- Hi, my name is Michael Ingui
from Baxt Ingui Architects. I am also the founder of the
Passive House Accelerator and co-founder of Source 2050. Over the last decade, we've
done a number of Passive Houses. We've done the first
Passive House of Manhattan the first Passive House
in a landmark district the first Passive Plus House in the US and have been really lucky to
get some wonderful projects with great contractors, great consultants and have been really helped and mentored with this community sharing
details, ideas, solutions and best practices. We've been creating a systematic approach to achieving successful
Passive House projects and there are really 10
steps you can follow. I decided it would be
better to ask the people I really admire whose work
is different from ours who've been doing it for a long time what they also thought
their 10 steps were, and as usual we got fantastic feedback. We're gonna talk about
their ideas as well as mine and the 10 steps that are included provide that framework that
can be followed by anyone. Step one is always getting
the client on board first. Having the client believe
in what you're doing as much as what you
are doing is important. Focus on the amenities of a Passive House. People very often will
think they're getting less but they're getting more. When we walk through with a
client we'll very often say: if you want a house without
moist, bugs and dust, you can do a Passive House. If you want a house without
so much street noise, we can put Passive House windows in. If you want a house that
has filtered fresh air 24/7 we can do a Passive House. If you want a house with
warm walls and floors and where the temperature
is consistent throughout we can do a Passive House. They, they didn't know
they can have these things so they don't ask the question. And once they do know
they can have these things of course they want it. Nobody's like, no, I want I want the house with all the bugs. I want the house with the dust. Gimme, gimme that one. And all of a sudden they ask
you what a Passive House is and they're in. They're invested. They want it. We don't mention the energy
savings, which is tremendous. We don't mention the fact that they almost don't
need heat in the winter, which is bananas, because
if I did mention that first they would just assume they
couldn't have something. When in fact, with a Passive House you're getting more, not less. Step number two is including the Passive House consultant early. One theme of any project, as
well as Passive House projects, is never going backwards. And including your Passive
House consultant early whether it's in-house or you're using an outside
consultant is essential. It allows you to bring them
in during schematic design. You can look at the orientation, you can look at where
shading would be better. It allows us to know where we've gotta do more
insulation and less insulation and we can bring that into our design. Not doing that creates
situations where you go backwards where you design a project and
you're realizing, oh my God, now I need all these horrible mechanicals and I need to do this,
and I need to solve that. Or you, the client fell
in love with something that they probably shouldn't
have or you shouldn't have. And also it doesn't allow you to see the opportunities
that Passive House windows or walls or doors allow you
to include in your designs. Step number three, bringing
the contractor in early is something that Baxt Ingui
does on all of our projects but in Passive House projects,
it's even more important. It brings them into the project gets 'em excited about the
design as well as the build. And in our experience creates a much better finished product. Some of the subcontractors and some of the crew have never
done a Passive House before. They get pretty excited about it but they have to know what they're in for. They have to know that they
can't cut through that membrane or cut through that layer that they've been used to cutting forever. They can then really get
into the detailing with you. Now you're not just
bringing the builder on you're bringing the builder's subs on. The electrician's got ideas where the electrical panel can go. The plumber's got ideas about
where the chase could be. Everybody gets excited about this. Everybody wants to build better. We're giving them the opportunity to do it and to do it in an organized way and bring them on early is essential. Step four is creating an air sealing, mechanical, ventilation, exhaust and hot water strategy from the beginning. You don't have to wait until you're through construction
drawings to get into this. You should do this early. And asking the client how
they want to use the house. How cold do they like it? How warm do they like it? Do they have a lot of parties? Really understanding what the client wants and coming up with that strategy and that diagram early ensures
that things fit, things work, and the house is going to
operate the way you want it to. That'll make a happier client in the end. They move in, they know how their house
works, and they're happy. Filters have to be removed. Don't make it difficult. Make it easy. Easy to reach filters are
filters that get changed. Filters that can't get reached are filters that don't get changed. Remember that air sealing
from the cellar to the walls to the roof of any building is a system. Make sure the system works. It's great when you can do
it with one manufacturer but if you're not, make sure all the
manufacturers work together. You don't have to get
through detailing to do that. You can do that at the beginning. You can take a look at
the manufacturer's specs, talk to different people and make sure they all work together so you have one seamless
system that works. Step five is to create a clear drawing and specification package. Similar to many of these other steps these are not exclusive to Passive House, bringing in your contractor early, your Passive House consultant early, certification body early,
all in schematic design really helps you in design development and in construction drawings
to create this clear package so that when they're building
and they're in the field, they really know what's going on. Paying attention to shading, window orientation, and
heat gain is imperative. It is the single most
important thing you can do to significantly lower your cooling loads. Some of the contractors
