NAHB-IBS 2019 offered key lessons in healthy home design and construction. Are you listening?

by Terry Beaubois

During the 2019 NAHB-International Builders Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, one key discussion addressed the issue of the health of home occupants, and the related residential design and construction. Human health in homes is becoming a major concern globally as more people discover that the source of an illness may be in their home.

This meeting was hosted by Bill Hayward of Hayward SCORE and was co-hosted by Jillian Cooke (Wellness Within Your Walls), Robert August (North Star Synergies), Karla Butterfield (Steven Winter & Associates) and Jaclyn Toole (assistant vice president, NAHB Green & Sustainable).

Included in the discussion was the challenge of introducing improvement into home construction: “Contractors pushing” ideas and improvements into residential design; “homeowners pulling” (requesting or desiring) that homes be designed to address and reduce environmental health issues; the increase of government regulations to require improvements; and the benefits and tradeoff of each.

“Design” is often thought of as only the visible, aesthetic aspects of a home. But a true green home, or a “Healthy Green Home,” means the design and construction includes all systems that will affect occupants’ lives. It also can include understanding how to achieve well-coordinated systems, and the relative costs of how this is to be achieved in construction with value engineering considerations.