The Partners

Each of the partners listed below were carefully chosen by Nigel and Rhonda after extensive reviews, interviews and reference checks. We were looking for the best of the best in each area and these are the partners we chose:

Design Team

Architect:

Hubbell & Hubbell
Drew Hubbell

Interior Design:

Point of Departure
Dan Smith and Jason Maune

Landscape Architect:

HK Design Studio
Heather Koermer

Plant Consultants:

Garden Life
Bruce and Sharon Asakawa

Drew Hubbell was chosen for his expertise in designing beautiful green homes.

Point of Departure is a full service design studio specializing in green design.  Dan and Jason are also experts in 3D imaging which has been invaluable in helping us to visualize the house as it was being designed.  Their beautiful 3D rendering of our home is the image at the top of our website.

 

Heather Koermer is a talented young designer selected for her creativity in landscape designs and her knowledge of plants.

We are thrilled and honored to have Bruce and Sharon Asakawa offering their plant expertise to the design of our sustainable farm.  Bruce and Sharon have written many books on plants and have a weekly syndicated radio show where they share their extensive knowledge with others. They are also the nicest people!

Technical Consulting Team

SDG&E Advanced Case Study Home Consultant:
Michael Colby

Title 24 Calculations:

Gallant Energy Consulting
Mark Gallant

Wynn Engineering
Kerry Watts

Geothermal Heating and Cooling System:

Mike Colby and SDG&E have been a tremendous resource for helping us to understand the green technologies available for use in our home.   They have also been extremely helpful in explaining the many rebates and incentives that are available for green building.






Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, known as "Title 24," contains the regulations that govern energy efficiency standards for the construction of buildings in California. This is the key benchmark that all buildings have to meet or exceed.

Kerry Watts with Wynn Engineering did the soils and septic engineering for our site. Kerry was also tremendously helpful in figuring out where on our lot we could drill our well within the county codes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called geothermal "ground-source heat pumps the most energy-efficient, environmentally clean, and cost-effective space conditioning systems available". They are currently eligible for a 30% tax credit as part of the government’s green building initiatives.

Mariner Mechanical
Jim Backman




Tri-County Drilling, Inc.
Tim Duddie




Kelix™
John Kidwell

Jim Backman has been instrumental in designing the geothermal system for our green home. 

We selected Tri-County Drilling to drill our well and geothermal bore holes.  We were very impressed with Tri-County's track record and Tim Duddie's expertise.  Tri-County has also become the first distributor of the Kelix Thermacouple System in California and ours will be his first installation.

We are thrilled to be the first installation of the innovative Kelix™ Thermacouple™ System in So. California. We believe this product to be a significant improvement over traditional ground loop systems. Because of the improved heat transfer capability, we will need to only drill one 300 foot bore hole instead of the two that would be required with traditional ground loops. This could make geothermal energy systems much more cost effective.

Supporting Organizations

San Diego Gas and Electric

 

California Center for Sustainability Energy

US Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Star Homes Program

Build It Green

 

California Association of Building Energy Consultants

 

 

Construction Team

General Contractor:

Gaitaud Construction

Green Pool Contractor:

Mission Valley Pools

Swim Gym

Geothermal Contractor:

Mariner Mechanical
Jim Backman

SMART Home Contractor:

California Automation Consultants

Solar PV Contractor:

    
Real Goods Solar

HVAC Contractor:

    
Mountain Air

Phil brings a wealth of experience building beautiful, high quality homes with an emphasis on thoughtful cost management. We are very impressed with Phil's work and the outstanding reviews he has from the homeowners for whom he has built homes.




Mission Valley Pools is renowned for their award winning pool designs and their expertise in energy efficient pools. We are delighted to have Bob Cunningham, and his team at Mission Valley Pools, designing and building our pool which will set a new standard for energy efficiency.


Swim Gym provides a current at the push of a button.  This allows one to have an infinite lap pool, in a fraction of the space. The smaller pool needs less materials, less heating, and less water.

Mariner Mechanical designed and will install the geothermal heating and cooling system for the house. The geothermal system will also be used to heat the pool and the hot water for the house. How cool is that?!

Our home may be smarter than we are thanks to California Automation Consultants!  CAC’s state-of-the- art system integrates heating, cooling, security, audio, video, networking, lighting, irrigation, and entertainment while maximizing energy and water efficiencies.  The entire system can be controlled from anywhere in the world, so we will never have to worry that we left the TV on or the sprinklers running!

We chose Real Goods Solar to install our Sharp solar panel system because they are simply the best. Their team is the most experienced, with the most technological know-how, and have the best understanding of the rebate programs for solar. We chose Sharp panels for our current home and now our new green home because they are more attractive, more durable, and have higher power compared to their competitors panels.



We chose Mountain Air to install our fairly complex HVAC system because we believed they have the experience and expertise, particularly with geothermal systems, to get the job done.

