move in a direction where we look at the built environment through a lens that includes the effect on the natural environment.

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Justin Anderson: Sure.

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Ron Jones: So as we reduce our dependance on fossil fuels and things that may be detrimental to the climate, this allows us to, be participants in that.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

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Ron Jones: And so I think it's really appealing. You mentioned you know, your target market, a young family. I think people are really aware and I think they want to leave a better, world for their children and their grandchildren than maybe they inherited. So this is something that they can actively do. They can make a decision. They can make a choice and say, okay, I'm going to worry about the lowest upfront cost, or I'm going to go for value, I'm going to go, I'm going to play the long game.

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Ron Jones: Yeah, I'm going to go for for that, entire time that I'm living in the house and whoever's next.

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Justin Anderson: Sure. And the idea of of kind of paying it forward and making sure that we're doing the right thing, we've got mo and flow sense in the house, so we're using less water. We've got an irrigation timer that can sense when it rains. So it knows maybe today's not the day that we need to water. You can add sensors if you add on to the the product that says this is actually had too much water.

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Justin Anderson: So it'll shut an irrigation dripper off so that you're not overwatering and you're not using more of that precious resource.

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Ron Jones: I'm running down the street.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. We'll keep it from running down the street. With the flow sense we've got. As we talked through the house, we were talking about the fixtures and how they were working. Right. We've got an automatic shut off valve on our main, so it's got the ability to sense if there's water consumption happening, and it's at a weird time.

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Justin Anderson: It's at a different, 3:00 in the morning. Nobody's use water. And now we've got this steady drip. This thing can sense it through an app. It'll send it to your phone and you can say, hey, I'm at work. There shouldn't be any water running. Let's turn that thing off. Yeah, it'll turn off.

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Ron Jones: Interesting.

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Justin Anderson: Yeah. That flow sense product is it's it's new and it's pretty exciting.

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Ron Jones: Or if, God forbid, there should be a leak sometime.

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Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Whatever.

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Ron Jones: It might be. It's not going to, you know, really minimize any concern or damage or, ongoing issues with that.

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Justin Anderson: Sure, sure. And as we we feel the garage, it's nice and comfortable out here. We've got an insulated garage door. Windsor. Windsor makes an excellent product. It's got insulation on this side. So you can tell we're trying to keep that heat on the outside. Just another one of those thermal barriers that we've got. And also we've partnered it with the lift master garage door.

00:21:58:10 - 00:22:08:22
Justin Anderson: You can have on the IQ app, you can put an app on your phone and see if you left the door. I don't know if you're like me. Sometimes you think, oh my goodness, that I close the garage door this morning. You can hook up to the thing and see.

00:22:08:23 - 00:22:14:03
Ron Jones: Never thought I would see a garage door opener that smarter than I was, right? But it's really a relief.

00:22:14:03 - 00:22:17:28
Justin Anderson: Yeah, absolutely. Pretty. Pretty cool. Forward thinking products.

00:22:17:28 - 00:22:30:01
Ron Jones: Yeah. Well, the more things that we can, give redundancy to and and have control of, just even simple reminders to take care of things, it just improves our quality of life.

00:22:30:06 - 00:22:32:22
Justin Anderson: It's that durability and sustainability. We're all looking for it.

00:22:32:26 - 00:22:37:25
Ron Jones: Yeah, absolutely. It's terrific. Just see what we have here.

00:22:37:28 - 00:22:59:12
Justin Anderson: So this is, our demonstration piece to kind of show people what we do against what industry standard is. So we've got a demonstration of our two by six wall framing. It kind of comes through a progression of how we get from we framed the house down to where we finish through the bottom. So if you walk through the progression, we've got two basics framing.

00:22:59:14 - 00:23:17:23
Justin Anderson: We've got our cellulose insulation with the netting on the outside of it. And then we come to our DuPont Tyvek system that we put on every house. So each one of the homes that we build comes with Tyvek wrap on the full exterior of the house. It's that weather resistant shell. We're trying to keep the water on the outside of the house where it belongs.

00:23:17:25 - 00:23:41:09
Justin Anderson: We use a quick flash product around all of our penetrations. We integrate that in with our DuPont flashing tape. Then we move on into our styrofoam and laugh down into our stucco process. One of the things that we do a little different than kind of everybody else in the industry is we'll stucco the house. And prior to painting, we put our primer on there and we tenant blue on purpose.

