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October 2004
Every home at Summerset at Frick Park meets performance standards.
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Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell recently awarded a $5 million grant to Summerset at Frick Park, an energy-efficient housing development whose builders participate in the Building America Program. This substantial grant from the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program indicates growing support for high-quality residential communities and highlights the success of builders who bring energy efficiency to focus in new construction.
New home sales in the community have been strong and steady. During the first construction phase, 58 homes were sold. Customer satisfaction is high and utility bills are low. The first and only resale occurred recently. The home was originally bought for $306,000 was sold for $476,000, a 56% increase in a 22-month period. The second construction phase is underway, and 36 of 58 available lots have been reserved. All cottage-style, 2-3 bedroom homes (1400-2000 ft2) have been sold.
The quality of the homes was planned early in the development stages. The development team and IBACOS, a Building America partner, devised a set of Home Performance Standards, and agreed that all homes must adhere to them. Construction teams participated in a series of training sessions held by IBACOS, who later performed tests on the homes to confirm that systems performed to expectations.
"With the Home Performance Standards, we've taken typical building practices to the next step. Then we've also added training and testing," said Sally Pfaff, project manager for Summerset Land Development Associates.
Homeowners benefit from the increased quality, efficiency, safety, and comfort that the Home Performance Standards ensure. Builders who participated in the project benefited by learning techniques for building high-performance homes, and from increased sales that result from customer satisfaction.
The Home Performance Standards for Summerset at Frick Park for a single-family home follow:
- The site and buildings are designed to minimize percolation of water through the soil.
- Homes incorporate an integrated gutter, flashing, exterior drainage plane, and a foundation drainage strategy.
- A building airtightness meets 2.5 ACH @ 50 pa pressure difference, as measured by a blower door.
- A vapor barrier on the interior surface of approximately 1 perm allows "drying to the inside."
- A fresh air ventilation system is installed in all homes.
- Homes are designed and wired to facilitate future expansion and use of computer-connected technologies.
- Combustion appliances (except ranges, cook tops, and ovens) do not allow combustion by-products into the home, as they are vented to the outdoors.
- Radon and carbon dioxide premitigation systems do not allow combustion by-products into the home.
The $5 million state grant will be used to develop the next major construction phase of the housing development, primarily to grade the future construction site and build an infrastructure. The community is being built on a reclaimed brownfield, a former slag hill where steel mills once left by-products. Grading will create a soil cap of slag mulch and topsoil that will prepare the development plateau for homes and restore the surrounding park areas.
This high level of community-wide home performance and careful brownfield restoration brings a new level of high-quality, responsible homebuilding to the greater Pittsburgh marketplace. The Summerset development at Frick Park involves three major phases and approximately 700 homes with access to city life and shopping districts, and to local wooded trails and a stream. Homes for the next phase are expected to be available in late 2006.
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