Stitt Energy’s Best Practices/Projects In Progress
For every home, Stitt offers our very best. That means you receive the best – before, during and after we have helped design &/or build your home. It is standard practice for us to do these things, not the exception. Can you say the same for your builder? If not, contact Stitt Energy Systems today.
Best Practices
Site Selection/Site Management
Location and Management of the Building Site:
There are many variables to think about before you ever turn a spade of dirt for your new home. The very first one is: where will your new home be located?
Different climates will influence the design and orientation of your home. If your home will be in the northern part of the country, you should maximize the heating efficiency of the structure. If your home is in the far south, you should maximize the cooling efficiency of the home. Many homes utilize both heating and cooling systems and so are in “mixed climate” areas. Most of our homes are designed for and built in such mixed climate areas.
The actual site of the home often controls many decisions you will make. Is the lot an infill lot with nearby neighbors or covenants to consider? If so, be sure you are aware of any property owner association requirements before you begin the design and planning process. Is the site rural with multiple possible locations? If this is the case, then you have much more flexibility in siting your new home.
Stitt Energy’s Pre-Design Site Visit:
Before we begin designing your home, we visit the site with you to see how the property lays, where the trees are, what the natural drainage patterns are. Working with the natural features of the property will ultimately be less expensive than working against them. Other factors to consider when designing the home include privacy considerations, the views from inside the home, location of existing utilities or the need to drill a well, install a septic system or bring utilities from a distance. The latitude and elevation of the site will help define any microclimates and the seasonal sun angles.
During the design process, all these factors are considered when creating the floor plan that works best for you and your family and sits well on the site.
Stitt Energy’s Construction Prep:
After the house plan is approved and working drawings are complete, Stitt Energy personnel again visit the site and “stake the house.” This establishes the footprint of the house and determines where excavation must be done. Every effort is made to disturb the site as little as possible. Any trees that have to be cut are generally cut for future use as firewood or ground for mulch and used as erosion control. When necessary, silt fences are constructed. Wood waste or construction waste is never buried on the site.
Stitt Energy - After Construction:
As the construction of the house draws to a conclusion, we encourage grading of the site to restore natural drainage patterns, to move water away from the new home and to direct water away from neighboring structures. Drought tolerant, indigenous plantings are encouraged to reduce the need for landscape maintenance and irrigation. Often rain water collection barrels are installed.
Best Practices
Finishing/Testing
Stitt Energy Tests Your Home:
At different states of construction, your home will be tested to confirm the energy efficient features we specified have been installed properly. At the end of the construction process, an independent, third-party, certified home energy rater visits the home and conducts both visual and mechanical inspections to establish the performance of the home.
Stitt Energy Exceeds Standards:
Every home we design and build qualifies as an Energy Star home and most achieve a rating that is significantly better than Energy Star standards.
Stitt Energy is Available for You:
Throughout the design and building process, we get to know you and you get to know us. That friendship doesn’t go away when your home is completed. We remain available to advise you how to operate various systems, to assist with warranty work and more.
Best Practices
Design
Designing a Home:
Creating a floor plan that works well for you, your family and your site is not an easy task. Very few people walk into their first design meeting and say, “This is exactly the house I want you to build for me.” Instead, the phrase more often said is, “I’ve looked at hundreds of plans and cannot find the one that is exactly what I want.” Many design firms or design/build firms offer custom design services. Few offer the level of personal service Stitt Energy Systems offers.
Stitt Energy’s Design Brainstorm Meeting:
This meeting is always an “in person” meeting and time is spent getting to know you so we can design the best floor plan for you. The Stitt Energy Design Team encourages your ideas, thoughts, wishes and dreams. The clippings and pictures you may have saved and “Wish Lists” are discussed in detail with lots of questions, answers and talk about options and possibilities. In this meeting, no idea is a “bad” one. Often, one idea leads to another and another and then to a practical way to combine them. When opinions differ between family members, it is important to hear all ideas so a constructive compromise can be found.
At this very first meeting, we discuss the different structural and material options and how they will help you achieve a very energy efficient home. This aspect of the design is not an afterthought but rather an integral of our approach to giving you the home of your dreams.
The Design Team then takes your ideas, clippings and the very important information taken from the pre-design site visit to the drawing board. Drawings are created taking into consideration everything that was said at the brainstorm meeting and all the energy and green features that are our trademark.
Stitt Energy’s Preliminary Drawings:
At the second meeting, the Design Team presents the preliminary drawings, or first draft, of the floor plan. Now, those brainstorm ideas take on a more concrete form with everyone looking at the same floor plan. Typically, new thoughts and ideas surface and creative solutions to questions are found. Budget considerations are generally discussed at this meeting and often options to expand or contract the plan are considered. This meeting is also an “in person” meeting because we feel the “give and take” between the designers and the clients is very important to the ultimate success of the planning process. Clients usually take home the plans and “live with them” for several days. Questions, ideas and changes to the plan can be discussed via email or phone.
Sometimes a second or third meeting is required before the floor plan is finalized. It is much easier to make changes on paper than to a structure, so we encourage careful thought about what the house will look like and how it will function.
Stitt Energy’s Working Drawings:
Once the plans are finalized, working drawings (the set of plans and documents required to actually build the house) are started. Load bearing calculations, hangar capacities, R-Values, U-Values, depth of excavation, seasonal angles—all the “rocket science” that makes your house structurally sound and secure and efficient—are considered. Permit sets, bid sets, banker sets, sub-contractor sets and more are created for their special uses. This is an important part of the design process because, without accurate and very detailed drawings, the house will not be built correctly. We don’t cut corners on this part of the process!
Best Practices
Construction
Construction Site Management:
When the plans are finalized and working drawings are in process, the Field Services Team begins the planning and coordination of the various aspects of building your home.
Stitt Energy’s Field Services and Design Teams:
Even when the Field Services Team takes over the primary responsibility for building your home, the Design Team stays involved and sometimes helps work out questions about why something was designed the way it was.
Stitt Energy’s Project Manager:
The Project Manager responsible for your home spends approximately a half day with the contractor reviewing plans, materials, specifications and methods. Establishing this rapport and understanding early in the construction process is important to creating superior satisfaction with your home.
Stitt Energy’s Continuing Construction Support:
Throughout the construction, all members of the Stitt Energy Team are available to support you and the construction crew.
