Home Energy Performance: The Top 10 Key Factors

Things that all people need to know whether you are building, buying, or renovating.

Listen to the podcast here!

(1) Enhanced insulation

(2) Air sealing (this keeps pests out too!)

(3) Low-e windows

(4) Airtight ductwork

(5) Efficient heating and AC

(6) Hot water heating

(7) Lighting (CFL and LED)

(8) Energy Star appliances / reduced phantom power

(9) Quality workmanship

(10) Renewable energy (now or being ready for it in the future)

Submitted by Amy Musser

Amy is co-founder and principal of VandeMusser Design, PLLC, founded in 2002. Amy received her Bachelors and Ph.D. degrees in Architectural Engineering and an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.

She is an active member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and has previously held a faculty position in Architectural Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and as a researcher in the Indoor Air Quality group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. You can find out more about Amy here.

LSC has partnered with Amy as our HERS rater. She certifies all of our new homes, and preforms energy certifications and evaluations.

design green, build green, design green cycle

Testimonials

We are thrilled with our green built home designed and built especially for us by Living Stone Construction. The care they took in choosing materials and using sustainable building practices are allowing us to enjoy excellent air quality inside our home while we realize amazing savings on our energy bills.

Carol and Warren Strittmatter

Living Stone Construction, and ID.ology Interior Design, were a pleasure to work with throughout all facets of our project. They were integral during our design stage and handled our fast-track schedule like true professionals. It is so rare to work with people who don’t make excuses or point fingers – Living Stone Construction and ID.ology are comprised of those rare people.

Brendan Hoyer

This house is absolutely amazing. It is everything I ever wanted in a home. I have not found one flaw in my house built by Living Stone; everything is done to perfection. Everything.

Christine Dowd

With Sean and Laura’s design-and-build business model, we knew exactly what was going on. It was helpful as far as keeping us on point for the amount we’d budgeted for each part of the house. It was very transparent and reasonable to me, more so than with other builders. We knew what we were getting.

Sarah Watkins

To do a project this size over that amount of time and when you come to the end of it, you’re still friends – that says a lot about the builder. It says that they delivered what you expected.

Joe Parks

Sean doesn’t want you to move in unless everything is absolutely perfect,” she said. “He just has to have everything perfect. And I like everything perfect as well. We were a match made in heaven.

Christine Dowd

Sean Sullivan and his group are the most professional and pleasant builders I have the had the pleasure of working with. They go to great lengths to determine what their customers want (and their budget requirements). Then they do everything possible to “under sell and over deliver”. Sean is an exceptional builder that delivers an exceptional home.

Gary Thompson

Living Stone’s trade partners were some of the best subcontractors I’ve worked with. It was very much a family unit.

Betsy Edwards

Over the last 10 years, time has not marked the home – nothing on the inside has needed re-staining, and nothing on the outside has needed re-painting. It’s been very minimal for the yearly things you would think you had to do. We don’t have a list of repair people because we haven’t needed them.

Peggy Scheu

The building supervision was good. The communication was good. We didn’t have any problems with the billing. There really weren’t any surprises. It was really easy, which is almost unheard of in a construction situation.

Bill Scheu

He does things right for the sake of doing them right and that was the impression we got with every facet of our experience with Living Stone. That made us just be able to trust them and trust their system.

Carol Strittmatter

They have a process that is thoroughly thought out, thoroughly vetted and thoroughly effective. The process from start to finish was totally transparent and the bottom line was that it was a fun process and not a stressful process.

Dr. Warren Strittmatter

I was impressed with the emphasis on high quality construction, energy efficiency and an aging in place concept. If you choose LSC and ID.ology you’ll have the piece of mind that you’ve chosen the best.

David Borr

Sean and Frank have done excellent work in the community and have a great reputation so there was no where else we would go but to them when it was time to build our new home.

Daren Pinkerton

I couldn’t be more pleased. Michael and I feel like we are on vacation, everytime we walk into the kitchen. Frank and all the crew has really made this project go smoothly, and I can’t thank Living Stone enough.

Paula Bruder

We chose Living Stone because of Sean but we love Living Stone because of their team. Molly, Pam, Frank, Laura and our main man Mike! Mike drives our home’s construction, can answer any question at a level you can understand and is a pleasure to work with. Laura organizes and improves all of our design decisions, gives us inspiration and keeps everything on track. Sean, it is a credit to you that you have surrounded yourself with so many truly good people.