00:23:41:11 - 00:24:09:15
Justin Anderson: So we know our buyers are builders. Everybody knows we've applied the product correctly. You can see that it's blue. Then we'll apply our finish to the outside of it. On the industry standard side. We've got a two by four wall. We've got our tucked in fiberglass bat. We've got our black paper. That's just code. We've got our code laugh board, code stucco and just a paint over the top of the stucco.

00:24:09:17 - 00:24:19:07
Justin Anderson: So we kind of prided demonstrate what we're doing for some of the things that our customers can't see. That makes us a little bit different as they walk up and see our product.

00:24:19:09 - 00:24:37:23
Ron Jones: Well, I think this speaks to the fact that a house is a system. And so when you integrate all of the elements of the system in such a way that they complement each other and they they strengthen each other, the net result is greater than the sum of the parts.

00:24:37:24 - 00:24:38:07
Justin Anderson: Sure.

00:24:38:11 - 00:24:59:02
Ron Jones: So what happens is that when you control the flow of energy, when you control the flow of heat and cold, when you control the flow of moisture, and when you control the flow of air, what you've done is you've created an environment that you can control. Sure. And, that makes it more efficient and makes it more comfortable.

00:24:59:04 - 00:25:04:13
Ron Jones: It improves your indoor air quality in all cases. And the durability is a huge factor as well.

00:25:04:13 - 00:25:19:15
Justin Anderson: The durability of this wall assembly is is second to none. Yeah. We've we've got that. And when we get to our indoor air plus certifications that are hers ratings you can tell that we've we've really put the time and effort into make something that's really durable and very sustainable.

00:25:19:18 - 00:25:31:16
Ron Jones: The best building is, an orchestration of of a series of simple steps that result in the maximum result.

00:25:31:18 - 00:25:36:08
Justin Anderson: Absolutely. We've got a great product that we put out for our customers.

00:25:36:15 - 00:25:57:27
Ron Jones: I'm impressed. Just. And I find that people typically take for granted how they can control their Hvac. And then the, resulting, environmental control that they have. You have an advanced system then that, does a lot of things for you automatically, but it also allows you to to interface and.

00:25:57:29 - 00:26:13:24
Justin Anderson: Sure, sure, there's some programmability with these, they can kind of learn how you act, how you live. And you can program it to, hey, listen, we know we're going to be out of the house. We can we can have the house at a different temperature for a little while. It knows when you're going to need the next temperature.

00:26:13:28 - 00:26:22:04
Justin Anderson: It'll turn on and condition the space so that when you arrive home from your long day at work, the house is comfortable and conditioned the way that you like it.

00:26:22:07 - 00:26:26:26
Ron Jones: That's really important from an energy standpoint. But also, the comfort level for.

00:26:26:29 - 00:26:27:13
Justin Anderson: Sure.

00:26:27:16 - 00:26:28:07
Ron Jones: Is critical.

00:26:28:08 - 00:26:30:04
Justin Anderson: We're not using energy when we don't need to be.

00:26:30:07 - 00:26:34:17
Ron Jones: Yeah, that's, it's just something that we just normally don't think about.

00:26:34:23 - 00:26:36:11
Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

00:26:36:14 - 00:27:06:20
Ron Jones: You know, we always gravitate back into the heart of the home. The kitchen. Yeah. And I really have to give a compliment to your designers because what I see here is the functionality that's really important for, for family utilization. And, I like the fact that, the heating apparatus and things, it might be a little bit of a risk for small children and so forth are separated by this island, which, gives you the ability to do your clean up and, so forth.

00:27:06:23 - 00:27:29:09
Ron Jones: Dishwasher is handy right there. But also it engages people and keeps the family together. When they need to be. And you have a wonderful openness to the rest of the space. So the cook is not isolated? Sure hasn't been banished to that dark room in the corner somewhere. I just think that, it's really important to think about how we use these spaces.

00:27:29:12 - 00:27:36:26
Ron Jones: So, what goes into that concept of, family use from from business point of view?

00:27:36:26 - 00:27:48:19
Justin Anderson: So the livability of the space is one of the things that we really consider. As we're cooking, we've got to eat. Everybody has to eat. We're in here preparing a meal. We can have kids sitting at the island.

00:27:48:21 - 00:27:49:11
Ron Jones: Yeah.

