What Makes Us Different
Discover Why Our Eco Sustainable Home Designs Stand the Test of Time
In a world of fleeting trends, we craft homes that honor the planet, prioritize your health, and endure for generations—backed by 35+ years of masterful design.
We have worked on and inspected 100’s of modern houses that have failed or been total losses and cost the homeowners thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in costly repairs. They had thought they had bought their dream home because all the finishing touches were up to par with the latest fashions and trends only to find years later their house is a nightmare with endless costly repairs that drain their savings and lose forever their home’s equity.
My job was to determine why an element or elements failed in a house and to design and implement permanent repairs. What I found 99% of the time the failure was a result of an omission of a procedure that would have taken a few minutes more or the addition of a part that would have been a few cents here or a dollar there to have done these things right when the house was built. Mind you these omissions were not done in just one place in the construction, such as in how all the windows and doors were installed but, everywhere, plus whatever other hidden damage to the structure as a result, beneath had to be repaired. I think you can see the cost of tearing out, replacing, repairing, finishing and hauling off the debris easily sums up to tens of thousands of dollars and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars. The sum of these small procedures and additions of materials may have added ten to twenty thousand dollars to the initial cost of the house depending upon the size of the house.
You might like to think that I am referring to small, rare exceptions in modern construction, but I am sad to say it is not. In fact it appears to be the rule rather than the exception. I could write volumes about how the omission of a $1.25 part or the few minutes more to do it right has cost various individual homeowners $25k in repairs. I know these little elements and procedures are not found in standard construction and are not included or specified by other architectural design firms, because they do not know how these small things make all the difference in a house that last decades and those that last a century or more. So, we spell out these procedures and specifications simply and completely in all our comprehensive building plans.
Our competitors by in large have an entirely different objective than us. Their objective is to lead in new fashion and trends and sell them to you. They have to sell you on the things you can see. Our objective is to sell you on our hands-on experience and to convince you that what you cannot see is far more important than what you can see. If you feel obliged to update every 10 years with remodels to meet the latest trends that is just fine with us. We just do not want you to discover ghastly flaws in construction in the process of remodelling that end up being equal or more than your remodelling budget. We know, because this was almost always the case in our experience with bathroom and kitchen remodels on existing houses.
Introduction: Our Philosophy in Action
At Eco Sustainable Home Designs, we’re not just architectural designers, but stewards of the earth and of your family’s future. Founded by Tom, a master designer with hands-on expertise in historical restorations and modern sustainable builds, our approach diverges from the ordinary. While others chase speed and cost-cutting, we prioritize proven, low-impact materials and techniques that deliver unmatched durability, health benefits, and energy savings.
Here’s what sets us apart:
- Low-Impact Innovation: Steel framing and renewable AAC over wood-heavy builds.
- Health-First Living: Zero toxic VOC-Free insulation for cleaner air.
- Generational Design: Plans that adapt, saving costs for decades.
As regards design flaws, the biggest culprits are roofs. Over the past 20 years it seems every builder is trying to outdo the others on how many roof lines, pitches and valleys they can put on one house. I can tell you that the more complex a roof is, it exponentially increases the risk of failure and when I have gone underneath these roofs to discover the root of the problems it becomes obvious that there were no comprehensible plans for the framing crew to build this roof and in the end it was up to their discretion.
Furthermore, these complex roofs are covered with anything but, sustainable roofing. They are almost always covered with asphalt shingle roofs which if you are lucky will last 20 years. Though these asphalt roofs are claimed by their manufacturers to be 25 and 30 year roofs they never last this long mainly because in these roof designs there is no way to ventilate the roof which not only leads to premature wear upon the roof but also increases your cooling costs. Because most of these roofs are steep, 45 degrees and more, it required many toe boards nailed into the roof through the shingles for the installers to be able to stay on the roof during installation. Most of these holes in the shingles never get filled, so you can be having small leaks unnoticed for years that are causing insidious damage to the roof decking and to the rafters.
