What Builders Should Know About the NGBS Green Certification Process

Thousands of builders have earned National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Green certification for their properties, with almost 315,000 NGBS certified homes to date and more than 160,000 units currently in the certification pipeline.

Builders who haven't gone through the NGBS Green certification process, however, may wonder what it entails and how can this certification enhance the quality, value and marketing opportunities for your build?

During the latest segment of the Home Performance Counts: Virtual Green Home Tour series, PEG, LLC NGBS Green Verifiers Abideena Dambo and Anh-Tu Lam explained each of the project stages — design, rough and final — and how NGBS Green Verifiers work through the inspection and verification process with builders.

Dambo shared:"There are many misconceptions about building green and sustainable. One of them might be that it's too expensive, another might be that it's too complex, but with proper planning, we can avoid both of these.

"In the design stage, we hold a kickoff meeting with the builder to go through the plans, spec sheets and other documents to determine which level of certification can be achieved, to assist with providing cost-effective design strategies, and to suggest the compliance pathway that works best for the builder. The takeaway is a filled-out design section of the NGBS score card, which establishes the design intent of the builder."

Dambo and Lam illustrated several high-performance strategies through mock rough and final inspection walkthroughs of Tall Oaks, a Stanley Martin Homes infill townhome/condo development located in Reston, Va. The rough stage inspection occurs prior to the installation of drywall, and the final inspection is done when construction is completed.

Strategies shown during the tour include:

• Lot preparation,
• Advanced framing,
• Grade I insulation,
• Energy and water efficient products,
• Building envelope construction,
• Landscaping,
• Universal design features, and more.

The full tour, including a Q&A, is available on nahb.org and YouTube as part of NAHBTV's Virtual Green Home Tours playlist.

Learn more about the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard® certification process and download a free PDF copy of the reference guide on nahb.org.

Home Performance Counts is a joint initiative of NAHB and the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). Upcoming tours focus on healthy home construction at Villa Bilancia in Pebble Beach, Calif., on Nov. 18, and green remodeling in Texas Hill Country.

Register here for the free series.

To stay current on the high-performance residential building sector, with tips on water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and other building science strategies, follow NAHB’s Sustainability and Green Building efforts on Twitter.