00:27:49:13 - 00:28:05:20
Justin Anderson: They can. They can be doing homework. They can. You can interact. There's still a connection. There's not a wall separating us. And we're back, as you said, often in another room. Kind of doing things. If we've got little ones that come in, we've got a surface that's up high enough. You know, we're not burning the fuel out here.

00:28:05:20 - 00:28:22:08
Justin Anderson: We don't have to worry about somebody putting their hand in the way of a flame. We've got, you know, a little bit of separation so we can keep keep the kids back, the kiddos back, and make sure that they don't, come into a dangerous area. But we've got this thought through work triangle, so we've got everything that we need to do right here.

00:28:22:09 - 00:28:25:25
Justin Anderson: We can get our food, we can wash our hands. We can still be prepared.

00:28:25:25 - 00:28:42:15
Ron Jones: But it goes beyond that. You know, the the basic work triangle is pretty well mastered in a lot of different ways. But what you have here is a great proximity to a more formal dining arrangement when you want it, and to be entertaining with guests. So I just think this is a wonderful layout. Yeah.

00:28:42:15 - 00:28:53:27
Justin Anderson: And we're capturing the light from the back too. So we've got all of our windows and everything. That's that's blending the light into the spaces to where we're looking through. And we really can, you know, not have to run a light if we don't need to.

00:28:53:27 - 00:28:56:16
Ron Jones: Run a light. And still with a terrific sense of privacy.

00:28:56:17 - 00:28:57:05
Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

00:28:57:05 - 00:28:58:11
Ron Jones: Yeah. Well done.

00:28:58:17 - 00:28:59:19
Justin Anderson: Thank you.

00:28:59:21 - 00:29:32:24
Ron Jones: You know, Justin, when the green building, more sustainable building, lexicon emerged, we started, really having serious discussions about it. One of the first topics was about waste reduction. And, and there were a lot of, interesting little sayings and so forth. But one is that, if you're not buying recycled, you're not recycling. And so, what we've seen is an evolution in, the production, and the good example is in the flooring product.

00:29:32:27 - 00:29:48:06
Ron Jones: So not only in your, your, your salad surfaces or your laminate so forth, but in the carpet, in the content as well, but also in that life cycle. So what are you doing with regard to that in terms of your product specification.

00:29:48:07 - 00:30:07:19
Justin Anderson: So we've got the ever strand carpeting that is made out of recycled product. It ties in with our flooring that we had that's made out of recycled product. And then we've also got, just this, the VOC reduction that we've got into all of the new products. It's really it's taking a step in the right direction.

00:30:07:20 - 00:30:25:16
Ron Jones: So down the road in the future, several years, maybe a decade or more, somebody wants to redecorate or they have a need, to, replace the flooring. It's going to be recyclable as a product, and, it doesn't, have the same environmental footprint that we're used to.

00:30:25:16 - 00:30:26:10
Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

00:30:26:13 - 00:30:32:20
Ron Jones: With with previous product. Absolutely. Every every detail matters. Every drop of water shapes the stone.

00:30:32:20 - 00:30:33:09
Justin Anderson: Sure does.

00:30:33:10 - 00:30:45:15
Ron Jones: Yeah. This is a wonderful. So following the theme of all the things mechanical, what do you say to a prospective home buyer that comes in and says, what I have here?

00:30:45:22 - 00:31:04:26
Justin Anderson: What is all of this? Yeah, this is this is the lungs of your house. So when we were talking about that breathing, always breathing, that we always want that filtered air. This is our ERV. So it's bringing that fresh air in. It's making that energy transfer. All of that magic happens right inside of this. So these are the lungs.

00:31:04:26 - 00:31:22:26
Justin Anderson: We we say to people, these are the lungs of your house. This is what's making sure you've got that clean, comfortable, breathable air. And then this is what's condition in the air for you. So it's our heat pump system. So when you need it to be a little warmer or a little cooler, this is the this is the unit that's in here making sure that you've got that comfortability on the inside of your house.

00:31:22:26 - 00:31:32:23
Ron Jones: And that's using the energy that's already in the ambient air. So it's around you all the time. You're not paying extra for it. It just, been wasted up to now.

00:31:32:24 - 00:31:38:18
Justin Anderson: Yep. Yeah. It's using that the thermodynamics to make sure that you've got the comfort level inside your home that you.

00:31:38:18 - 00:31:43:07
Ron Jones: Need, and then you're able to apply this in various zones and layers around the house.

