Affordable housing developments walk a fine line when it comes to budgeting. In this article, we will discuss the reasons why not passing mandated HERS inspections can cause a project timeline to fall apart and the best methods to circumvent this risk entirely.

It would be in our best interest here at E3 California to say that a developer should ask us to join a project during the development phase, but we also understand that without the proper backup, this is just shameless marketing. However, it’s not untrue, not in the slightest.

Some might say that the biggest mistake that a developer could make when it comes to an affordable housing project would be to take the entirety of the funds allocated for the project and bet them on roulette.  Maybe 50/50 odds aren’t that bad?

One of the most important aspects to do with the incorporation of energy efficiency into affordable housing development projects is the use of tax benefits. California established tax incentives and programs in 1986 to deal with the growing need for affordable housing, and since then has received added federal funding ...

Energy efficiency has many benefits that are often overlooked as a result of the initial investment in upgraded systems. At the early stages of a multifamily development project, especially in the low-income housing sector, developers try and avoid extra costs at all costs.

Energy saving measures are not generally associated with affordable housing. For the most part, the pinnacles of energy saving features are generally associated with either high-performance and sustainable designs, or by parties with an unlimited budget and little regard for the bottom line, whatever the reason may be.

No one wants to mention it, but mold is a big problem in California’s developing world. Mold removal, consulting, and rebuilding from damage sits in at around $14B a year in this state alone, making it the number one fault in the industry. While the causes for mold are unavoidable - it is very difficult to survive in a...

Techniques and materials in insulation have come a long way over the past few years. We have reached a point in which many buildings, especially high-performance buildings, are considered capable of being hermetically sealed, and as a result, must contain oxygen sensors in every room. While this is a result of exterior...

Inspections are mandatory, and passing them is one of the most important aspects of keeping a commercial development project on track. The worst-case scenario is missing an inspection or being ordered to rebuild, and these two terrible errors must be avoided in commercial development projects.

One of the most common errors regarding HVAC code compliance in multifamily development projects is poor timing of inspections. This can go either way - an inspection can be timed long after the installation was complete, which means the construction process is not efficient, or an inspection process can rush the job. ...

Sustainability in itself is not a way to lose money in a development project; in fact, we would argue that the opposite is true: incorporating sustainable practices in a development project can both increase property value and enhance a development organization’s brand.

Meeting energy codes can be a strain on a development project’s budget. The rules are very strict, and much of the time the benefits seem insubstantial. Despite the problems that arise with striving to meet California’s energy codes, not meeting code is one of the best ways to harm a development project’s budget, and a...

Energy systems are some of the largest systems in a commercial development project, and as a result they requisition a sizeable portion of the budget. Ensuring that the energy-related development goals remain on track is therefore crucial to maintain a target budget and schedule. This leaves very little room for error ...

One of the most important features of a development project is the focus on completing milestones at a specific and convenient point in time. By defining a succession of tasks attached to those milestones, we increase our capacity to deliver. But what if we are not able to do this? How can we make sure that any risk th...

Energy consultation is inherently a large aspect of risk mitigation when developing real estate, so to finish off our series on frequently asked questions, we have decided to do a brief post covering the risks of not being compliant to energy codes in a development project.

Commercial development projects are complex and unique in many ways. Like any project, they have their own risks. Add to it the need to comply with California Energy Code (referred to as Title 24), and many questions come up fast. How can you be sure the project is fully compliant? Have you been up to the challenge, an...

As a developer in California, being able to construct commercial buildings, residential towers or whole new urban areas is what gives full sense to your life. You do not want mistakes to derail your projects, and you undertake each development hoping that they will not happen. But they do happen.

Construction or renovation projects always carry risks, especially those related to mistakes made during the phase of physical works. But there is an important, non-physical area that if done incorrectly, will not only affect your bottom line, but actually endanger the whole project.

As a California developer, you want to avoid risks when carrying out a building project, and you know well that the safest way to accomplish that is by following an ordered sequence of phases. Critical phases, if you will, for all of them are necessary to complete a successful development project. What are those phases...

Planning is critical for any development project. Period. But in California, more than anywhere else in the United States for that matter, such planning needs to incorporate “energy efficiency” into the equation.

California is home to a fairly complex and advanced energy saving policy which influences the way we move around, the type of houses and buildings we occupy, the myriad of top-notch mechanical equipment that have become part of our daily lives, and even the impact we make on the environment.

The third most frequently asked question regarding energy compliance is by far the most straightforward and practical: ‘how much will this cost me?’ In short: 15 to 20 percent of your budget will most likely go into energy systems to a level that is code compliant. This much is basically unavoidable. Once this is known...

One of the most frequently asked questions that we get from developers regarding energy planning and compliance is ‘what exactly do we have to do?’ While the exact process is a little too lengthy for a single article (feel free to give us a call if you want the full list), we can offer here the basic process involved w...

