Net Zero renovation is a process. You don’t have to do it all at once. But you can start.
“There are many ways to get to net zero,” says Jeff Hurdis, Lead Designer at Lagois Design·Build·Renovate. He explains if your end goal is a net zero home, Lagois designs it to set up each room for success, even if it’s one room at a time.
Holistic design for net zero and everything else
It’s a natural undertaking with the Lagois design process, which is always holistic. “Holistic” and net zero are always the minimum standard for a Lagois renovation whether or not you hope to eventually end up with a certified net zero home or one that also allows you to live in place.
It might go like this. Let’s say you want a renovation of a bathroom that’s on an exterior wall. Lagois will take everything on the exterior wall back to the studs, look at the insulation and propose a couple of options. The next time you want to change the bathroom, they won’t have to tear out the shower or vanity because everything behind the walls would already be up to par – “not just minimum code but the absolute best we can do for that space,” says Jeff.
Lagois always installs the best materials and technology available. “We’re looking at your home in the long term,” Jeff explains. “We will never use anything that we know can potentially cause problems.”
Net zero as a goal, but maybe later
Even if your end goal is not net zero, Lagois looks at it that way from the standpoint of quality, energy efficiency and longevity. If, for example, we’re doing your kitchen and you know you’ll want to do your upstairs bathroom in two years, we’ll suggest doing whatever extra we can now, when the kitchen ceiling is torn apart and we’re doing all the plumbing, so it will save in the cost of doing your bathroom later.
“It’s super important for us to know your end goal,” Jeff says, “and this can tie into net zero if that’s what you’re thinking. If your end goal is to have a net zero home but it’s not in the cards financially right now, we do everything we can in each space we renovate that will set it up for the future.” Critical elements of this are insulation, windows, air sealing and general mechanical systems.
How do we get you towards net zero?
The most important thing in the process of your renovation, whether or not it has an end goal of net zero, is to determine what you want for your home and your lifestyle.
Listening is the part that comes first,” says Jeff, “because without it nothing else happens properly.” He adds that all homeowners are different, so one design idea doesn’t work for everyone. He sees the job of the Lagois team as one that guides homeowners towards the goal they envision, one that suits their lives and their home.
Lagois Design·Build·Renovate has always created the most energy efficient renovations of the time, starting more than four decades ago. The Lagois standard with all projects is to build towards net zero, to plan holistically so a home’s future is always on the horizon – and always above code in everything we do.
The team uses a carefully-developed three-phase holistic design process that takes you through your renovation step by step. They do everything possible to minimize your stress, always looking towards the future.
If your future is net zero, Lagois will get you there at your own pace.
