Green building means improving the way that homes and homebuilding sites use energy, water, and materials to reduce impacts on human health and the environment. This means that as a builder we should make environmentally friendly and sustainable decisions whenever we can throughout the building process. This will lessen the environmental impact of the home during construction and throughout the life of the home. Dienst Custom Homes has been building to these standards for a long time, and we feel that it is just the right way to build a home.


We build very energy efficient homes which in and of itself means that we are building green. That is because the energy used in our homes often comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants which leads to smog, acid rain, and global warming. Therefore, the less energy we can use in our homes the better because our homes will produce less air pollution and fewer greenhouse gases.


Site orientation of a home is very important in green building as well. If the lot allows, it is optimal to get a house oriented to a North- South exposure. This will immediately lower the future operating costs of a home by creating a passive solar design to the home where the home will get good natural lighting without a lot of radiant heat transfer.


According to certified green professional, Kevin Holdridge, “The biggest benefit to green building is to lower our operating costs of the home. This is what we are striving for because no matter what materials we use to build with or the amount of recycling we do during construction, these will pale in comparison to the energy consumption of the home over its lifetime.”


The amount of “green” products available in the marketplace is astounding. The sky is really the limit with solar panels, radiant heat, Energy Star rated appliances, light fixtures, and windows, rain barrels for water collection, smart flush toilets, porous concrete, recycled countertops made from glass and cardboard pulp, as well as sustainable products like bamboo flooring instead of hardwood flooring. The list goes on and on, but the above are all options that you can choose from (and feel good about!) in the custom building process.