Beyond Green
By Mike Arnett, 2008 HBA President

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Mike Arnett’s Latest Home Project Shifts Sustainable Construction into High Performance Gear

There’s no question that everyone’s going green. From the foods we eat to the cars we drive to the sheets on our beds, the American embrace of sustainable products has graduated to a big bear hug.

In the home building business, it seems every builder is racing to understand green-building techniques, learning what certifications are cost effective and planning on how to distribute this information to their employees. Mike Arnett, President of Lifestyle Homes, already has incorporated green-building concepts and kicked them into overdrive.

“Being environmentally responsible is just a start,” Arnett said. “I’m taking sustainable-building practices and improving them with a series of key craftsmanship principles, infusing them with the latest building science to improve the home’s performance. I believe my clients will have the healthiest, most comfortable and durable homes available anywhere on the market.”

Arnett’s vision is the home of the future. Armed with new construction ideas that could redefine what homeowners expect in a home, he’s turning that vision into reality in Portland this spring.

A Veteran Builder With a New System

Arnett is a Portland native and second-generation construction professional in the metro area. Though his building career has been steadily growing since 1991, Lifestyle Homes didn’t really begin until after Arnett had earned his journalism degree from the University of Oregon in 1986. He then spent the next five years in sales promotion and advertising with a Chicago agency. His writing and client relationship skills were cultivated there, working with Fortune 500 clients and, ultimately, those experiences helped shape how Arnett approaches home building.

“I approach building homes with diligence, an eye on the details and a conviction that my finished product must reflect my clients’ lifestyles,” he said. “Client demands and expectations are hard to manage, so honing those communication skills in Chicago played a large role in how I communicate with my customers.”

Bill and Jennifer King, former Lifestyle Homes’ clients, agree. “Mike’s management of the building process, his professionalism, made the difference during our custom-home building project,” says Jennifer. “We couldn’t have managed those variables and made the decisions we needed to without him.”

The satisfaction of that one-on-one approach and helping a client negotiate a complicated process is what Arnett enjoys the most. Consequently, Arnett chose to remain a smaller, custom builder, dedicated to keeping himself intimately involved with each project.

Lifestyle Homes’ motto is, “Crafted for the Way You Live,” which reflects Arnett’s ability to build homes in a broad range of sizes, prices and locations. With an emphasis on the “crafting” component of the motto, Arnett explains, “I don’t mass produce. I invest in the time and talents of highly skilled people, craftsmen who care about their work, and I personally oversee every job and communicate with the customer myself. Success follows when our work produces a superior product and our clients believe in that effort.”

In 2008, Arnett will not only be busy in the field managing high-performance construction, he’ll be motivating high performance in the boardroom, as well. Elected as 2008 President of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, Arnett is heading the association’s efforts to be the leading voice in the home building industry. From improved builder education to fundraising for residential charities, Arnett is working to help his colleagues and other HBA members find ways to build their businesses and develop a strong professional community.

Arnett uses his business model as his leadership platform, and he keeps his business model simple. Whether it’s a presold, custom home built for his client, a feature home built for the market in general or an intensive remodel, his goal stems from keeping one eye trained on the horizon.
“I believe the key to success in any industry is not about knowing what’s happening now,” he said. “It’s about preparing for what’s happening
next, and planning accordingly. Our shift from green building to high-performance construction is a great example of that.”

A Whole New Shade of Green

Arnett’s partner for his latest home building project is industry leader Parr Lumber, who recently incorporated high-performance construction as its corporate model.

“Ultimately, we are working with builders to help them position themselves for the next housing boom,” said Parr Sales Director Nate Bond. “Our focus with high-performance is a marriage of straight-ahead building science and top-quality craftsmanship.”

Bond said the company’s team of building experts carefully reviewed a laundry list of things that have traditionally been problematic in home construction, most of which fall under the major headings of energy efficiency, indoor air quality and moisture control.

To address indoor air quality, for example, designers started by creating a totally sealed garage.

