Who We Are – The Company
What BUILT GREEN Means to You
What Makes Us Different
A Love of Beauty
What is Built Green?
Why Build Green?
The Benefits of Green Buildings
To Your Health and the Planet's

Who We Are - The Company

Apple Homes is a Limited Liability Company owned and operated by Paul Huff, Marcia Baer and Fiona Douglas-Hamilton. With a combined 38 years of hands-on construction experience, we know the business - what works and what doesn't. And like most contractors, we started out building the old-fashioned way, using standard insulations, standard framing, toxic materials and paints, ignoring the fact that most of the materials we used gobbled or damaged irreplaceable resources. We just went along with the crowd.

But, like a lot of us on this planet, we woke up to the fact that the old ways of doing things just weren't working.

There is a better way to build - a way that gives people a beautiful home that saves money over the years, while saving resources and health at the same time. Today, Apple Homes is committed to the health of its customers and the sustainability of the environment by applying state-of-the-art construction practices. Each of our homes is independently certified Level 4 Built Green, and Apple Homes builds and certifies all its homes under the Federal Energy Star program.

    

As a leader in Extreme Energy Efficient and ecological building practices in the south Puget Sound area of Washington State, Apple Homes is recognized for its commitment, expertise, and innovation in the rapidly expanding field known as Built Green. The company is a member of Olympia Master Builders and active on the steering committee of the Built Green Council.  One of our members currently holds a board position on the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild. We are members of Thurston County Chamber of Commerce and the Yelm Chamber.  We are committed to ongoing research that can serve to educate our customers and our community on the benefits of Built Green.

We bring to our customers experience in land acquisition, sustainable development and in building green, energy efficient custom homes. We offer a full range of services including preliminary design work, engineering, consultation on methods and materials, and construction project management. We value the ability to create alliances and to partner with stakeholders to create win / win solutions. 

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What BUILT GREEN Means to You

Beyond all the philosophy and statistics, it's important to know just what the benefits of buying or building a Built Green home really are. The advantages include:

• Lower Operating Expense: Apple Homes average 500% more energy efficient than current Energy Star rated homes. This Extreme Energy Efficiency will save you money today, and you will be impacted far less by rising energy costs.
• Resource Efficiency:   All our homes are plumbed for greywater recycling and made ready for solar panels. The greywater system (see www.bracsystems.com) can save 35-40% on water consumption. For those on city water this savings makes a difference on water bills. On-demand hot water systems supply endless hot water only when you need it, cutting out the wasteful energy used with tank hot water heaters.
• Health and Comfort: Structural Insulated Panels cut air infiltration by over 300% while our well-designed ventilation, efficient radiant floor heating and wise choice of healthy materials mean your indoor air quality is exceptional.
• Durability and Low Maintenance: By using Structural Insulated Panels with 4 times the shear strength of standard stud framed walls; by creating a tight building envelope; by using 50 year durable siding that bonds paint and caulk with extraordinary strength; by using 50 year roofing materials; and by designing a natural landscape with deep composted soils for moisture retention, our homes last for generations and require very little maintenance.

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What Makes Us Different

Advanced technology and durability.  

   Our goal is to provide highly energy efficient homes and a high level of indoor living comfort.  Our goal is to protect the health of families living in Apple Built homes by using non-toxic materials and maintaining healthy indoor air quality. Our commitment is to provide homes that are very durable; homes that hold their value through generations.  We are intent on building with materials and methods that conserve resources and protect the health and balance of our planet. In keeping with these goals, we promote as standard practice some of the most advanced building technologies available. A few of these include:

• Structural Insulated Panel Construction (SIPs)
• High Efficiency Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating
• High Efficiency Tankless Water Heaters
• Grey Water Recycling System
• At Least Solar Panel Ready or Grid-Tie Solar System Installed
• Whole House Ventilation
• Energy Star Certified Appliances
• Energy Star Certified Lighting
• Energy Star Certified Windows
• Interior Paints With Low or No Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
• Flooring Such as Linoleum (not vinyl) and nylon carpets with Low or no VOC
• Woods Including Wood Floors Certified by The Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Quiet, High Quality Vent Fans
• 50 Year Siding
• 50 Year Roofing
• Natural Organic Landscaping
• Mulch & Compost-Amended Soils
• Construction Site Recyling Programs