Jim Jones

I have to comment on everyone’s integrity. Everyone has been of the highest caliber and truly made us feel like they care about us as people, our satisfaction and that we are getting a home, not just a house. I rate every aspect of this process, every member of this team and every subcontractor, an A plus!

Bonnie Holstein

Design+build is an outstanding approach and the implementation of it was just amazing. We had very high expectations based on Sean’s reputation and what we had seen. And they were exceeded.

George Ackerman

We found Sean to be a man of his word, honorable and he takes such pride in his work.

Cheryl Levine

The process of design+build and creating something that is so energy efficient is a miracle to me. Sean has a way of putting things together so that we get the product that we want and then he puts together the quality product that he knows he can build.

Dr. Steve Levine

I don’t know why someone would not choose Living Stone to build their home. It is such a polished production that gives you a polished complete finish. You have no doubt that the product you have is the house you dreamed of!

Rich Sefcik

We built this home from a remote location so we had to put a lot of faith in Frank the Superintendent, Sean of Living Stone, and Laura the designer, to make sure they were building this home to our specifications and to meet our needs. Frankly I have to admit I was extremely impressed. I don’t think they missed anything and they exceeded our expectations.

Mitch Marecki

It’s special, it’s wonderful and I keep pinching myself because I cannot believe that this is our home. Living Stone Construction, headed by Sean Sullivan more than met our expectations. They hit a grand slam out of the ball park. This house is amazing!

Stanlee Stahl

Design/Build is an outstanding approach and the implementation of it was just amazing. We had very high expectations based on Sean’s reputation and what we had seen…and they were exceeded.

George Ackerman

Your integrity, skill, kindness and warmth shows in your words as well as your actions. We are and will forever be grateful to have worked with such an amazing group of people. Being part of the Living Stone family is our blessing. Thank you.

Jan Sefcik

I think the relationship will go beyond the build process and I think that says a lot about Sean and the team he has put together.

Stanlee Stahl

The energy efficiency of the house has made it very comfortable through some very extreme weather and our energy bills have been remarkably low. The energy star rating of the home has really paid off. Truly, I haven’t had energy costs this low in 20 years.

Gary Holstein

Sean has the rare quality of being able to see the big picture while being engaged in the fine details of his projects combined with the ability to effectively and efficiently communicate both in a way that not only gets the job done but gets it done with a commitment to excellence that has enabled him to be a leader among his building industry peers across North Carolina. I have known Sean for close to 10 years and have a great professional and personal admiration of his work and character.

Frank Wiesner

Sean’s knowledge of building practices and principles, conceptually and practically, really impressed me. I eventually saw his work in person and was blown away by the craftsmanship. He is a TRUE craftsman — no cookie cutter work here. The houses he builds are incredible — the floorplans are well thought out, and the details are really special.

Stefanie Beierschmitt

Sean is detailed, honest and conducts himself and his company with character and integrity. Fantastic and loyal employees. I’ve known and worked with Sean for over 7 years, highly recommend.

Dan Collier

Sean builds an outstanding product as evidenced by the many awards and accolades he has received.

Gary Hill

The Living Stone team are unmatched in what they do. We are so grateful to get to be part of their team and look forward to bigger and better things to come.

Tildon Whiteside

We have enjoyed our relationship with Sean and Living Stone Construction thru the years. They have an excellent eye for detail and are enjoyable to work with.

Marcus Duarte

The Living Stone Construction Design/Build team, are the best in the area. I have been in, and around, the building and real estate industry throughout my life and I have never met a builder that has as much integrity, passion for what he does, care for his clients and the motivation to always exceed expectations, drive to continue learning and honing his skills and techniques to offer his clients the best. Anyone who hires Living Stone Construction will not be disappointed and will have the home of their dreams!

Laura K. Sullivan

I have known Sean for many years and can say with out a doubt he has the highest degree of professionalism, attention to detail and desire to provide a spectacular customer service experience I have ever seen.

Brian Polofsky

Sean has an extremely professional TEAM who supported my clients initially and now throughout the process. He builds trust and it is deserved — Sean has high standards for himself and that is obvious in how he does business.

