What is a High Performance Home?

A high performance home is one that is comfortable, healthy, and is going to last a very long time.

Elements of a High Performance Home, in the order of importance, and how it’s achieved.

1. Durability – Establishing a consistent water control layer behind the cladding and flashing every single penetration.
2. Comfort and health – Building air tight and establishing pressure balanced ventilation while controlling filtration and humidity; indoor air quality.
3. Efficiency – At a minimum, a High Performance Home is already efficient because this is a byproduct of building tight and correctly sizing HVAC.

There is a clear line between High Performance and Best Builders

It’s important to note that High Performance Building consists of methods and standards that are different from traditional building methods that pass residential codes. This is why “good” builders and “best” builders are NOT necessarily high performance builders. A “good builder” could be the best in his/her area but all that means is that he/she does an excellent job at executing the building methods that most builders use. These builders may even be master craftsmen, which is something to appreciate and admire. But that’s not high performance. Great craftsmanship can be part of traditional building and high performance building. What differentiates High Performance is what is behind all that great craftsmanship.

High Performance is customizable

High performance is not about being “good” or “the best.” High Performance is literally a different way of building all together. There is a clear line to be drawn between High Performance Building and “best” building. A builder is either implementing High Performance methods or not. Beyond that clear line is a spectrum of how far one can take high performance. There are so many options available to customize durability, comfort, indoor air quality, and efficiency.