Efficient homes are resilient homes: a recap of BuildRight 2025

Photo courtesy of the Homebuilding Association of Greater Portland

This year’s BuildRight conference kicked off with a special training focused on cost-effective strategies to meet the Department of Energy (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERH) program.

Pre-conference day training event

The Energy & Environmental Building Alliance, in collaboration with the DOE, hosted a pre-conference training on April 29. Gord Cooke of Construction Instruction Inc. led, “How to Build a Zero Energy Ready Home,” a workshop that explored ways builders can tailor their homes to achieve greater efficiency and resiliency.

2025 BuildRight Conference + Expo highlights

The conference theme, “Sealing the Future: Innovations in Building Envelope Performance,” was front and center in many of the panels.

• Edward Louie of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory outlined the importance of proper air sealing and how it boosts the durability of homes in his session, “Attic Exterior Perimeter Top Plate Air Sealing & Insulation – A Challenging Detail to Get Right.” The session ended with a hands-on demonstration about non-traditional yet effective sealing methods.

• The panelists of the “Venting About Ventilation” town hall agreed that homebuyers care more about keeping their homes free of wildfire smoke and allergens from outdoors than ever before. Owners want to have control over the air quality in their homes, and are willing to pay more for high-quality ventilation systems. That said, the energy savings from more efficient systems can balance out the higher cost of the equipment and installation.

Resiliency was another prevalent topic across the conference’s sessions that inspired discussion among attendees.

• During his session, “Is Resilience The New Energy Efficiency?,” Josh Salinger of Birdsmouth Design-Build noted that 50% of his business’s inquiries in the last four months led with resiliency. Homebuyers rank comfort, durability, health, and efficiency differently in their decision-making. However, energy efficiency is, “a happy side effect” of homes built with resiliency in mind,” as Salinger put it.

• Earth Advantage’s Rebecca Heilig suggested the resiliency of a home could impact future property insurance costs in her session, “Sustainable Home Sales: Mastering Communication for Selling Certified and Rated Homes.” Rebecca noted resilient designs give homebuyers peace of mind about their investments. More and more people are pursuing mortgage-backed securities, or “green bonds,” to purchase more efficient, resilient homes.

A roundtable session moderated by technical consultant Dan Wildenhaus made space for Raters to share their experiences and raise concerns about the current building industry market with a group of their peers.

• Raters asked questions and offered helpful insights about the high-performance home industry. The conversation also touched on challenges builders in rural areas face accessing Raters, code developments that make high-performance pathways a harder sell, and how to better promote the value they can bring to projects.

From networking opportunities to hands-on demonstrations and workshops, there was something for everyone at BuildRight 2025. Review the presentation slides by visiting the BuildRight website for more information about this year’s conference.