By listening to customers, builder created energy-efficiency program
Tribute Communities is a builder/developer that’s making a difference for the industry and Ontario new homebuyers through green initiatives. Just ask Tim Clarke, a software engineering consultant who worked for a company specializing in reducing the water and wastewater demands of residential buildings.When Clarke bought a home in Tribute’s Grandview development in Oshawa, he was interested in upgrade packages that would make the home more energy efficient – not a typical request like hardwood flooring or marble countertops.“He wanted a better than (Ontario Building) Code home,” said Wally Kunz, options manager at Tribute’s decor centre.Little did any of them know at the time that this request would lead to the launch of Tribute’s Innovative Performance Standard, or TIPS.
Wally Kunz, options manager at Tribute Communities’ decor centre in Pickering
ENERGY BILLS DECREASE Meanwhile, with a new home rated 21 per cent better than code, Clarke is already seeing savings in his bills.For perspective, his old house was 2,500 square feet, 1,000 square feet smaller than his new one. In the new home, monthly hydro bills have dropped from $150 to $100 and gas is down from $170 to just over $100. That’s about 37.5 per cent savings in utility costs for a home that’s 40 per cent larger.MacPhee says Clarke’s home is one of more than 30,000 homes across Southern Ontario built by the 2016 Ontario Home Builders’ Association’s Homebuilder of the Year.He adds that the corporate philosophy of Tribute, a proud member of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, is, “Build every house as if you were the one moving into it.”This story is from an article appearing in Better Builder magazine by Toronto-based writer Rob Blackstien.ENBRIDGE Savings By Design To find out more, go to SavingsByDesign.caTRIBUTE To find out more about Tribute Communities developments, go to TributeCommunities.com