These faulty roof designs can have insidious problems that do not show themselves for years and by that time the damage is catastrophic. What we have seen most is water has leaked into walls for years and is unseen and all the while it is rotting structure, then comes Black Mold and termites and other insects this damage migrates down to the foundation rotting the ground floor ledgers upon which the entire house sits, furthermore we have found footings that have been undermined and in some cases those footings were not properly reinforced and the foundation sags. You can only imagine what these damages cost homeowners.
Correcting these kinds of roof designs are difficult to nearly impossible and requires tearing the roofing off and reframing the roof eliminating some valleys and roof pitches that fall too close to walls and redoing dormers with permanent materials and windows and proper flashing. We replaced all rafters that have split at the top of the wall plate from being toe nailed with a nail gun which is common practice.
We would go back and tie all rafters to sole plates with metal ties and screws and installing collar ties for long spans with steel plates and screws. We then applied solid wood lath decking for the installation of Architectural Standing Seam Metal Roof Panels which if installed correctly will never be a problem again in your lifetime or of other generations to come. Especially for complex roofs, these measures should have been spelled out in detail by the architect or structural engineer.
I have inspected 100’s of houses over the years for clients looking to buy a house and I had no reason to tell them anything more or less than what I saw. Over 90% of these houses the rafters were not properly tied to the wall frame. In high winds on a framed house usually the first thing that fails is part of the roof followed by all the roof and then it pulls down the rest of the house frame. There is no reason why a house should fail in extreme conditions if it is built correctly to withstand weather extremes that are prone to the region in which the house is built. We believe this is part of what it means to design eco sustainable home designs and since we take very seriously the consequences of global warming and the growing intensity of natural disasters, we intentionally strive to anticipate these eventualities in our plans.
I have worked with and trained crews in all phases of construction and know what can and cannot be done without flaws or errors on the construction site without a structural engineer present. I know that most of the crews are largely unskilled and their superintendent may or may not be able to read and understand blueprints produced by a professional architect.
I by no means intend to be derogatory of construction crews. Most of them work very hard and long hours, often in extreme heat or cold, doing work that most people do not want to do, and for meagre wages and most do their best. Most of these crews work for one or two builders and build the same houses over and over again with little or no supervision by the builder or project manager. The sad truth is that in most cases the builder or project manager shows up on the jobsite just before county inspections and in some cases they do not show up unless the inspection fails for some reason.
This is why we choose simpler roof designs that we know can be built exactly as we intend and give simple instructions that we know you and the roofing crew can understand and you can hold your builder accountable. I am not ashamed to say our roofs are intentionally designed for function like natural convection air flow to reduce your heating and cooling cost and to flood the primary living spaces with natural light. We specify simple things the sum of which make a big difference like deeper eave ends and soffits to protect your siding and windows and provide solar shading in the summer to reduce cooling costs and enhance passive solar design in winter.
We are driven more by designs that work all the time and will endure the wear and tear of the elements over time and hold up to extreme conditions while also conserving energy and waste. We believe your roof should be as permanent as possible, because we believe it is the single most important part of protecting your house from the elements. We also believe that few homeowners are prepared to spend $20-$35k every 15-20 years for an asphalt shingle roof replacement.
Building with the Planet in Mind
Why This Matters to You:
- Reduces your carbon footprint from day one.
- Integrates passive solar and natural convection for off-grid potential.
- Proven longevity: Homes that weather climate extremes without costly retrofits.
Now there are a few things you should understand about the construction industry:
- Home construction costs are set by the highest volume house building companies. These companies close on 10-100 houses a week in regional sales and national companies do 2-4 times more than that. These companies have huge advantages like buying framing materials and other materials by train carloads and some of these all pre-cut in the factory for their house plans. They have 20 to 30 house plans they build over and over regardless of lot. You should know at the very least not every plan can be or should be built on any lot. This can lead to some serious disasters for homeowners down the road. Especially these national companies can lower their prices in one region and raise it in another to make more sales and remain profitable.
