Recent Q&A

• Stretch code

  Martin: If you wanted your town to encourage a "stretch code" or encourage builders to surpass the state IECC, what five things would you ask for? Remember that cities likely…

• Why are there so few women builders in America?

  I wonder why we do not have a much higher percentage of women home builders in our country. I do not lift anything heavier than my phone. I ask women…

• If a Passive House is so cost-effective, why isn’t everyone doing it?

  We build over 1 million homes a year and only a handful are PHPP. Either the cost of fuel is too low or the cost of a Passive house is…

• Hello Martin: I have a question about insulation diminishing returns below. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

  I am working on a proposal to better understand diminishing returns on insulation. Our theory is that too little insulation wastes energy and equally, too much insulation wastes energy. Where…