Who Says You Have to Choose Between Quality and Cost?
By Stephanie Miller, Marketing Coordinator
Your Predicament
You’ve decided that you’re ready to purchase a new home. When making such a big investment, it’s important to find the right home builder for you. To determine which home builder is the right fit, home buyers typically look at pricing, the standards and the quality of the home that comes along with it.
With finishing’s such as hardwood flooring, granite countertops and tile all included in most builders standards, it’s time to look deeper inside the home to make sure that you are making the right investment. It’s essential to build a home that not only looks great on the outside, but is built to just as high of a standard on the inside.
The Solution
Celebrating our 35th anniversary this year, the Cedarglen Homes vision is to revolutionize the home building process. Cedarglen Homes has always pursued the balance between living and investment. So it seemed like a natural fit when we introduce our EnerGuide 80 initiative, which offers home buyers the opportunity to invest in efficiency, health, and value within your home. This new standard is available on all standard plans on standard lots purchased in 2016.
What is EnerGuide 80?
EnerGuide is the official label from the Government of Canada for rating the energy consumption and efficiency of varied products, and in this case for labeling the energy consumption of a home. The scale for EnerGuide goes from 0-100 with 0 meaning least efficient and a rating of 100 indicating products are the most energy efficient. Just to give you an idea, the typical new home built to the Alberta Building Code is rated between 66 and 74, depending on the specifications. When rating a home, the EnerGuide program focuses on the home as a system and looks at the energy efficiency and the air tightness of the house. Some of the benefits to having an EnerGuide 80 home is that they are less expensive to operate, more environmentally friendly and overall more comfortable to live in. With the proposed government carbon tax, having a high efficiency home will also help keep your monthly utility costs lower. Here is a list of the standards that we include to ensure that we meet this goal;
- R60 attic insulation provides a higher R-value and minimizes the transfer of heat. Industry standard: R40.
- Triple pane insulating glass provides added performance benefits, especially in extreme climates, as it features additional glass and airspace for improved insulation. Industry standard: double pane.
- R20 Basement exterior wall insulation provides a higher R-value and minimizes the transfer of heat. Industry standard: R12.
- Energy Star rated HRV expels stale indoor air while cool fresh air is drawn into the HRV and warmed by the heated aluminum core before being delivered to the rest of the home.Industry standard: not included.
- Tankless water heater heats water directly without the use of a storage tank. As a result, tankless water heaters deliver a constant supply of hot water. This system uses energy only when there is a demand for hot water. Industry standard: mid-efficiency hot water tank.
- 95% high efficiency furnace. Industry standard: 92% high efficiency furnace.
- 2lb spray foam to rim joists, 1/2lb spray foam around windows and doors, as well as spray foam to all exterior penetrations. Industry standard: batt insulation and poly vapour barrier.
- Wood backing and acoustic seal to potlights and bath fans. Industry standard: not included.
- Airtight electrical boxes with gaskets to exterior walls. Industry standard: metal electrical boxes.
Who says you have to choose between quality and cost? With these measures in place, Cedarglen Homes is confident that they will provide energy proficient homes that meet the EnerGuide rating of 80 with prices starting in the $420,000's! When making such a big investment, make sure that you are getting the quality and value that you expect.
Have a great weekend,
Cedarglen Marketing