- These same high volume building companies set building standards that everyone else follows. These companies and their huge developments represent one of the largest sources of tax revenue for most municipalities where their houses are built, so such municipalities give them little to no scrutiny not only because they cannot afford to, but they do not have enough inspectors. I cannot tell you how many of these houses I have had to come behind to repair construction flaws that have cost homeowners 10’s of thousands of dollars to repair. I knew when a homeowner called and told be what sub-division in which they lived, what their problem was sight unseen.
- These companies have their own nationally renowned architects who set styles, fashions and made trends and this gets LEED’s (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) attention to set building standards. Unfortunately, LEED is not known for recognizing regional fitness. Their building science assumes if a product or procedure is good for one region of the country it is good for all. This has been very costly for homeowners. I hate to say this, but I believe LEED’s highest aim is in promoting the products of building manufacturers and not protection of the environment. In over 30 years I have seen these products with such so-called promises end up 10-15 years later filling landfills which is very costly to homeowners and even more for the environment.
- You should also know that U.S. building codes are minimal at best and certainly not adequate for longevity in mind, so we have come to expect that every 20-30 years houses are to be torn down to build bigger houses or more houses on a lot than before. I ask you, is this responsible stewardship of our earth and its natural resources especially when these houses keep being built with wood framing?
- These mega building companies have enough financial capital to finance their own construction and even offer mortgages lower than traditional lending institutions to home buyers. These are usually loans that begin with much lower interest rates to loop you in and feel affordable but increase over time and by the 5th to 7th year they are higher and maintenance expenses and repairs begin of which you were definitely not prepared, and together put you in a situation where you have to sell your house and often for less than your loan amount.
Given these factors it is nearly impossible for smaller builders to make a living, because in competing with these large companies it is hard to make a profit. Most of these traditional builders either went bankrupt or closed down in 2008-2009 in the great recession.
When you begin to interview builders to build your plans you need to know that these builders’ primary experience is in building speculative houses. This means they buy lots and build 2-12 sets of plans on these lots. To make a profit they must do their best to compete with the mega companies. They have to find the cheapest lots, lowest cost of materials and the lowest bidders for his/her sub-contractors and build it as fast as possible and sell their houses as fast as possible or the interest on their loans can put them under. Some of these wholesale lots were considered unbuildable by others or too expensive to design a house for the lot and to build for its issues. I have seen too many homeowners stuck with these houses.
Most of these are not builders in the traditional sense and may or may not know much about construction, but instead they are brokers. Many states now require that these builders pass general contractor certifications. They usually do not have architectural plans because such plans are costly, and most municipalities do not require certified architectural plans for residential construction. Their plans are little more than floor plans with dimensions like you find most often sold online.
As I have spoken earlier there is a general expectation that the sub-contractors will know how to build based on these floor plans. This sure seems like a high expectation for those who work for so little. They cannot afford to tell the general contractor they do not understand, so they do their best and they do it right over and over again or not.
You have hopefully learned by now that getting your dream home that is not in the same your future nightmare is nothing short of a miracle.
We want you to know that when we develop our construction plans our first consideration is you the homeowner. We want them to be understandable to you, so we provide comprehensive plans with simple notes for each phase of construction with the major emphasis being on building the structure. We also know that the sub-contractors will understand our plans. This is so if you choose to be your own general contractor and your municipality will allow that; you will have everything you need. We are here to help you through the process. If you have the time then this is a good choice and can be a very rewarding experience building your own house, and needless to say it can save you a lot of money as well. Furthermore, if you decide to interview and contract builders you will need to have thoroughly perused your building plans and written down your questions to address with us before you start your interviews with prospective builders so you know what to address with them.
Do Your Homework Ahead of Time (With the criteria, questions, observations and keys for judgment we have worked out together )
Find out everything you can about local builders by visiting their websites
- Choose 3-5 from this initial search to investigate further and visit their jobsites and if possible see different ones of their houses at different stages of construction and by now having learned from your own construction plans you know what to look for. It is particularly important to see their houses in the framing process and particularly the roof framing. This might eliminate a candidate right there.
