Media

Green Building Magazine

See Tour of Green Homes article on Earl Williams & Associates from May 2009.

Earl Williams & Associates featured in La Mode

See La Mode Dallas Magazine May/June 2009 Edition.

Webcast – Green Remodel

Carter Osterhouse from HGTV broadcasts from the National Green Builders Home Tour hosted in the home that Earl Williams and Associated remodeled this May.

CGP Designation

Dallas, Texas – Earl Williams of Earl Williams & Associates recently became one of the select group of professional builders, remodelers, and other industry professionals nationwide who have earned the Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation, identifying him as someone with knowledge of the best strategies for incorporating green building principles into homes.

The CGP program is administered by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) University of Housing and locally sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas. In three days of course work, the CGP curriculum incorporates a variety of information tailored to green building and business practices. The CGP curriculum incorporates training by leading building industry practitioners and academics on a range of topics, including strategies for incorporating green building principles into homes using cost-effective methods of construction, and how green homes provide buyers with lower maintenance and good indoor air quality. Techniques are also discussed for competitively differentiating your home products with increased indoor environmental quality as well as energy and resource efficiency.

CGP program graduates are required to maintain their designation by completing 12 hours of continuing education every 3 years a portion of which pertain to green building activities.

CAPS Designation

Earl Williams, of Earl Williams & Associates recently became one of the select group of professionals nationwide to earn the Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation, identifying him as one of the building industry’s top professionals with skills and knowledge specific to home modifications for aging-in-place.

The Remodelers™ Council of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in collaboration with the NAHB Research Center, NAHB Seniors Housing Council and the AARP created the CAPS program. The CAPS designation program teaches the technical, business management and customer service skills essential to compete in the fastest growing segment of the residential remodeling Industry – home modifications for the aging-in-place.

CAPS was developed to help home remodeling professionals meet the needs of the 77 million Baby Boomers that will reach retirement age in the first years of the 21st century. The CAPS designation identifies remodelers that have been trained to help retirees and older adults remain in their homes safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of income or ability level, and continue to live in a familiar environment throughout their maturing years.

In three days of coursework, the CAPS curriculum incorporates a variety of information tailored to aging-in-place home modifications, including: background on the older adult population; communication techniques; common aging-in-place remodeling projects; marketing to the aging-in-place market; common barriers and solutions; codes and standards; product ideas and resources; and business management.

CAPS program graduates are required to maintain their designation by attending continuing education programs and/or participating in community service projects. CAPS classes are offered through local and state home building associations and at national trade shows including NAHB’s International Builder’s Show and the Remodelers’ Show.

Colleyville Chamber Member of the Month

In December 2008 Earl Williams, at Earl Williams & Associates was selected member of the month by the Colleyville Area Chamber of Commerce. In appreciation for his work with the chamber and support through networking of with other chamber members, he was awarded this honor at the monthly luncheon.

National Association of Home Builders Tour

Earl Williams is showing off a recently completed whole-house remodel at the 2009 Tour of Green Homes – a project that’s very much in tune with the active Texas family who have settled into the home, but also full of ideas, both inspiring and practical, for other remodelers who want to go green.

It started when he got a referral from a real estate agent who was working with a couple moving into the Dallas area and seeking a home with modern amenities – but in an established neighborhood. “Most new homes are further out in the suburbs, and he really didn’t want to go there,” Williams said. “He wanted the sidewalks, he wanted the trees.”

The house he chose was in an area of town that fit the bill, but the 17-year-old house itself was in need of more than a little updating. The house had to accommodate a boisterous family with a casual lifestyle – and it also needed to include features that would enable a quick resale in just a few years: Employed by a company that tends to move its executives frequently, the clients knew they wouldn’t be able to stay long. That’s when Williams talked to them about a plan.

“I gave them some ideas and told them about my green strategies. I told them that green is going to continue to grow and that green would be a tremendous boon for them when they resell,” Williams said. “They told me, ‘We want green for green – a payback on our investment’.” That also meant a very tight budget and a move-in date of only two months later.

