Mandalay Homes
A 10-time winner of the DOE’s award for innovation and an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year two years in a row, Mandalay Homes has a passion for building homes that promote safety, health, comfort, style, reduced energy costs, and less environmental impact. Mandalay Homes is committed to being an industry leader in innovation and thoughtful design while utilizing cutting-edge technology to create high-performance homes.
In this month’s feature, we asked Mandalay Homes Chief Technology Officer Stefan Orenda to share some insight on building HERS® homes for their customers.
Q: What is special about a HERS® Rated home?
A: Stefan: There are various paths to Energy Efficiency and it can be complicated for the uninitiated. A consumer can quickly evaluate the energy performance of a home without necessarily knowing the details.
Q: Why should consumers ask for the HERS® Index Score on homes they are shopping for?
A: Stefan: HERS® is an easy-to-understand and convenient way to help a customer understand home performance.
Q: Why does Mandalay Homes choose to have their homes HERS® Rated?
A: Stefan: It’s a good measure of home for the consumer as well as us. There are a lot of targets to reach for in energy efficiency, HERS® is a good consolidated index to measure against.
Q: Why consumers should expect energy-efficient homes?
A: Stefan: An energy-efficient home is inherently a better home overall. You cannot get to a high level of efficiency without building a tighter, more comfortable, healthier home.
Q: How many homes does Mandalay Homes build with HERS® per year?
A: Stefan: Every home we build is HERS® rated. Currently, we’re building about 250-300 homes a year.
Q: How do you market HERS® Rated homes?
A: Stefan: We’ve found the best way to market energy efficiency is to market benefits. Cost of ownership, health, durability, comfort. In the end those are the things that matter to the buyer.
Q: How do your customers feel about HERS® Rated homes?
A: Stefan: More and more customers are already familiar with HERS. The ones that are not familiar seem to pick it up quickly.
