TimObrien_web

TIM O’BRIEN HOMES cause we believed it was the future of the industry,” he states. “And we wanted to make it not the exception, not a niche market, but make it the norm; make it the new way of building homes. We wanted to make it affordable and value-based, so the greater market could find bene- fit in the total cost of home ownership - the initial cost to build or buy a home, plus the cost to heat and cool, as well as maintain the home. Pay a little bit more to have a lower and more predictable utility cost, plus greener features and benefits in the home. All of which lead to better indoor air quality and a greater level of comfort and control.” “The other thing we said we were going to do was to have every home that was built to have a third-party green certifica- tion and a third-party energy certification to verify that we have met the criteria from independent organi- zations,” O’Brien adds. “We follow the ‘Green Built Homes’ program, administered by the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, and we also follow the ‘Focus on Energy’ program, which is a non-profit or- ganization working in coordination with utility companies around the state to create awareness of ener- gy efficiency. They have a specific program and we pay them to come in and certify us.” O’Brien is a civil engineer by training, and calls himself “a science and data guy.” As such, he got heavily involved in the ener- gy efficiency side of the building process, searching for the right materials and resources to pro- vide the greatest impact and the greatest level of return for his clients. “We did a lot of R&D to find the best combination of ma- terials,” he says. “We look at the house as a system, rather than as pieces and parts, and focus on air tightness and air quality.” Another focus was adding energy efficient materials that would be able to pay for themselves within the first five years of ownership be- cause of lower utility costs. We decided when we started the organization that we’d be a green and energy-efficient builder because we believed it was the future of the industry. And we wanted to make it not the exception, not a niche market, but make it the norm; make it the new way of build- ing homes. TIM O’BRIEN PRESIDENT