Williams accepted the challenge and went to work. “We needed to focus on every system in that house,” and inventoried the heating and air conditioning system, with special emphasis on the duct work, the plumbing — with an eye toward water efficiency, and the home’s energy use, particularly with the plug load. He made significant improvements to all of it. “The only things I did not change were the windows and the interior walls,” which stayed right where they were. The rest was fair game.

First stop: the HVAC. The air conditioning runs a lot in most Dallas homes, and in too many of them, it doesn’t run very well. “I think that a lot of people, in homes built 15 years ago, just didn’t size the unit correctly,” he said. If you wanted to have nice cool house in the summertime, the reasoning went, you should just install a bigger compressor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

The air conditioning in his client’s home ran constantly and it didn’t seem to make any difference. He wanted us to put in a third unit so he didn’t sweat,” he said. But it wasn’t the size of the unit, it was the ductwork. We had a number of duct issues and the air returns were very sloppy and inefficient. If you put air into a room you need to take air out of the room. We put returns every place we put a duct and we divided the downstairs into three separate [HVAC] zones,” with the kitchen on the east side, the living areas in the middle and the bedrooms in the west. “Each one is set independently during the course of the day – there is no point in heating or cooling areas that aren’t being used at night and vice versa all through the day,” Williams said.

In addition to making the HVAC system more efficient, it also improved the indoor environmental quality of the house. “The homeowner loves it. There are no strange smells and no stale smells” from a poorly ventilated home, he said.

Next stop: the kitchen. The original countertops were granite, which remain a popular choice in many high-end kitchen remodels, but not appropriate for these particular clients, Williams said. He took it out.

“The countertops need to match the lifestyle of the people that are using it. This is a very active family with a teenage daughter and middle-school son, constantly in and out, making their own sandwiches and snacks, friends always around – and granite is not quite bullet proof for a family like that,” he said.

Instead, Williams recommended engineered stone, because it’s “more forgiving, easier to maintain and repair, and it’s quite elegant.” The owners chose a recycled quartz countertop from the DuPont Zodiaq line for the kitchen and also for the bathrooms.

The kitchen appliances were replaced with new, more efficient models that carry Energy Star® certification, and the light fixtures – both in the kitchen and throughout the house — were refitted with compact fluorescent bulbs.

Water efficiency is integral to green building practices, and especially important to these homeowners, who had lived with water restrictions in San Antonio, their previous home. Williams replaced the faucets with low-flow fixtures, switched out the toilets with dual-flush models, and the traditional water heater with tankless styles.

Williams also made a point of including safety features in the bathrooms, something he pays closer attention to as an NAHB Certified Aging-in-Place professional. He spec’d walk-in showers to help prevent slipping and falls when getting in and out, and the toilets are “comfort height. They look good, they look elegant, and they are so much better when you have a bad back,” he said.

The walls were repainted with low or no-VOC paints. New floors were installed: a combination engineered flooring in some rooms, and carpet made with corn-based fibers. He chose Sonora from Mohawk: “a good price point, very doable – a cool product. I love it.” Outside, Williams chose an exterior paint from Sherwin Williams that comes with a 50-year warranty, mindful that green also means sustainability. “That’s another example of green with a payback,” he said.

Finally, Williams made sure that the appliances, materials and fixtures he replaced did not end up in a landfill.

Too much usable material ends up being tossed, rather than reused, he said. “The dumps here in America are like the finest department stories in the rest of the world. If anything can be reinvented, redeployed or recycled – the ‘three R’ approach, we do it. We donate to charities, subcontractors, neighbors, Boy Scouts – we donate to everybody,” he said.

Broken mirrors, old carpet and other unusable materials go to the recycler, as does the packaging for the replacements. And when there are extra screws, bolts or other materials that come on to the jobsite, they go in a special box that Williams keeps for that purpose. As the work continues and his contractors are searching for a piece of hardware, “it’s amazing how you can search through the box and usually get what you need – and then recycle what’s left at the end of the project.”

“We fight to keep as much as possible from going to the landfill,” Williams said. “I really believe in my three Rs.”