Green Built Texas is committed to increasing the awareness, education and value necessary for builders and remodelers to construct high-performance, healthy structures that exceed building code requirements. The program achieves these goals by establishing standards that benefit homeowners, the citizens of Texas, and the environment we all share.
Visit our calendar to learn how you can participate in the next Green Built Texas event.
View the video below to find out more about what Green Built Texas offers to participating builders and their customers.
Construction Protocols:
Single Family Homes: Green Built Texas 3.0
The Green Built Texas program has a regionally-specific green building construction protocol that Dallas BA members have deemed essential in order for a home to be recognized by the program. Homes built to this protocol conform to high standards of water efficiency, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, durability, and homeowner education.
Multifamily Construction: Green Built Texas 1.0
Building upon the model created for single-family structures, Green Built Texas created the first protocol designed specifically for Texas multifamily builders. This is significant because many other green building programs try to group multifamily construction into their commercial or single-family residential programs. Thus, they ignore the challenges that are unique to this type of building product as well as the specific opportunities contractors have to increase the performance of their projects.
How to Register a Green Built Texas Home
The Green Built Texas home registration process is designed to be simple and efficient. The program’s combination of rigorous third party verification and cost effective registration fees (only $30 per home for the first 200 homes and $15 for each after that) make it a viable program for builders at all price points.
These ten steps must be followed in order for a home to be recognized by the program. In order to become a GBT Verifier an eligible company MUST sign a Verifier Agreement with the Dallas Builders Association and meet the qualifications.
1. Join the Dallas Builders Association and enroll your company in Green Built Texas.
2. Hire a Green Built Texas Verifier and sign Builder Agreement.
3. Receive Registry Login Information from the Dallas BA
4. Begin Project
5. Complete initial inspection at pre-drywall stage
6. Verifier submits project information for listing in “Under Construction” category of Home Registry
7. Finish Project
8. Complete final inspection
9. Verifier moves project information into “Completed Homes” category of Home Registry
10. Print Registered Home Certificate from your registry account
Benefits of a Green Built Texas Home
Water Efficiency
Preserving water resources is important to all Texans, and Green Built Texas homes are designed to conserve water both indoors and out. More efficient water delivery systems indoors combined with drought-tolerant landscaping choices and smart irrigation systems outdoors help extend current water resources. Buyers should discuss other GBT offerings with their builder such as rainwater catchment and additional water saving appliances to maximize water savings.
Indoor Air Quality
Following energy efficiency, consumers often cite the home’s indoor air quality as the most important feature of their home. Sensitivities to chemicals that can be emitted from construction and home furnishing materials are becoming more common and Green Built Texas homes aim to mitigate the effects of potential contaminants. Through proper design, ventilation and filtering the source of contaminates can be controlled, diluted and/or captured. This aspect is particularly important in Texas where high levels of allergens and pollen are often reported.
Energy Efficiency
Energy consumption is of paramount concern to today’s homebuyers due to financial and far-reaching environmental impacts. In addition, each home consumes energy year after year, meaning that the environmental impacts associated with that use accrue over time. Therefore, energy conservation is an integral part of all Green Built Texas homes.
Green Built Texas construction protocols require builders to either certify to the EPA's ENERGY STAR performance standard or meet an efficient performance target using the Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS) Index. Regardless of the path chosen, Green Built Texas builders strive to achieve higher efficiency and lower operating costs for consumers by selecting a variety of features such as:
-Tight construction and ducts
-Effective insulation systems
-Efficient heating and cooling
-High performance windows
-Efficient products
Durability and Moisture Management
Proper moisture management and reducing air leakage are the first steps to increasing a home's long-term durability. Green Built Texas requires registered homes to comply with the EPA's Energy Star Moisture Management checklist. This checklist addresses moisture intrusion at the foundation, roof and wall assemblies, and in building material production and selection.
Homeowner Education
A builder can do only so much when it comes to how the home will perform. Homeowners play a big role in their home’s performance and, therefore, should take the utmost care to operate their Green Built Texas home as it was intended. Ongoing and timely preventative maintenance helps ensure a healthy, resource-efficient home for years to come.
Independent Third Party Verification
Building upon the quality control procedures associated with the ENERGY STAR certification process, GBT builders benefit from the services provided by third party verification professionals. These professionals also enter much of the information found in the program’s home registry.
Many third-party verifiers can provide diagnostic services that help homeowners determine cost-effective strategies to improve the efficiency of their existing homes. See the list of GBT Verifiers for more information.
- Assured Home Performance (469) 443-3171
- Burgess Construction Consultants (214) 291-3141
- DPIS Engineering (281) 351-0048
- EIC - Comfort Home (817) 283-4733
- Energy Inspectors, Inc. (800) 808-1790
- Energy IQ (214) 929-7317
- Fox Energy Specialists (817) 546-0160
- Green Zone Home (212) 467-0005
- Hanson Construction Consulting (972) 877-8027
- Plans by Land (972) 250-2005
- Texas Home Energy Professionals (817) 312-8769
- TexEnergy Solutions (972) 579-2009
- True Home Energy Solutions (972) 575-8320
- Veritas Building Consultants (512) 918-1820
Find Your Green Built Texas Home Today
Welcome to the Green Built Texas Home Registry. This registry is designed to allow consumers to locate homes that are built (or being built) to the program's construction protocols by builders throughout the state. As such, the registry is divided into two categories; Homes Under Construction and Completed Homes.
Disclaimer
The Dallas Builders Association (Dallas BA) makes no representations or warranties about the projects listed in its home registry other than that the third party Green Built Texas Verifier has solely determined that the project has been built (or is being built) to the Green Built Texas (GBT) Construction Protocol. The Dallas BA and its employees do not verify the project's compliance or non-compliance with the GBT Protocol and therefore do not determine the project's eligibility for listing on this registry nor can they guarantee the accuracy of the information provided herein. Consumers should contact the individual builder to discuss specific features included in these homes.
Green Built Texas Considering Energy Usage Guarantee: Info Session August 22
The Dallas BA’s Green Built Texas program is considering the addition of a new dynamic to its program: a residential energy use guarantee. Unlike the guarantees offered by other programs, the proposed Green Built Texas guarantee, underwritten by Bonded Builders Warranty Group, would cover the home’s entire energy usage not just HVAC-related consumption.
Bonded Builders’ guarantee, which is based on the HERS Index, reimburses homeowners for energy costs when energy usage exceeds 115 percent of the annual estimate generated by the HERS Index. Independent market research indicates that an energy use guarantee would increase 70 percent of consumer's interest in purchasing a new, energy efficient home. Additionally, over 85 percent of new homeowner prospects were concerned about energy costs and their monthly bill.
Green Built Texas would be among the first programs of its kind to adopt the Bonded Builders Guarantee, which was introduced to the public earlier this year. Green Built Texas is an initiative started by the Dallas Builders Association in 2005 that has since registered more than 7,000 homes across the state in all price points.
More information about the proposed energy guarantee program will be provided at a seminar on Thursday, Aug. 22, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The seminar will be held at the Dallas BA office and is free to all members interested in attending.
