With its Earth Advantage® certification, Legend Homes is the largest – and one of the earliest – Oregon developers to create completely green residential communities of single-family homes, town homes and condominiums in Clackamas, Washington, Multnomah, Benton and Linn counties. Since 2003, Legend Homes has been an Earth Advantage certified builder, creating green communities in Tigard, King City, West Linn, Hillsboro and Lake Oswego, Wilsonville, Portland, Beaverton, Corvallis and Albany. In fact, Tualatin River Watershed Council members commended Legend Homes, which is headquartered in Tigard, for its meticulous restoration of wetlands.
Legend Homes receives its green certification from Oregon’s Earth Advantage, the largest third-party tested green building program in the United States. Earth Advantage homes are designed to be at least 15 percent more energy efficient than houses built to standard code practices. These homes are certified for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, resource efficiency and environmental responsibility. More information, including a list of green residential and commercial builders and remodelers, can be found at their SW Portland headquarters 16280 SW Upper Boones Ferry Rd or at earthadvantage.com.
Green Building In A Green State
Every year in honor of Earth Day, The Green Guide, published by National Geographic, ranks the top ten green cities in America. Last year, Oregon cities, including the Portland metro area, ranked in the top five. Portland, and other cities in the our state, have made several “top ten” green and sustainable lists since 2006 including Grist magazine, MSN.com’s CityGuides, SustainLane.com, Men’s Journal, Prevention, Bicycling, Outsider and Reader’s Digest. And while The New York Times has reported that the federal government has no set rankings or established direction for sustainability, environmental stewardship and green building has become part of Oregon’s standard operating practice.
And Governor Ted Kulongoski wants to keep it that way. Last March, when Gov. Kulongoski delivered his sixth annual State-of-the-State address, he announced plans to make Oregon the national leader in innovation and sustainability (for more information, visit governor.oregon.gov). But our carbon footprint isn’t a shoe size; it’s how Oregonians utilize the resources that are part of their lifestyle. Living in a yurt will not necessarily reduce the burden on the planet, but green building, especially residential housing, will. In our state, we have more than 1.6 million homes and a homeownership rate of more than 64 percent.
Housing has a vast impact on the environment, human health, and the economy, with commercial and residential building accounting for approximately 35 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. According to Legend Homes President Jim Chapman, adopting green building strategies from the earliest stages of a building project maximizes both economic and environmental performance. This viewpoint sparked the creation of the Legend Homes Best Practices Task Force in 2004 as a core part of the corporation.
Task force members include upper management, production management and customer care management form Legend Homes’ Portland and Corvallis operations. Staff are assigned to study the latest developments in building sciences for continual quality improvement. Field trips for technical investigations; product testing and analysis; and seminars by industry groups are utilized to ensure that Legend Homes building decisions are supported by independent sources. The procedures the company has developed are assembled into manuals for training employees and subcontractors, and are kept as long-term reference guides in Legend Homes’ field offices. The Best Practices Task Force has applied a variety of green building techniques, including energy reduction, air quality improvements and green products viability analysis and recycling enhancements.
Chapman outlined the company’s priorities: quality of structure, health and safety of the home, i.e. air quality, energy efficiency and third-party green certification by Earth Advantage.
“Because we build so close to Earth Advantage standards already, it's only about a $7,000 cost to get our homes Earth Advantage certified,” says Chapman. “The benefits far outweigh the costs, an energy efficient home saves the homeowner as much as 15 percent in annual utility costs, requires less maintenance, improves indoor air quality and reduces energy omissions. This directly supports our corporate green building mission of creating homes that will be enjoyed by families for generations to come.”
The other part of Legend Homes’ green mission is education. That’s why at every community you can find “Behind the Walls” call-outs within the model. These “Behind the Walls” call-outs explain the features and benefits of green construction practices. Garage displays showcase and explain exterior green features: siding, window systems and installation, masonry, etc.
Legend Homes and its Best Practices Task Force have been so successful that in June 2006, the green builder was invited to participate in an initiative with David Van't Hof, Gov. Kulongoski’s sustainability policy advisor, and Sean C. Penrith, executive director of Earth Advantage. The purpose of the initiative was to record and monitor construction of a Legend Homes residence as it is built to the Earth Advantage standards. The project created a platform for the Governor’s Office to promote sustainability and demonstrate how these techniques result in the reduction of green house gases. TV Fox 12 of Beaverton documented the entire build of a green-certified Legend Homes residence in 17 segments. Earth Advantage now plans to have monitoring equipment installed so that this homebuyer’s energy use and indoor air quality will be tracked. This future data will document the superior attributes of a high-performance green home.
Legend Goes to the Extreme
America watched – and cried – Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007 as our state’s first-ever Extreme Makeover was televised nationally. When the producers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition were looking for an Oregon home builder to head the project, civic and community leaders recommended Legend Homes because of the company’s tradition of green building, volunteerism and year-round philanthropy. Giving and volunteerism has been integrated into the corporate culture since the company’s inception. The 4,000 sq. ft. Earth Advantage green-certified home was built in just 96 hours.
The Oregon episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition gave a Corvallis-area family the home of their dreams. To complete the project, “Team Legend” recruited more than 300 volunteers to donate their time and expertise, working alongside the entire company's staff, who organized round-the-clock shifts. Legend Homes solicited all donations for the project.
“Not only every dinner, beverage and snack, but every piece of lumber, drywall, paint and windows — all of the highest quality — every part of that home was donated by Oregonians,” said Legend Homes President Jim Chapman. “We bought and installed the best air filtration system in America. This project, representing hundreds of hours and the hundreds of thousands of dollars of in-kind donations from our vendors, subcontractors, employees, the Corvallis Community and, frankly, the entire Oregon building industry, is a fitting tribute to what quality green sustainable building is all about.”
Founded in Portland, Oregon in 1965, Legend Homes is the award-winning builder of more than 12,000 home sites, homes, town homes and condominiums in planned communities throughout Oregon. For more information, visit legendhomes.com.