- See if you can find out whether he/she has custom house building experience. By now you know to survive in speculative building he/she has to cut corners wherever they can, but you definitely do not want him/her to do the same thing on your house. The question is do they know the difference, and will they follow your building plans and pay enough attention in their estimates?
- Find out what homeowners of his/her houses say especially 5 plus years later.
It is now time to narrow it down to 3 prospective builders.
Now for those of you who are looking to build in a small town or rural area it is more likely to find a more traditional builder who builds 5-10 houses a year and is usually directly involved in the process of construction of his/her houses, such smaller building companies to make it they have chosen to build their own plans to individuals as custom homes. The buyer chooses the plan and has choices in finishes. These are builders who have a good reputation in their own market and get work on word of mouth from others. Buyers expect to pay a little more for this close attention by a builder. He/She is building 1-5 houses at the same time.
Such builders are a rare find and you would be very fortunate if you can attain his/her services, but they are going to be very reluctant to build your plan because of the unpredictability of cost to build your plan. He/She is going to look for complete, comprehensive and easily understandable building plans. He/She will be relieved if you ask them for a comprehensive estimate to build your house and they can only do so if you provide them comprehensive plans. They are likely to offer you a cost-plus agreement and this is customary for custom construction. This means you pay all material and labour costs and a percentage over these expenses. This percentage is usually 15-25%. I did only custom design and build my entire career and my agreement was similar.
For metro areas it will be rarer to find such contractors, so you will go through a similar process. You will ask each general contractor how many sets of plans he/she will need to share with their sub-contractors to prepare you a comprehensive proposal/quotation and how much he/she will charge for this task. Many will offer to do this for free but be prepared ahead of time for the expense of printing out plans. FedEx and most UPS stores have plotters and charge less than commercial printers who have plotters.
You should expect and say so to your prospective builder to pay them to do an extensive estimate based on the plans you provide. If he/she does not have remedial construction repair experience, they are not going to know how important our details and specifications are to the longevity and reliability of a lifetime home, so it is important it is spelled out so they can estimate accordingly, and you can hold him/her to follow these procedures.
You will find their proposals/quotations are very revealing and can let you see how seriously they have taken your comprehensive plans. Do not be influenced by the price alone but more by the content. If you are in doubt, this is a good time to consult with us. We have a lot of experience in writing and reading proposals/quotations.
Do not rush to start construction until you have an extensive estimate and have determined you can afford to build it. Do not be persuaded to cut the procedures and specifications we have specified in order to cut costs. We provide them because we know they are in your best interest. If you need to cut costs then do so in the finishes which can always be changed over time, but not the structure. If you need to cut costs it is best to cut square feet.
Ask your contractor for an expense report after each stage of construction. This will be usually after each time he/she has an inspection. This expense report will help you see how well you are staying on budget. Also ask your builder if you can shop for fixtures such as plumbing, electrical, appliances cabinets and flooring. This is another way you can save money and/or adjust your spending based on how you are doing on budget. Surprises after construction begin is usually not a good thing and can best be avoided by careful planning and comprehensive realistic estimates.
It is important that you make modifications and appropriate estimates prior to construction. We are here to help you with the custom home modifications. Making modifications after construction has begun is very costly.
Health and Wellness at the Core
We ban fiberglass entirely—no crumbling particles leading to respiratory issues. Instead, our solid, VOC-free insulations provide superior soundproofing and thermal mass, keeping your home cool in summer and warm in winter without chemical off-gassing.
Health Benefits That Last:
- Eliminates indoor pollutants for allergy-free living.
- Enhances sleep and focus with zoned HVAC (living areas vs. bedrooms).
- Family-safe: Ideal for multi-generational homes.
Finally let me reiterate that I do not use words like eco-friendly, green, renewable or sustainable lightly, mainly because now days everybody and his brother are making such claims. We have been pursuing excellence in construction and craftsmanship for over 35 years. Our foundation of knowledge and experience has been built upon restoring the best in historical structures that had already served many generations for at least a century and more. Our work was to bring them back to their original glory but better using advanced materials and technics to make sure they would serve at least another 100 years and installed superior insulation and highly energy efficient systems to heat and cool them for many more generations.