Green Material

Green Windows:

Bede Windows

 

Doors:

La Cantina

JTY Windows and Doors

 

Green Flooring:

Warmly Yours

 

Teragren

 

 

Interceramic

 

 

Forbo Flooring

 

 

QU_Cork

 

 

Green Countertops:

Eco by Cosentino

 

 

ShetkaSTONE

 

 

Davis Stone

 

 

Green Lighting:

Lithonia LED Lighting

San Diego Lighting

 

 

Green Coatings:

Dunn Edwards

 

 

Fluidstone

 

 

Stairs & Railings:

Skyhook Stairs & Rails

 

 

Green Roofing:

Metal Sales

We chose Bede's European style tilt/turn windows and exterior doors for our green home. Bede aluminum frames are thermally-broken with glass that is almost double the thickness of most windows, providing superior thermal and sound ratings. Not only are they beautiful, they are virtually maintenance free and will last a lifetime.

Our whole home was designed around the spectacular La Cantina bifold doors. These locally designed and manufactured doors blur the line between inside and outside as they fold, accordion like, to open up entire walls of glass to the outside.

JTY Windows and Door Specialists were selected in install all of our beautiful windows and doors.  We are confident that their team of professional will do an outstanding job for us!

How cool is it to have warm floors on a cold winter morning? Our Warmly Yours floor heater is powered by our PV solar panels and connected to our Smart Home system which will automatically warm the Master Bathroom floor.

 

We selected Teragren’s Synergy Strand bamboo flooring for most of our home.  Synergy™ bamboo is 154% harder than red oak, making it perfect for high-traffic areas.  Its water-based, formaldehyde and solvent-free 7-coat finish protects the bamboo fiber's natural strength and beauty.  Synergy is also FloorScore®-certified, one of the most rigorous air quality standards in the world. And did we mention, it is gorgeous!

 

We selected a stunning selection of Interceramic tiles for all of the floor and wall tiles in our home.  Interceramic porcelain tiles are manufactured with clays and minerals of natural Earth origin in manufacturing facilities in Mexico, located less than 1,000 miles from the project site.  All tile waste, as well as clay residuals, particulates, and fine solids are recovered and reincorporated to the manufacturing process.  All water used in the manufacturing process is 100% recycled.

 

We chose Forbo Flooring's Marmoleum for our mud room and pantry.  This easy to install, floating floor made from natural, and renewable ingredients is easy to clean and a healthy and beautiful choice.

 

 

We chose the beautiful and environmentally friendly QU-Cork for the entire master bedroom suite and loft.  QU-Cork comes from a renewable source, is recyclable, hypo-allergic,  impermeable, fire retardant, a great sound insulator and a warm, non-toxic place for bare feet.

 

We have selected the stunningly beautiful and exceptionally durable Eco by Cosentino products for most of the countertops in our home.  Eco countertops are made with 75% recycled materials, including salvaged mirrors, windows, bottle glass, stone scraps, using a proprietary bonder containing 22% corn resin.  Eco countertops are non-porous and require less maintenance and are more durable than granite.  They are the perfect surface for rolling handmade pasta and pastries!

 

ShetkaSTONE  is a revolutionary product that has a 100% sustainable life cycle.  It is a natural, recycled,  paper-based surface that’s strong, durable, easy to care for, and is the countertop of choice for the Farrar Green Home, Home Office.   ShetkaSTONE takes post-consumer and post-industrial paper out of the waste stream and makes it into a beautiful, durable surface.

 

Davis Stone is an established leader in fabrication and installation of natural stone surfaces and they are located down the street from us in Escondido!  They have custom fabricated stunningly beautiful recycled glass and concrete countertops for our guest bathrooms.

 

 

 

 

The Lithonia LED lighting, purchased from San Diego Lighting, that is installed throughout our home is energy efficient and beautiful.  LED lighting uses 80% less energy than traditional incandescent lighting and when you have some lights that are 25 feet off the ground, like we do, the fact that the bulbs are unlikely to need to changing for over than 6 years makes them particularly attractive.

 

 

All of our interior walls are painted using Dunn Edwards’ Enso line of high performance, non VOC paints.  Not only are the paints good for the environment, there is no smell of paint in the house, even as the paint is being applied!  The colors are vibrant and beautiful. 

 

Fluidstone is a innovative choice for the exterior coating for our home.  Unlike traditional stucco, it does not crack or require paint, and unlike paint, it covers in one coat.  Fluidstone is a durable polymer-based coating made with natural stone and a recycled glass composite that reflects up to 30% of radiant heat from the sun. 

 

 

Skyhook Stairs & Rails are the best of the best in custom stairs and they are in our local area!  John Reinhold has designed and built a beautiful and dramatic staircase for our home.  The stair treads are made with reclaimed Eucalyptus from a tree that was burned at Lake Hodges in the tragic Witch Creek Fires of 2007.  The stainless steel cable railings throughout the home are made with 65% recycled content.

 

 

A Metal Sales Standing Seam Roof was selected with a striking Antique Patina finish, which changes color from green to bronze depending on the angle of the sun.  A metal roof lasts longer than any other kind of roof, is virtually maintenance-free, fire and weather resistant, and reflects the heat of the sun creating a beautiful and energy efficient roof for our home.