The number one question that developers ask energy consultants is the following: ‘why do we have to do this?’  We understand this question - from the bottom of our hearts, we get it. The codes are strict. The penalties are severe. It can be overkilled in some places. However, and in the simplest form, the reason you ha...

Here at E3, we get asked a lot of questions in our line of work - in the end, consulting is almost entirely made up of finding solutions and giving advice. After several years of being in business, we have noticed a trend; there are questions that nearly every prospect or client that we have worked with has asked us, s...

A world leader in art and innovation, California is also the leading U.S. state in energy efficiency. Processes and technologies to build and operate energy efficient buildings and homes are getting more sophisticated, and penalization for incompliance with energy standards more rigorous.

Sustainable development projects are a growing trend across the United States and California is a trend setter! Sustainability is critical for environmental needs and has also become an integral approach to separate the best from the rest, or in other words, a differentiator for developers and designers.

Mixed-use development is a wide-ranging concept that has become a great opportunity to leverage multiple practices and drive an increased ROI. For developers, they are also a challenge, given the various regulatory frames, market targets and sustainability needs. How then, can you get the best value from mixed-use?

The term “High Performance” tends to scare people a bit, for the idea of top-notch equipment and systems is associated with hefty prices. But, is this so? Design, conditions and materials do change or evolve, but the bottom line remains a fairly stable variable: ensuring a strong ROI for every project.

The California Energy Code (CEC) is the part of the California Code of Regulations aimed at achieving energy efficiency and ensure air quality throughout the state. How does the CEC affect development projects? What should developers be aware of? How does it impact development costs and vision?

The Devil is in the details; this is true for just about everything in life, but is especially costly to a development project. More often than not, a sound development project's undoing comes from little oversights. In the case of an energy plan, it's unrealistically linking the projected energy systems to the schedul...

Being a developer isn't easy. The vision, implementation, construction, and closeout are all up to you. While the bulk of these phases would be too much to cover in a single series, we decided to tackle one commonly overlooked element in state regulations: energy codes. In this article, we cover the importance of inclu...

Often times, architects who design high performance buildings in California, which are required to comply with stringent energy regulations, fail to integrate performance goals or to make certain decisions relating to energy efficiency strategies during the design phase.

Title 24 was created to position California as a global leader in energy efficiency, and to reduce state power requirements and greenhouse gas emissions. Some of these regulations have occurred so swiftly, though, that many architects and designers in California are having difficulty keeping up with them.  

California’s 2016 Energy Standards, effective as of January 01, 2017, are the most recent upgrade to a policy that has been in place for almost 40 years with the purpose of saving electricity and natural gas, thus reducing the need to build more power plants and ultimately helping to diminish our impact on the environm...

If you’re an architect working on the design of a high performance commercial or residential building in California, getting advice from an energy efficiency consultant at the earliest stages of the project can really pay off.

Since 1978, the state of California has implemented a set of rules intended to save energy use both in residential and commercial buildings. But, are these regulations working? What has really been achieved in almost 40 years? Is it worth the massive change in the way we build houses and commercial buildings from what ...

Hiring an energy consulting company in California who is trained to identify problem areas in your blueprints, is money well spent, for it will allow for maximizing savings and bottom-line return on investment for your client. 

Today’s architects in California are not only challenged to create spaces that satisfy clients’ needs, but are also increasingly being asked to incorporate yet another consideration into their design projects: rising mandates for building energy efficiency.

Designing buildings to meet California’s stringent energy regulations can be difficult and time consuming. The bar continues to be raised, creating new elements that must be incorporated into the design process. It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to prepare architectural drawings that meet all applicable bu...

Like many of today’s professionals in California’s construction industry, architects are highly specialized and very aware of the myriad of building regulations that surround their jobs. But, it is next to impossible to try and navigate through these regulations on their own, considering that time and money still are a...

One of the most important things that designers and architects must balance at all times when working on a project, is how to strike a balance between wishes, be it those of the client or their own, and feasibility. Another way of seeing it, is a permanent decision making that includes the vast or infinite field of ide...

  Proper-Planning-Prevents-Poor-Performance Today’s architects in California are not only challenged to create spaces that satisfy clients’ needs, but are also increasingly being asked to incorporate yet another consideration into their design projects: energy efficiency.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Socrates The newest updates to the energy efficiency standards enacted by the California Energy Commission (CEC), also known as the 2016 Standards, took effect on January 1, 2017, bringing the state one step closer ...

Thanks to the Zero Net Energy standards passed by the state of California last year, we are well on our way to becoming a world leader in zero net homes. However, many of us remain skeptical about the feasibility of these objectives. Can the single biggest change in the history of home building and energy efficiency be...