Let Built Green® work for you!

Built Green® is a network of architects, builders, subcontractors, suppliers and real estate agents working together to improve your quality of life. By providing quality homes that are cost effective to own and operate, protect your family's health and well being, and help preserve our beautiful Pacific Northwest environment.

Choose a Built Green® professional when you build, remodel, or buy a home. Put the power of a dedicated network and its combined knowledge to work for you.

Built Green® began with an idea: There's a way to build safe, quality homes and preserve the environment at the same time. This idea was forged into a reality through a partnership between the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County and Kitsap County Public Works who provided the grant funding in along with Washington Department of Ecology.

Built Green® utilizes a market-based approach that encourages and promotes the use of efficient development and provides new home and remodeling project buyers with homes that are more energy efficient, provide improved indoor air quality and health benefits and promotes sustainable construction practices. Built Green® provides additional choices in housing, provides environmental and economic benefits to both the consumer and community, and encourages job creation in recycling, energy efficient products and materials.

Since our program's launch in 1997, eight other Washington local builders associations have developed their own programs and four more are currently under development. Built Green® Washington has formed to assit with local program efforts. National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center is utilizing Built Green® as a model for their national "green" building program model for local associations. The Washington State Department of Ecology Awarded Built Green their 1997 "Most Innovative" Program for Waste Reduction and Recycling. In addition, Built Green has been awarded a Kitsap County Environmental Partnership Award, the NAHB - Executive Officers Council Association Excellence Award as the Best Public Relations Program, and a Special Chairman's Award from the NAHB State & Local Government Affairs Recognition Award.

Quality Construction
Building codes establish minimum construction already build to some of the toughest energy, air quality, and water efficiency standards in the nation. With the Built Green® program, you can cost-effectively use premium building materials and practices that go beyond building code requirements. Building to Code Plus standards improves your home's performance and provides significant economic and environmental benefits to your family and future generations. These benefits include using less energy to heat and cool your home, using natural resources in the most efficient manner, and improving the quality of the indoor air you breathe.

The Right Price: Today and Tomorrow
Many features of 2- and 3- star rated homes in the Built Green® program can save you money. An example is Advanced Framing. This method was designed by engineers to produce a structurally sound building with better energy efficiency than conventional framing can provide. By using this state-of-the-art-system, your contractor can actually lower the cost of framing and labor, while increasing the amount of insulation that can be used. The result is a home that is more affordable, more comfortable, and makes more proficient use of wood resources. Want to know more? Ask your Built Green® builder about other cost saving program features.

Healthy Homes and Gardens
From ground breaking, through design and materials selection phases, and in the final construction of your building project, every decision you make will affect the quality of life in your new home for years to come. Using the Built Green® program, your contractor can help you make the right choices. Choices such as how to preserve existing vegetation and topsoil, how to design your home for efficient use of space and materials, and how to select materials that protect the quality of the indoor air that you breathe. And you will benefit from recycling and proper disposal of job-site wastes.

To get you started on the right foot, your building professional will provide you with a "Starter Kit" full of useful information on how to operate your home in a safe and environmentally-friendly manner.

More About Built Green®
Built Green® is a program of the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County that promotes the use of environmentally friendly features in new and remodeled homes. Funding for program development and implementation was provided through a grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology administered by Kitsap County Public Works. Homes enrolled in the program are rated by the Association based on the number of Built Green features included in the home.

Construction projects meeting program standards are awarded a 1-,2-, or 3-star rating certificate. A 3-star rating is the highest level of achievement.

For more information: Call the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County at (360) 479-5778 to request a brochure describing the program overall, as well as a list of participating members. If you've already selected a builder, let them know you'd like to use the Built Green program's 85 program features to help plan the home of your dreams.