Many are concerned about indoor air quality (66% according to an Eco Pulse report), most think energy-efficient homes are healthier homes (not necessarily) and arguably all of them want building materials and solutions that won’t make them sick.

In part three of our Healthy Home Pro series, we explore the future of high performance homes, and how construction professionals plan to cater to the next generation of tech savvy, hyper-aware homeowners.

The Millennial generation is expected to outnumber Boomers by next year. Shrewd builders, architects and other home professionals are already shifting their business strategy to serve the needs of this huge contingent of future homeowners.“ In the next 15 years, we are going to see a jump in the number of people wanting a healthy living environment,” predicts Kelly Nemergut, partner at N2 Architecture. “There’s more knowledge out there, and the younger generations are more aware. They will do their own education, make sure they do what’s best for their bodies, eliminating products that could make them sick. For tomorrow’s consumers, a healthy home will be the price of entry,” she declares.

Home pros say it starts with a smartphone. People don’t want to get up to turn on the fan or adjust the thermostat, and they want to know that doors are locked when they leave for the day. A smartphone or any other technology that can help people monitor and control their house is important to consider.

This technology includes sensors, automatic timers, smart features and mobile apps with remote controls. Already, Internet of Things (IoT) and voice technology is being incorporated into many home systems, enabling individuals to control and customize their environment with even greater ease. Concerned the timer on the bathroom ventilation fan didn’t turn on, check it on the phone.

A recent study on disruptive technology by Panasonic shows that many companies have made investments in mobile devices, apps and commerce as well as the cloud, and three in five have adopted IoT. Senior tech decision makers believe these three technologies are most critical to their future success.

Terms like house wellness and IAQ have been gaining traction, but the buzzword to watch for is home performance. Once, the term only applied to energy efficiency, but there’s a new crop of home improvement specialists that are using technology – and the data gleaned from it – to assess a home’s health and make sure the residence “works well as a whole.”

Home performance pros can come in and test air quality, moisture, air flow pressure and heat flow to see where inefficiencies exist. Clients are presented with actual scientific results in addition to solution recommendations, so they know where in their home to spend their money and time, and can measure how much improvement was made.

Industry experts predict a proliferation of health-conscious homeowners opting to have a home monitoring system installed, complete with a maintenance agreement where a service pro comes several times a year to make sure the roof isn’t leaking, air quality is optimal, and filters are working. With data in hand, building experts might recommend improvements like an energy recovery ventilator, which replaces unwanted, stale air with an optimal supply of fresh, clean air, leading to balanced air pressure (and good IAQ) in the home. Advanced ERV’s feature smart flow technology, which automatically speeds up the fan when it senses static pressure, increasing its ability to expel humidity, airborne mold, and other air pollutants from any room.

From blower door, duct tightness and exhaust fan flow tests to infrared thermal scans of enclosures, savvy contractors are already using home performance testing to prove – with hard data – that their work is better than the competition. Test results also enable contractors to guarantee their work for a very long time.

The number one goal of home performance, according to one specialist, is to give clients control of their environment and predict what’s going to happen, from how their basement will feel next winter to how much how carbon monoxide their babies are going to be breathing five years down the road.

The IoT promises to bring custom solutions, which will greatly benefit the varied needs of the next generation of homeowners. Consider ventilation: there is less demand for fresh air delivery rate in a home that is occupied by a working couple with no children who rarely cook when compared to a family of six with a stay-at-home parent, homeschooled children and daily meals cooked in the kitchen. The smart systems of the future will monitor the options and provide the best Indoor Air Quality solution based upon these specific needs, plus all of the variables that come into play.

Home buyers are beginning to make the connection between the work performed by their home professionals, and the effect it can have on their health. A homeowner survey commissioned by the National Association of Home Builders reports that those who had purchased a home built with at least five healthy building products or practices said they or their family members had fewer illnesses (30%), were more comfortable (31%) and were able to sleep better (39%). Choosing eco-friendly paint, flooring, insulation and other building materials is a great start, but not all consumers realize that ventilation, air circulation, filtration, and humidity all play major a role in a home’s health, and the health of its occupants – until it’s too late. As the move towards energy-efficient, tightly built homes increases, homeowners are having trouble bringing fresh air in, and getting bad air out. The World Health Organization reports that an estimated 3.8 million people die each year from household air pollution including carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Indoor contaminants like mold, dust, and dander have also contributed to a rise in the number of Americans with asthma, according to research.

The rise in home health awareness means more homeowners are looking to home experts to help, and also to blame. Inferior building products, inadequate installation and compliance issues can all result in unbudgeted returns to the job site, costing building pros time and money. One large HVAC contractor calculated that the average cost of a callback was around $3,000 per incident. That cost can grow exponentially if the homeowner decides to sue. A group of California residents was awarded $1.3 million for claims against the builders and contractors whose poor workmanship allowed leaks and mold to enter their homes. The blame game could even affect future sales if an unhappy client badmouths a business on social media. One study found that 95% of customers share bad experiences with others, and 45% take the time to leave negative online reviews.

Savvy building pros are incorporating home health into their business strategy – and making sure it’s a priority from the project start. Partnering with well-established distributors and manufacturers who are committed to creating healthy living environments will help ensure product quality and code compliancy and also inspire client confidence. An Eco Pulse study shows 74% of consumers say a companies’ environmental reputation impacts their purchase decisions.
Experts recommend that home pros take the time to truly understand how the whole house works as a system and do their homework to find the products and solutions that best fit each specific project’s needs. Builders should ask themselves: what is the best strategy for the home that I’m building, and for the clientele that I have, as well as for the climate zone that they’re in?

Cooking is one area that needs rethinking: just because a client installs a large capacity range hood doesn’t mean it is performing well. The newest trend is to select a range hood based upon capture efficiency, and the amount of air that is exhausted will become less important. After all, the goal is to remove contaminants, not conditioned air. The more conditioned air you exhaust, the more you have to bring in and heat, cool, humidify, de-humidify, filter, etc., which all consumes energy. The industry is developing new ratings that better reflect the capability of these products to exhaust contaminants efficiently.
Bathrooms are also ripe for performance improvements. A lot can go wrong in a ventilation system, preventing you from putting the pollutant where you want it. For starters, the fan. Just because the box says it can do something doesn’t mean that it will – contractors need to make sure that after it’s installed, the fan actually moves the required air. Test results on the box are not always accurate and may not factor in variables such as difficult ductwork or termination resistance.
After witnessing the problems caused by compromised installations, Panasonic recognized a need for more stringent standards. While the industry rates exhaust fans at an assumed static pressure of 0.1” SP and 0.25” SP, our research shows that these values need to be increased to more accurately represent the real world (.375” SP), and we are beginning to certify our fan performance accordingly.
Builders that want to ensure code compliance and meet design airflow requirements should insist on high-performance products that meet these higher standards. Greater awareness and assurance can only help ensure healthier homes.