“Most people keep dangerous chemicals in their garages,” Bond said. “The air returns draw from that space, where many homeowners keep gasoline, fertilizer and all kinds of materials. The result is substantially diminished indoor air quality — everything from benzene to carbon monoxide, and this is known to cause chronic disease problems.

“The high-performance system draws air from the outdoors, and the garage is sealed from the house completely. This is a huge step toward creating the healthiest indoor air quality of any home in the city.”

Arnett says the proof will be found in homeowners’ operating and maintenance costs. While air returns in traditional garages reduce air quality inside the home, air leakages from various sources around the average home are responsible for one-third of most homeowners’ utility bills.

By concentrating his building practices on tightening and strengthening
the building envelope, heated and cooled air quality is managed more efficiently. It’s a difference homeowners notice when they’re in the home, and it’s definitely noticeable on their energy bills as well.

For Arnett, there are two keys to crafting homes with this high-level, built-in performance: using the Energy Star New Homes certification program and turning to panelized construction. Energy Star-qualified homes are at least 15% more efficient than typical new homes in Oregon, and by using advanced framing techniques in a climate-controlled environment, Arnett is confident he can achieve higher efficiencies, improved quality control and consistency. The walls of the home are prebuilt at Parr’s Redmond plant to minimize warping and shrinkage and nearly eliminate potential for mold issues frequently associated with wood that sits exposed on site, particularly during the wet season.

Arnett’s high-performance homes will be built on full concrete slabs instead of perimeters with dirt in the center, to improve moisture control and thermal efficiency, as well as adding storage space.

Bond noted the entire house will be sealed from air, a huge factor in thermal efficiency. Planners looked at every detail used to create a sealed environment that is thermally efficient and high on air quality,
down to installing special sealed boots in the walls where pipes come through.

From wall panels and open-web floor trusses, to high heeled roof trusses and special nailing inspections, high-performance homes deliver with fewer bowed walls, less sheetrock repair and better insulation. Best of all, the homeowner saves money every month on utility bills and maintenance expenses.

Arnett believes going green should offer more of a payoff to his customers than just a sense of being environmentally conscious.

“Building homes to the high-performance standard does cost a little more,” he admitted. “But they last longer, live better and save their homeowners money on energy every month.”

“The high-performance houses are environmentally cleaner inside, environmentally friendly outside and they get built faster than traditional construction,” added Parr’s Bond. “As a company, we feel it’s up to us to lead the way on this industry renovation, and we look forward to working with partners like Mike Arnett and Lifestyle Homes to pave the way.”

Getting Attention

Parr and Arnett have paired up to demonstrate the high-performance concept with a house that will be part of this year’s Ultimate Open House, produced by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland.
Now in its second year, the Northwest’s largest scattered site show is slated to include nearly 100 homes around the Portland Metro area, showcasing a variety of styles, price ranges and amenities.

“For home buyers, the Ultimate Open House is a great way to see a variety of homes in different price ranges and neighborhoods, over the course of two weekends,” said HBA Shows Manager Ryan Wagner. “For builders, this home show is a serious business tool. It’s a home tour event supported by a $500,000, integrated marketing campaign as well as a listings website and a guidebook to new homes in Portland.

“The Ultimate Open House provides consumers access to product, raises awareness among potential customers and is a proven way for builders to get attention and increase sales.”

This year’s Ultimate Open House runs April 18-20 and 25-27. The Arnett/Parr home will be a “hub” home in the show, one of several homes selected to showcase specific building styles. The hub homes will be places where tour participants can come for guidebooks and other show information, as well as enter promotional contests to win prizes throughout the show.

More than half of the builders who participated in last year’s show reported more than 100 people toured through their homes. A third of the participants sold a home as a result of the show.

Arnett said the timing of the Ultimate Open House, right at the start of the home buying season, makes it the perfect tool for introducing his construction model to the public.

“I’m excited to see the public’s response,” he said. “It’s a great example of what high-performance construction looks like when it meets great architecture. The Portland market is probably the best place in the country to introduce this new building style, because I think Portland home buyers understand this vision. It’s about top quality. It’s about sustainability. It’s about minimizing building waste and maximizing energy use. This is ‘what’s next’ in home building.”

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