you'll be working with have never installed an ERV before or some of the makeup air
equipment that we're using for some of the ventilation. Making sure they know
where it is, where it goes, and how you're gonna run
it, and detailing it in, ensures that they've got
it in the drawing set they've got it in the bid,
and they can build it, right? Being clear in the contract documents of what's expected is essential to ensuring the contractor has the time and the ability to do the
things they need to do. And finally, we are in an emerging market. So remember, yes, there's a
new product probably coming out in three months or six months, and yes how you're detailing it today you'll be detailing better in three months or six months. But you have
to finish this project. Your client has to move
in, they must be happy, and you're detailing it
the best way you can. Create a package that
works, that's available, that's buildable, and
everyone will be happy. Step six is one of the secret sauces to I think any successful project but definitely a Passive House project which is to hold a kickoff
meeting with the entire crew. What that means it's not just the general
contractor you hired it's the site super. It's the electrician who's
gonna be on the project, the plumber who's gonna be on the project. Make sure they understand
what you're looking for, what's your final outcome? What is a Passive House? And it's exciting. They like it. They get excited about it. It also helps to make sure that everybody's on the same page. They know what we're doing and people are more apt
to do a better project on projects where they're
included in the entire story. This is incredibly important for first time Passive House contractors and first time Passive
House subcontractors. Again, these are relatively easy concepts that are very difficult to unlearn. People ask us all the time how do you find a good
Passive House contractor? And our answer is, you just
find a great contractor. Most contractors love to build. They love what they're doing, they're interested in it, right? They love tools. They love finding out the
best way to do something. And most of the time the contractors that we're working with once they learn how to
do the Passive House, they're bringing up better ways for us to do it all the time. It becomes a bit of an addiction. Step seven is to hold weekly meetings. Definitely with construction, there are projects with weekly meetings and there are projects that don't go well. You start with, what did you do last week? What are you doing this week? What do you need from us
for the next two weeks? And just those simple
questions help everybody stay on track, make sure
the meetings are clear, concise and then everybody
leaves understanding what the next steps are. Step eight is using the
blower door as a tool. If you don't know what a blower door is it's a door with a fan in it
that is either pressurizing or depressurizing your building
to allow you to find leaks. It tells you how well sealed the house is and that's important. That tells you whether you're successful with the way you've taped the windows, with the way you've done the
walls, with your sealants. We're doing blower door tests on our houses before we've
even installed the windows. Very often, they're bringing the wallboard or the smart membrane past
the window opening anyway or masking them out. And what's nice about that is you are not doing
the blower door too late in the process where you've
put up too much framing, you've put up too much stuff in the way so you can't find that item. You're looking for a needle in the haystack takes you forever and that is what makes
Passive House either fail or be more expensive. It's all about sequencing and sequencing the blower door early and using it often ensures that you're not looking at
the needle in the haystack. Sometimes when we're working with Kevin or other contractors, we're
running the blower door at night after they've installed the
second floor of windows. So we can see, okay, how
is it, how is it now? Did it go up or down? And it lets you know, okay, it's an issue on the second floor and the next day they come in
and they take a look at it. Again, you're not going backwards. It doesn't take long to do. And using it as a tool is so helpful. Step nine is commissioning the house. And for those of you who don't know what we mean by commissioning, it's really making sure that
your systems are working the way they're supposed to work. They can check the flow rates, they can check the ventilation rates, they can check to make sure
everything's working well, and everything's balanced well. I can tell you firsthand in my own house I was a little slow and I didn't commission
my house right away. Lived there for three
months or four months and then had it commissioned, which again means that I had
my air conditioning balanced and I had my ERV balanced. And you could tell a huge difference. It's not just good to maximize
the energy performance of the house, which it is. It's good just for just general living. Not only are you ensuring
that the project's working well for the client, that the energy performance is good but you're also at that point telling them how does my energy
recovery ventilator work? How does my air conditioning work? And it's a great way to
hand the client the project. Step 10, certifying your project. Certifying your project
has a lot of benefits. It's not just a plaque,
it's not just a final test. We've included that certifying body early. We've used them as a tool during it. We're doing all the tests anyway. Certifying is just one more step into that where you're sending
it to the certifying body and they're helping to ensure, yeah you really made it happen. Again, Passive, House is
just a better building. Thanks for making it through all 10 steps and I wanna say thank you to everyone who helped
participate in these 10 steps. These are secrets of builders
and architects and developers and they're not holding it in. They're not siloing it to themselves. They understand how important it is that everybody gets these and everybody can follow
this sequential approach to building a better building. They understand how important it is that we make this happen. So thank you very much. If you want more information go to passivehouseaccelerator.com. They share lots of interesting
tips, tricks, projects, techniques, and solutions so that you can build a better building. (bright music)