00:31:43:08 - 00:31:58:24
Justin Anderson: Yeah. So we've got, with this particular house, we've got two floors, but we've got one unit. So the way we're able to accomplish that is we've got a zoning system set up so you can call for heat or cool in different zones. And this this will tell you this is where we're going to send the air.

00:31:58:25 - 00:32:04:00
Ron Jones: And since heat rises naturally you can cut down on the amount of consumption you have upstairs.

00:32:04:00 - 00:32:14:11
Justin Anderson: Absolutely. Whatever you need to do. Absolutely that thermostat saying this room needs a little bit of cooler or warmer air. And this one's okay. So our zone will dampen it down and send the air where it needs to go.

00:32:14:11 - 00:32:41:29
Ron Jones: An important you know, I think one of the most overlooked aspects of exterior design, the facade, is the transition from material to material. And it's it's where, the seams are, where one material meets another. And you guys have done a beautiful job. And especially this is a Westlake product for coach Tony Alderson. The the coloration is really important, but the texture is just extraordinary.

00:32:42:04 - 00:33:03:03
Ron Jones: And so when you go from this wonderful brocade here, and then you have that break in the color line, with some three dimensional feel, and then you go into a natural material that allows you to transition into the landscape in this, in this case, the hardscape, it really speaks a lot to the kind of thought that goes into that design.

00:33:03:03 - 00:33:20:17
Justin Anderson: Yeah, yeah. And the culture sounds a really cool product. Westlake is able to recycle the water as they're making the product, so it's just another one of those things where, you know, a manufacturer is taking it in and thoughtful men thoughtful about the process, make sure that they're not wasted as they're no stone unturned. Yeah.

00:33:20:17 - 00:33:22:00
Ron Jones: No. Yeah. That's great.

00:33:22:02 - 00:33:28:18
Justin Anderson: And then, you know, also we've got, the cool roofing system that we've installed on our vision home over here.

00:33:28:24 - 00:33:35:19
Ron Jones: Now, you've mentioned that to me before. Talk about what that does from an energy standpoint and from a durability standpoint.

00:33:35:19 - 00:33:54:03
Justin Anderson: So there's a couple things that happen. There's a thermal break between the roof deck and the deck of the house. So where the framing is and where the the sun is beating on that tile, there's a air space. So we're taking air from the eave and drawing it up all the way through the ridge. And there's a vent at the top.

00:33:54:03 - 00:34:04:13
Justin Anderson: So we've got that airflow that's moving through there. So we've created a thermal break so you don't get all that that solar heat gain that's going to come right through that roof tile, right on to a roof deck traditionally.

00:34:04:13 - 00:34:21:09
Ron Jones: So you've got the roof deck, the sub roof, and then a membrane of some kind. You've got the underlayment. Yes. And then that, that air gap, reduces the amount of intense heat that penetrates those products and over time that deteriorates.

00:34:21:09 - 00:34:22:00
Justin Anderson: Absolutely.

00:34:22:00 - 00:34:31:22
Ron Jones: So it increases the lifespan of the roofing system, and it increases the, energy efficiency of the whole the whole building.

00:34:31:22 - 00:34:32:11
Justin Anderson: It sure does.

00:34:32:12 - 00:34:34:22
Ron Jones: Well, it's beautiful too.

00:34:34:28 - 00:34:58:08
Justin Anderson: Yeah. Looks great. So one of the other really cool features that we've got in the vision house is, heat pump dryer. Not only is it energy efficient, but it's also easier on fabrics and clothes. So as you're capturing the air, you're capturing the energy, you're drying your clothes. You're also taking care of your your things.

00:34:58:10 - 00:35:17:09
Ron Jones: I always enjoy the behind the walls. It's my favorite part. We were talking about that earlier and how some of the most important parts of the process are hidden. When the when the job's completed and people are occupying. It's out of sight, out of mind. But it makes a huge difference in the value of their home.

00:35:17:09 - 00:35:38:10
Justin Anderson: Sure. And one of the things you feel comfortable inside this house, and we I mean, we don't even have drywall up right now, with the use of the green fiber product, we've got our balloon in cellulose insulation behind this netting. We've already got that feeling of comfortability, and we've captured the that this is how we're going to live in this house, and we don't need the drywall on the outside.

00:35:38:10 - 00:35:50:24
Justin Anderson: Obviously, we're going to finish the house. We'll put the drywall up and paint it. But standing here talking to you, I have the feeling of comfort to know that the shell is complete. The shell is where we're keeping that everything to the outside of the house.