Stefanie Beierschmitt

I have built or renovated 5 homes and completed tens of millions of dollars of commercial construction. Sean is the most professional, knowledgeable, honest, organized residential builders it has been my pleasure to know. He recently completed our custom home in the Settings of Black Mountain and exceeded our expectations in every way. From his staff to his sub contractors, excellence is practiced every day.

Jim Jones

From a professional standpoint Sean Sullivan with Living Stone Construction goes above and beyond to make sure his clients as well as the general public and colleagues are as educated as possible with building homes in the mountains.

Holly Ray

Simply awesome company !!!! If your looking for the best, you need not look any further. Custom built quality homes and fantastic folks who care about you and your new home! Living Stone Construction you are the BEST!

Tom Fink

Sean Sullivan’s team of builders are top notch. They converted a small residential building into a arts n crafts commercial masterpiece.. With over 2,000 sq ft of addition; everything looks as if it’s been here since day one. I highly recommend Sean and his team of experts.

Kyle Wright

The process of design/build and creating something that is so energy efficient is a miracle to me. Sean has a way of putting things together so that we get the product that we want and then he puts together the quality product that he knows he can build.

Dr. Steven Levine

Sean is the most organized manager I have encountered. I would match his management skills against any of the Managing Directors of the Fortune 500 Company that I worked with in project management, financial planning, and negotiations. He expects and demands the best from his employees, as do Living Stone’s clients. He is a true leader. Pam Potter

Pam Potter

From the beginning, Sean was a great listener, offered ideas and introduced us to his team. We have been extremely happy with everything that has been done so far. We anticipate the building phase with great joy! A top professional for sure.

Ednamae Fisher

Having worked together on an award winning home, I found Sean and his team to be attentive to the quality of construction, committed to incorporating sustainable building practices and materials, and thorough in tracking costs. He was very willing to work with my team during the construction process which provided the best level of service to our client. Sean is a builder that I recommend highly.

Amy Conner-Murphy, AIA

LSC was a pleasure to work with throughout our remodeling project. Frank worked diligently to meet our deadline for completion of late January, despite snow and ice. Their ability to deliver a quality product in a timely manner while still being able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances was greatly appreciated.

Ronnie Seals

Building with Living Stone Construction gave us a sense of comfort, with ongoing confidence and trust that the job would be done well!

Cheryle Sullivan

We love our home. In addition to building a quality home, Sean is honest, responsive, a pleasure to work with. He really makes the entire process flow quite comfortably. Living out of state when we had our home built was initially cause for some concern for us. Sean and the superintendent of our project were in constant communication with us, letting us know well in advance when decision points were approaching. And the weekly pictures were wonderful. I wouldn’t have been able to cope without them. Probably the best comment I could make is that if we were to build again, we’d use Sean again in a heartbeat

Dr. Matthew Kraus

Sean Sullivan’s skills and experience exemplify superlative leadership in business and construction. His commitment to doing the right thing and being focused on the best interests of his customers is always clear. The consummate professional, Sean’s strong relationships with the many disciplines within the trade establish him as one the best go-to contractors in the business!

Travis Childs, Senior VP First Citizens Bank

Living Stone did a fantastic job on our mountain house. They far exceeded our expectations and always kept us informed throughout the entire job. Their crew are real craftsmen- from carpenters to painters, they were professional in every way. If you want a beautiful and well-done job, these are the guys. We highly recommend them, so if you have bad experiences in the past, call Sean and deal with a real pro

Marie Tanner, owner and Interior Designer

As an architect specializing in custom residential home design in the Asheville area, I have had the opportunity to work with Sean Sullivan on multiple custom home designs in The Settings of Black Mountain. Our experiences have been very positive, as has been the feedback from my clients. Sean’s strong work ethic, commitment to quality craftsmanship, attention to detail and customer satisfaction was exceptional. In the world of construction it’s refreshing to work with someone who values honesty and integrity. Sean takes pride in each and every home he builds. I look forward to our continued working relationship and can confidently recommend Living Stone Construction

Ken Wertheim, AIA

Living Stone Construction, Inc. Featured on Houzz

National Custom Home Builder of the Year (855) 720-2435 | Get a Quote

Testimonials

Our Design Family of Companies: