Top custom home in the country offers better quality of life for physically disabled homeowner; lower utility bills, Age-In-Place accessibility, healthier home environment
High Performance Homes, LLC (HPH), a leading Maryland and Pennsylvania builder of custom and production zero energy ready homes, has received the top award as the Grand Housing Innovation Award (HIA) winner “Custom (for Buyer)” category by the U.S. Department of Energy. They are the only builder in the country to have earned this prestigious recognition. This is the first year as a Grand winner and the fourth consecutive year as a Housing Innovation Award winner. Grand Winners were announced at the 2018 Housing Innovation Awards Ceremony on October 16, 2018 in San Diego, California.
Grand Winners represent the top entries from each of the six award categories previously announced by DOE, including: Affordable Homes (Nonprofit), Affordable Homes (For Profit), Multifamily Homes, Production Homes, Custom Homes (For Buyer), and Custom Homes (Spec). Winning builders provide substantial energy savings, total comfort, healthy living, peace-of-mind moisture protection, enhanced quality assurance, and future-ready construction. “Housing Innovation Award Grand Winners are providing better homes, contributing to stronger communities and a more economically and environmentally resilient nation,” said Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The winning submission, “The Rose Acres Project,” located in Westminster Maryland, was a design highly customized for homeowners, Dan and Suzanne Swisher. The home is designed and constructed with greater accessibility to better serve Dan, who became physically disabled after a spinal cord injury when he was 41.
As a Realtor, Dan had heard of the innovative, award-winning homes from High Performance Homes and reached out to the builder with the hope that HPH could meet their numerous goals. High Performance Homes custom designed the Swishers home with a comprehensive approach, combining Zero Energy Ready Home technologies with Aging-in-Place design and custom features that not only improve accessibility for Dan, but provide an overall exceptional home living experience.
HPH Head of Construction, Kiere DeGrandchamp said, “Winning the Grand Innovation Award in the Custom (for Buyer) category is the ultimate validation that we are achieving our mission to build homes that meaningfully improve the quality of life for our customers while paving the way to transform the U.S. housing market with homebuilding design and technologies that better our world,” said DeGrandchamp.
Future code compliant, HPH’s state-of-the-art Zero Energy Ready technology package includes an extremely tight building envelope built with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), geothermal heating and cooling, and solar panels so that the Swisher’s have little to no utility bill. As they enter retirement and are restricted to a fixed-income, the energy-savings will help control their cost-of-living expenses.
With a focus on Dan’s good health, a comprehensive air cleaning system minimizes dangerous pollutants and provides continuous fresh filtered air that results in the elimination of 99.7% of harmful airborne contaminants. The Swishers also enjoy smart home features for remote control of HVAC, lighting, thermostats, and security from any smart device.
About High Performance Homes, LLC
2018 Grand Housing Innovation Award Winner (U.S. Department of Energy)
(2015-2018) Housing Innovation Award Winner (U.S. Department of Energy)
Lots are available for home builds in Pennsylvania at their flagship The Links at Gettysburg golf course and resort community. Custom and semi-custom homes are available throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland in virtually any architectural style. To schedule a tour of the model, call 717-359-4663, or to learn more about Zero Energy Ready Home technologies, watch the technology tour.
