2024 Recap: RESNET® HERS® Index Builders of the Month

We begin and end the class of 2024 RESNET  HERS Builder of the Month series with builders who want to do the right thing for homeowners by offering them the best homes possible. In between, we feature builders in seven states, some women-owned builders, and builders giving back to their communities, in volume ranging from a few custom homes per year to thousands built across the country.

Start the year with Stonegate Builders in Golden Valley, MN. Stonegate, a custom builder, builds around 80-125 homes a year. Vice President Jake Lee says they work with Arxcis and have homes checked at framing, insulation, and final build stage to ensure “we are doing things the right way for the sake of our homeowners.”

February Builder of the Month JT Custom Builders in Maryland agrees. Building HERS® Rated homes is “non-negotiable item for us. We love building better homes and want to be able to demonstrate the tangible results of our efforts”, says owner Jimmy Tereyla. This includes 2 mortgage-free ADA-accessible homes built for disabled veterans, that were HERS-rated and built to provide years of accessibility, lower utility bills, and comfort to the recipients.

March is International Women’s Month, and we recognized Colorado builder Covington Homes and its CEO Grace Covington. All Covington Homes are tested and certified to meet the requirements of a HERS-rated home, and they have been proud to be an energy-efficient & Energy Smart builder for over a decade. Covington Homes also gives back to the community via initiatives like the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, in which Covington Homes, their Trade Partners and Associates build a home at zero cost to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. One hundred percent of proceeds from ticket sales go directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, helping countless children and their families.

We continue westward to Coval Homes in Washington as the April Builder of the Month. Coval Homes Director of Operations Jason Riipinen, says, “At Coval Homes, we don’t just build houses, we build homes for the future. And in that future, sustainability and efficiency are paramount. That’s why we wholeheartedly embrace HERS ratings on every single one of our homes. It corroborates our efforts to create comfortable, environmentally sound designs, and creates a marketing edge for us as the builder, but the real winner is the environment.”

We travel back eastward for the next two builder profiles, both in the state of Texas, where more HERS-rated homes are built than any state in the country. In May, we talked with Lindsay Reynolds, owner of For the Duration Homes, a custom home builder in Amarillo. For the past 35 years, FTD Homes has helped hundreds of people overcome the complications of building a new home to make their dream home come to life. She tells us, “A HERS score begins to help you understand what the value of your home is beyond just the measure of a cost per square foot. The analogy I always give is that you don’t walk into a dealership and ask, “What is the going rate for a car?” It all depends on which one you want and what features you want. A home is no different, and the HERS score begins to give you the information you need as a consumer to really understand what you are buying.”

In June, we traveled from a custom builder in Amarillo, to the Austin, TX division of Landsea Homes, one of the top 100 builders in the country. In this feature, we asked Chris Warr, Vice President of Purchasing, and Andy Lee, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Landsea Homes’ Austin Division to share some insight on building HERS® homes for their customers in Austin.  Chris tells us that Landsea Homes truly embraces its mission to bring sustainable High-Performance Homes to every buyer. “The HERS rating is just one way that we can publicly demonstrate this commitment to our customers, our industry, and our planet.” Andy, concurs, adding “Landsea Homes customers find great value in our HERS-rated homes, not only at the time of purchase but for years to come. A HERS-rated home means many things to our homebuyers — confidence, affordability, and sustainability.”

Jake Vierzen, founder of R-Value Homes in Michigan, shares the same belief that a HERS rating is a public showing of the sustainability of the home. Jake Vierzen founded R-Value Homes in 2004, after 10 years at a Michigan-based commercial concrete contractor, starting as a laborer, and quickly moving into the position of a poured wall foreman. He tells us in the July RESNET HERS Builder of the Month profile, “Asking for a HERS score is like asking for the JD Power quality report and the EPA mileage estimate when purchasing a new vehicle. We think it is important to know what we are actually purchasing when it comes to a car. How much more does it matter on a home that we intend to maintain for decades, needs to provide shelter and security, ought to promote our health (or at least not harm it), and should be comfortable to live in.”

For the next three months, we profiled builders in Minnesota, a state that tested 7,727 homes in 2023 with an average HERS Index Score was 49.  The builders there understand the market value of building HERS-rated homes, but also the value to the environment.

In August, Carole Griffin, VP at McDonald Construction Partners told us that building HERS-rated homes, “aligns with our company values of doing ‘the right thing’. “We feel building an energy-efficient home is the right thing to do for our customers and our community. A home with a good HERS rating uses less greenhouse gases and consumes less energy and ideally will be less expensive to operate for our customers for many years.”

September’s Custom One Homes Brand and Marketing Manager Maddie Ricci agrees, saying, “For our clients, this [HERS] score represents more than just energy savings—it reflects the healthiness of the living environment, as lower HERS scores often correlate with better air quality and reduced exposure to outdoor pollutants. Asking for the HERS score ensures that consumers are selecting a home that supports their family’s well-being while also being energy efficient and environmentally responsible.”

And Erik Hagstrom of October’s Hagstrom Builder in Burnsville, adds, “Today, achieving energy efficiency is not difficult, and the rewards are substantial. Homeowners can see significant savings and experience a healthier living environment, while also contributing positively to the planet with a minimal increase in effort.”

We ended the year with November’s builder of the month, Renew Design + Build, a North Carolina-based construction and home remodeling company.  We asked owner Jordan Duke to share his insight on building HERS® homes for their customers. He says, “An energy-efficient home clearly helps with monthly expenses, but it also gives a more resilient, and durable and comfortable home. These items all seem like prerequisites to us but unfortunately, the industry does not. If you want durability long term, resiliency in the storm, and comfort during extreme weather, energy efficiency is the way.” He adds, “HERS-rated homes have a more holistic approach to energy efficiency. The performance-based approach ensures all the energy efficiency measures actually work as intended and the homeowner is getting what they paid for. Unlike prescriptive approaches, a HERS rating allows builders and designers flexibility when working with homeowners and ensures the original design intention is possible.”

We thank the 2024 class of RESNET HERS Builders of the Month and look forward to profiling more builders in the coming year. If interested in participating in our series, please contact info@resnet.us