00:35:51:01 - 00:36:03:29
Ron Jones: And you can be confident that there are no voids, there's no settling that you have to worry about. It's not going to be disturbed by the subsequent phases of construction. So that's, in place, and it's going to stay there.

00:36:03:29 - 00:36:09:07
Justin Anderson: Sure. And we've got our conditioned attic space. We do in each one of our homes.

00:36:09:09 - 00:36:37:12
Ron Jones: We were talking about that a little bit earlier. That's really important because then your ductwork is in conditioned space. It's protected from all the elements that you might be concerned about. And I think that, in the big scheme of things, that's one of the most important, decisions that you can make as a builder is to, determine what is the optimum, finish product for, that attic.

00:36:37:18 - 00:36:59:12
Justin Anderson: Absolutely, absolutely. And we've, you know, we're paying to condition that air, and our system doesn't have to work so hard because we don't have to take on all of that heat from the exterior. We've got all of our thermal barriers all at the outside. It's the outside shell of this home. So our our ductwork is in a conditioned space where it doesn't have to work so hard to maintain that temperature inside the home.

00:36:59:15 - 00:37:12:15
Ron Jones: And, you know, and I think that some builders cut corners, on that concept because, they think that they're going to save a few dollars. But, a lot of that is offset by the fact that, you don't have to do as much with the ductwork itself.

00:37:12:16 - 00:37:14:19
Justin Anderson: Sure.

00:37:14:22 - 00:37:27:04
Ron Jones: You know, we had a look at the, the finished product, but it's really fascinating to be able to see behind the walls here and, talk about the system, how everything integrates together and what the purpose behind that is.

00:37:27:06 - 00:37:44:12
Justin Anderson: Sure. And when we were looking at our deconstructed wall assembly in the sales office, we were talking about the Tyvek assembly and the way that we use the different DuPont products and put them behind there to make our weatherproof barrier on the outside of the house. You can this is kind of a cool illustration where you can see how all the things come together.

00:37:44:12 - 00:38:00:14
Justin Anderson: We've got our our weatherproof barrier out here. We've got the way that our electrical management system comes together, and all the lines that run in, we've got it integrated in with our our a roof assembly for our solar. It all kind of this is sort of where everything happens in the home.

00:38:00:17 - 00:38:19:10
Ron Jones: It's also worth pointing out that all of the penetrations are insulated, along the, the, shoe, the base of the walls. You get that bead there that make sure to cut down on any air infiltration there. And, you can't go back and do those things later. It's got to be done in time.

00:38:19:13 - 00:38:39:19
Justin Anderson: Yeah. And so that that's one of the things that we do behind the walls to make sure that we've we've captured that end product where we've got that comfortability in mind in the, in the house, we've got good quality air that we're breathing. We're trying to be mindful with our resources, and we're sealing that thing up so that all of that weather that we don't want is on the right side of the wall.

00:38:39:22 - 00:38:46:28
Ron Jones: And as you mentioned before, it's perfectly comfortable in here with. Yeah, with, with no introduced control.

00:38:46:28 - 00:38:50:04
Justin Anderson: Sure.

00:38:50:06 - 00:38:59:20
Ron Jones: Now, the wiring that we see here is not only house wiring, these home runs that go to various circuits, but, this is actually connecting you to the system on the roof.

00:38:59:21 - 00:39:18:06
Justin Anderson: Yeah. So if you chase, kind of some of the penetrations that we've got to go outside, we've got some components for the solar array that go outside. This is one of the units that we've got with our, their solar system, the winds that run up through here, you can you can follow along with that flexible, it's labeled photovoltaic.

00:39:18:09 - 00:39:25:03
Justin Anderson: So you can kind of follow along and see how it goes up and integrates with the roof.

00:39:25:06 - 00:39:25:28
Ron Jones: Pretty elaborate.

00:39:26:04 - 00:39:26:21
Justin Anderson: It is.

00:39:26:21 - 00:39:32:04
Ron Jones: Yeah, there's a lot to it. It's, they don't call a building science for nothing.

00:39:32:04 - 00:39:35:02
Justin Anderson: They sure don't.

00:39:35:04 - 00:39:53:01
Sara Gutterman: Thanks for joining us for this tour through the vision House Las Vegas. Hopefully you learned something about energy efficient, all electric, healthy, resilient, solar powered homes. For more information, visit dot Green Builder media.com.