The Future Is Green

A recent article sent to me by a colleague on density and design got me to think a little bit more about where we are headed in the building and development industry in Montana. It's a given to know that things will never be the same, and today I was catching a little bit of a glimpse into our future. I liked it!

Let me start by saying that, fortunately in Montana we haven't seen the drastic fall of home prices like in some markets, but we haven't had much appreciable gain in value either. In conversations with many Montana builders, cautious optimism is the mood and the recent sales activity has most feeling like it is the start of the long slow climb back to normalcy. While it's still predicted that starts in 2009 will still be down significantly from last year, even nationally builder confidence had it's largest one month increase last month since 2002.

Does this mean we will soon be back to the same old game and we can dust off our current house plans and site plans and get back after it? Probably not. Coming out the other side of this downturn experts predict a real shift in the way we build homes and develop communities in the Rocky Mountain West. For homes the trend will be for smaller, more efficient homes closer to communities and services. Not only has the tightening of the credit market reduced the amount buyers can spend on a new home, the home buyer is realizing the expense and operational cost of that home and becoming more savvy in looking for energy efficiency and low operational costs.

In community development, with the continued rising cost of infrastructure and the trends established by our new breed of home buyers, things are changing as well. It's anticipated that we will have to see a much higher level of density in our new developments and it won't be economically feasible to build lots of large homes on large lots.

I was in Billings today for a conference and when I was done I took some time to see a couple of local builder friends that were showcasing homes in their Spring Parade of Homes. Both had projects that they were developing and building in that utilized high density small lot homes. These homes were not only well designed, but extremely energy efficient and built green. The part I really liked was the excitement from the potential buyers and the sales. Yes, sales!! Both of these builders were excited about their product(a high density, high performance home) and excited about their potential. Good work guys!

While we all won't be living in condos over a coffee house, and we will still have homes on 5,10, 20 acres or more, it's at least good to see some of the inherent green principles becoming driving forces in todays' market. Smaller, more efficient floorplans and homes with higher energy efficiency built utilizing less consumptive development practices. I like it.