ENERGY + BUILDING SCIENCE CONSULTING

 

Why do design architects also consult?

We love to design buildings. That is why we came to this business. The reality, however, is that not everyone needs or wants their whole building designed or that they may be further along in their planning process before they’ve found us.

What we’ve come to love as a “close second” is to be involved on projects that move the needle, dig deeper, impact a larger group of people or those in greater need, make more substantive energy demand reductions, or find ways to tread lighter on Mother Earth.

The reality is that a substantial number of projects come to us that fall into the second category, particularly now that building energy, indoor environmental quality, grid independence, and durable buildings are closer to the mainstream and land in the “need-to-haves” column rather than the “nice-to-haves” column.

Types of consulting projects

Of the types of energy and building science consulting projects that come to us, they fall within three main categories:

• ‘I have an existing, energy hog of a house but I can’t be purist about it, can you help?’
• ‘I’ve started down the path of a new ground-up home project, but my team is not experienced in high-performance building, can you guide us?’
• I want to get my project certified, can you be a CPHC on our development project?’

The answer is “Yes.” to all of these scenarios. We provide whole-project and as-needed Hourly consultation to both homeowners, other architects, and other building professionals. The projects can be as simple as spending a couple of hours helping a client evaluate a potential home site or a house for sale; or they can be more complicated, involving consulting throughout the course of construction. The following may jive more specifically with how you are tracking on your project.

Professional collaborations for Passive House and DOE Zero Ready Home Certification

We have had a number of successful collaborations with architects and engineers who have needed help in taking a project to Passive House or DOE ZERH certification. These projects include Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) multifamily housing projects, single family houses, the first Living Building Challenge house in the region Old Hopkins Road Passive House), and the retrofitting of a DC Landmark building.   In each case, our services have been customized to fit with individual client needs. In some cases this involves complete building envelope and HVAC documentation; in others it can be limited to reviewing of a colleague’s general strategy and mark-up of construction details. A reference list of professionals with whom we have worked is available upon request.

Stay or Go?

Often a client will come to us not knowing whether it makes sense to stay in their present house and renovate it, or simply move on and find another house. These are complex choices, involving more than simply architectural issues. While we cannot help much with the emotional and real estate aspects of the equation, we can help quantify and rationalize the architectural issues. We begin by looking at the things about the present house that are frustrating the client and coming up with very diagrammatic architectural solutions, each with an estimate of probable cost. This allows the client to look at the spectrum of what they can get for what costs. We recommend that at the same time we are studying the present home, the client also work with a realtor to evaluate what they can get on the market for the same dollars. With this two-pronged approach the answers usually come into focus fairly quickly. In some cases the client decides to sell and our work is done; in others they decide to renovate, in which case we simply continue the design process that we have begun.

Energy Improvements

We also consult with homeowners who want to make energy upgrades but aren’t certain of what to do and how to prioritize. Our work can be simply a few hours of time meeting with the client and connecting them with good subcontractors. Or if the project is more involved and requires a general contractor and building permit, we will provide drawings and specifications as required.