For Garbett, building sustainable homes is about a lot more than solar panels, tankless water heaters, and HERS scores. “It’s about livability, about health,” he says. “All our homes have fresh-air systems because they’re so tight. We’ve had reports from buyers that they’ve been able to get rid of their inhalers when they’re in our homes.”
Green building and healthy homes are slowly catching on in Utah, Garbett says, but his firm is still the only production builder in the state that provides HERS scores on every home it sells. It’s like shopping for a car that saves gas and having only one manufacturer provide mile-per-gallon ratings, he says, adding that the Utah Foundation predicts that as cars become more energy-efficient, homes will become the state’s largest polluters. Home buyers are starting to catch on, if sales at Garbett’s recent developments Granite Legacy and Wynwood—where home buyers camped out for two nights to be the first in line for the grand openings—are any indication.
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