Passive House NorthwestAIA CEU Provider

Passive House Case Studies: Roy Passivhaus, Owl

Haven Passive, and View Haus 5

AIA Course # phnw087

Various March 27, 2015

Credit(s) earned on completion of

this course will be reported to AIA

CES for AIA members.

Certificates of Completion for both

AIA members and non-AIA

members are available upon

request.

This course is registered with AIA

CES for continuing professional

education. As such, it does not

include content that may be

deemed or construed to be an

approval or endorsement by the

AIA of any material of construction

or any method or manner of

handling, using, distributing, or

dealing in any material or product._______________________________________

____

Questions related to specific materials, methods,

and services will be addressed at the conclusion

of this presentation.

This presentation is protected by US and International Copyright laws.

Reproduction, distribution, display and use of the presentation without written

permission of the speaker is prohibited.

© George Ostrow et al

Copyright Materials

A comprehensive look into three projects utilizing

green building science in the Pacific Northwest.

Two single family residences and one town

home project, each demonstrating distinctive

high performance, Passive House standards.

Course

Description

Learning

Objectives

1. Participants will be able to summarize energy efficiency, ventilation, design, and

construction criteria for the Passive house standard;

2. Participants will be able to identify technical challenges of applying passive house

design principles to both single-family residential and multi-family housing;

3. Participants will be able to identify key cost premiums and constructability

challenges;

4. Attendees will be able to apply lessons learned to reduce future costs and

barriers to adoption for this aggressive energy efficiency standard.

At the end of the this course, participants will be able to:

Overcoming Constraints

N

S

E

W

Wall Assembly

R-39 Wall

• 5.5” Blown-in Fiberglass

• WRB• Prosoco Window

Wrap• 4” Roxul Rockboard• ¾” Batten Rainscreen

Windows and Doors

Pros

• Performance

• Cost

Cons

• Buyer Understanding of energy savings

• Window Operation

• Delivery Time

Nuts and Bolts

• Zehnder HRV

• Mitsubishi Minisplits

• Navien Tankless hot water with on-demand recirc loop

The Design

Spec Projects

How do they work?• Buy dirt from “dirt guy”

• Fast cookie cutter design

• Simple design, easy to build

• Build it cheap

• Cut corners, code minimum

• Nice (but cheap!) finishes

• Listing agent is the dirt guy

• Margin=Value Created and Captured - Cost of Creating that Value

Spec houses, copy paste

PH Spec Projects

How do they work?

• Buy dirt from “dirt guy”

• Don’t tell the lender it’s a PH

• Complex design

• Design iterations: CPHC, Structural Eng, Arch=$$

• Build complexity & cost $$

• More supervision $$

• Nice (but cheap!) finishes

• Listing agent is the dirt guy

• Margin = Value Created and Captured - Cost of Creating that Value

Zola, Roxul, barnwood

Marketing Considerations

• PH costs more and is “better”

• Need to charge more to capture value

• How to reach buyers?

• If they walk in, they won’t notice

• How to engage during open houses?

• How to engage outside of open houses?

• PR, press, outreach, exposure, messaging

• Agent training – builder led training on PH

• Extra effort, time, costs associated with the above

• Extra hassle given the opportunity cost to buyers agents to just go sell other “standard” inventory, easier to understand

Marketing Results

• Signage

• Strong presence at open houses

• Builder and staff attended nearly every open house

• PR, press, outreach, exposure

• Agent training – builder led training was provided to about 25 agents, some of whom brought us buyers

• 3 (of 5) units sold

• PH premium captured, for the most part

• Slower absorption than typical product

• Buyer inspectors had challenges with exterior Roxul

• Appraisers had no issues with value

Market Observations

Active Buyers

Open to PH ConceptHeard

of PH

• Spoken to 100+ buyers last 60 days

• Some 20 -ish percent genuinely appreciate the Passive House concept and grasp the basics

• PH Buyer Pool greatly reduced to intersection between Active Buyers and those who value PH

• Value of PH is possible (not easy) to articulate

• It is possible to charge a PH premium

However:

• Most buyers have never heard of it

• Nor has their agent

• Uphill battle to get them to see it and pay for it

Comparison

The Bad News• I can’t give you conclusive answers

• Not possible to make accurate comparisons, or draw valid conclusions

• This is only a 5 unit development, “N” is too small and all units were different, not cookie cutter: size ranges, some views, some not, some no parking

• This project is totally unique, at a unique location at one unique point in time

• There is no valid way to generalize from this result back to other projects

• Hard to quantify PH Cost Premium or PH sale premium

The Good News• I think it costs about 5-7% more than BG4* (for us, results may vary)

• AND I think it yields about a 5-10% sale premium

Realtors

• Specifically Buyers agents

• Many are good but…

• I have observed on occasion: the Need to instill confidence in buyer

• “Know” the answer to things, and may even lie to hide ignorance

• Gain buyer confidence by bad-mouthing things about a property

Induction example

Conclusions

Challenges

• Market does not know what Passive House is

• Most buyers barely know anything about houses

• Agents don’t know enough

• PH costs more to build –5%?

• PH costs more to certify

• Longer build duration

• Slower market absorption

Positives

• Builders can build it, not too complex

• Some buyers value PH

• Some agents “get” PH

• Can capture PH premium

Opportunities

Opportunities

• Educate on PH quality up and down the value chain, buyers, agents

• Municipal incentives? FAR bonus > BG4*

• Start pre-sales early to expand market exposure for niche buyer pool

• Or just figure out how to do PH for zero cost add

Overall:

• Lower the cost to produce PH, increase the marketing, PH brand awareness, more FAR bonus for PH, keep upping energy codes

www.CascadeBuilt.com

sloan@cascadebuilt.com

206-354-3455

This concludes The American Institute of Architects Continuing Education Systems Course

Passive House Northwest education@phnw.org