- Our design/build of alternative new construction has been to answer the problems we have faced in striving to find permanent solutions to repair modern construction that have cost our clients tens of thousands of dollars and more to remediate. These same clients have contracted us to build their worry-free, low maintenance and highly energy efficient last home.
- For us the foundation of sustainability begins with durability, reliability and longevity to not only hold up to the normal wear and tear of the elements but to endure weather extremes prone to the region in which the structure is built. Most of our online plans are designed for framed construction not because we believe this is the best construction method, but because this is what your potential builder will understand. We recommend a hybrid approach using primarily light gauge steel studs from recycled steel and wood timber roofs because we believe we must stop clear cutting our earth’s forests to build and rebuild our houses.
- Secondly renewable energy begins with reducing energy consumption by building a high thermal mass envelope using superior and healthier insulation methods and all our online plans are specified for at least double that of standard construction. We then design working with the fundamentals of thermal dynamics to naturally reduce heating and cooling loads. We implement into all our plans solar thermal collectors to reduce heating and cooling costs. Solar thermal collectors have been used to heat water and houses for over a hundred years and always work and nearly at zero operational costs. We also recommend other cutting edge energy systems.
- Thirdly, we give thoughtful consideration to floor plan layouts with whole life stages as our guide and this means among other things placing in all our plans the master suite on the ground level and making all doorways, passageways and traffic patterns including especially kitchens and baths for handicap access. We include covered porches on every plan not only for outdoor living space and expand space for entertaining, but more importantly to protect entrances and provide solar shading to primary living spaces.
- If any of these things resonate with you as eco-sustainable design, then our designs and consultation and custom designs are for you.
- We are asked all the time: ‘Does it cost more to build this way than standard construction?’ And the answer of course is yes.
- If you like having the latest fashion trend and/or have a career path that has you moving or transitioning every 5-7 years then we would recommend to you that you should buy a newly constructed house every 5-7 years. However, we also advise that you do not make the mistake of staying in these houses longer than this. It is about this time that maintenance costs, begin and design and construction flaws show up that require costly repairs.
- Now if you ask the question will our house plans built as specified cost me less to own in 10 years than a standard built house-even one claiming to be eco-sustainable the answer is yes. The answer is yes, meaning not only over the initial price but thousands of dollars in savings for maintenance and energy costs. The initial cost was only 15-20% more than if you had bought the other.
- More importantly, especially if you would like to live in the same place for 10 years, 30 years or more you will have saved tens of thousands of dollars and more on maintenance, repairs and energy costs over the initial price difference. As a fellow steward of the earth you will have also done your part to make a lower impact on our environment, which is why we do what we do.
Expertise That Delivers Real Results
35+ Years of Hands-On Mastery
From historical restorations to cutting-edge remediations, Tom’s background ensures every plan is battle-tested. We don’t outsource—we guide from concept to completion, offering seamless home modificationsfor any lot. Competitors may promise green, but we deliver with techniques refined over decades.
Our Proven Edge:
- Custom zoning for targeted energy use (e.g., cool living areas by day, cozy bedrooms at night).
- Materials chosen for reliability: No shortcuts, just enduring quality.
- Client-centric: 100% satisfaction in adaptations, per our 35-year track record.
Cost Savings and Future-Proofing
Our high-thermal-mass envelopes and renewable integrations mean bills 50% lower than standard homes. Thoughtful zoning and solar-ready specs future-proof against rising energy prices, while durable builds minimize repairs.
Long-Term Wins:
- Up to 60% energy reduction via superior insulation and airflow.
- Resilient to harsh conditions: Winds, floods, and time.
- Generational value: Homes that serve families for 100+ years.
Ready to Build Differently?
Experience the Eco Sustainable difference—low-impact, health-focused, and built to last. Contact Tom today for a free consultation on plan modifications or custom designs.