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A Love of Beauty

Advanced building technology is vital but it must be combined with Beauty!  All the technical  know-how in the world doesn't make a house warm, vibrant or charming. So at Apple Homes, our attention to aesthetics, design and detail shows. We take care to see that every home is oriented correctly to the land and the natural elements.  We know what a difference it makes to have the correct relationship of one  room to another.  We know how important good proportions are.  We see how spaces can be distinguished by changes in ceiling heights and textures and we like using arches and a sweep in a roof can.  A deep mantel, the soft touch of the right lighting and the impact of a warm, inviting color scheme can transform the ordinary into extraordinary.  These are the little things that make all the difference - the things that make a house a home. When we build a custom home for you, a lot of time is spent with you in the design stages to refine ever aspect of the home to your exact lifestyle and aesthetic preferences.  Depending upon the individual house design, some of our standard features include:

• Wood Floors
• French Doors
• Custom Lighting Fixtures
• Kitchens with Select Cabinetry, Large Pantries, Under Cabinet Lighting and Solid Counters.
• Master Suites with Tiled Baths, Jacuzzi Tubs and Walk-in Closets

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What is Built Green?

The American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) describes 'green' buildings as structures that are designed, constructed, renovated, operated and reused in an environmentally and energy efficient manner. Green buildings exhibit a high level of environmental, economic and engineering performance including:

• Energy efficiency and conservation
• Indoor environmental quality
• Resource and materials efficiency
• Occupant health and productivity
• Transportation efficiency
• Improved environmental quality including air, water, land, limited resources and ecosystems.

In general, green buildings aim to lessen their global impact through energy and resource efficiency, to provide good indoor environmental and air quality, to assure occupant health and productivity, to encourage efficient modes of transportation and to improve the site where they are located.

BUILT GREEN is an environmental building program gaining rapid worldwide acceptance. The National Association of Home Builders (NABA) introduced national guidelines for Green Building last year in response to the many independent Built Green programs developing across the country (see our links page). Built Green homes are proven to be healthier, more efficient, attractive, comfortable, durable, environmentally-friendly – and to save homeowners money over the years. Builders craft these resource-efficient homes to exceed building codes and to provide years of healthful, quality living, while protecting our precious environment. Not surprisingly, Built Green homes are proving to increase in value more rapidly than standard construction houses.

"Built Green" is also a program implemented by Olympia Master Builders. The Built Green Committee hires independent contractors to certify homes at Level 4 and Level 5. This certification process covers design, site work, material choices, energy conservation and education of the workers and consumers.  You can visit this Master Builder site at (see our links page).

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Why Build Green?

The 19th century philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, once said, "What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"

Buildings account for nearly half the global output of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, as well as half the output of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, the agents of acid rain. And their production contributes to environmental problems related to energy production, such as oil spills, nuclear waste, the destruction of rivers by hydroelectric dams, run-off from mining coal, and mercury emissions from burning coal. The statistics are revealing:

• As much as one tenth of the global economy is dedicated to buildings, construction, operating, and equipping homes and offices.<
• Buildings account for one-sixth of the world's fresh water withdrawals, one-quarter of its wood harvest, and two-fifths of its material and energy flows.
• 40% of the materials entering the global economy each year - some 3 billion tons of raw materials - are turned into foundations, walls, pipes and panels.
• One half of all US copper mining production, 530,000 tons, ends up in buildings; 4/5 of this is extracted from low-grade virgin ores using purification and smelting processes that produce huge piles of tailings. 99% of the ore is left behind and the process generates one of the country's largest flows of poisonous chemicals.

Using Built Green practices helps mitigate these problems. In addition, green designers and builders think holistically. They recognize that decisions made in one area often affect decisions made in others, especially when it comes to natural resources. They try to take the whole ecosystem into consideration during product development and think about product sustainability over the long haul. Ideally, green building concepts and methods can be applied over a Green Built structures' entire life cycle.

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The Benefits of Green Buildings

• Decreased utility company plant expansion
• Reduced air emissions including greenhouse gases
• Provides building operational savings
• Lowers US dependency on foreign energy sources
• Improved Indoor Air Quality
• Improved materials and products
• Improved operations and maintenance
• Mitigates pollution and waste generation
• Increased recycling of building materials
• Reduced landfill disposal, waste incineration, and associated pollution.
  

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To Your Health and the Planet’s

Sustainable means being in balance and harmony - with one another and with nature. The construction industry in general does not build homes and commercial structures in a sustainable method. By taking more than nature can replenish, we all walk toward a depleted ending. 

But, there is a better way to build based on thoughtful design, use of sustainably produced materials, and careful selection of efficient products. Our intent at Apple Homes is to create finely crafted, comfortable and practical homes while staying in balance with nature and protecting the health and vitality of our home owners - and the planet.

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