Electric bills always seem to be going up. Wouldn’t you like to find a way to reduce your electric bill? To reduce our electric bill, we usually think of ways to use less electricity, which is a good thing. You can reduce your electric bill by making your house more energy efficient. You can reduce the wattage in the lights in your house. I’m not a fan of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs, as I’ve written in an earlier post to this blog. But advances in LED technology are quickly changing the way we produce light and much lower electrical consumption. Although it helps, changing light bulbs is not the quickest way to reduce your electric bill. You can immediately reduce your electric bill by 20% to 40% by installing a Computerized Energy Management System.

     One company I’ve worked with here in North Carolina is Smart Energy Solutions. They have a computerized system that manages the big consumers of electricity in your house, like water heaters, air conditioners, dryers, and such. Here’s how it works. In the background, without any noticeable change in your daily living habits and convenience, this system prevents the big electricity consumers in your house from coming on simultaneously. The dryer might wait to start its heating element until the air conditioner is done with its cycle, for instance. This prevents peaks in your electrical usage from occurring and levels out your electrical consumption throughout the “on-peak” period. In most places, the “on-peak” period is usually from around 8:00am through early evening during the weekdays. (more…)

     In these uncertain economic times, more and more builders find themselves faced with the problem of getting paid. When the work is complete, some homeowners are slow in paying the last bill. This could be for a good reason. There might be unfinished or improperly done work. Some items might be on back-order and the homeowner needs to hold some amount of money to guarantee the builder will come back to fix errors or install missing pieces.

     This is the correct thing for homeowners to be doing. But other times a homeowner might simply refuse to pay knowing that legal action by the builder will be expensive. The cost of suing might exceed the amount of money being held so it would not be worth it. The builder is forced to walk away from the money he is owed and the homeowner is unethically enriched. It’s truly sad when this happens. I wish there weren’t people in this world who would take advantage of hard working builders this way. (more…)

    I did a book signing yesterday at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. These events are good opportunities for people to ask me any question they like about house design and homebuilding. I have been designing all sorts of houses for many years. I think Lincoln was President when I got my architectural license. It was so long ago I really don’t remember. Over that long time, I thought I had answered just about every question anyone could ask about house design. But yesterday I realized I have been living in a delusional world. I got a question that literally left me speechless.

    A woman came up to the signing table, thumbed through my book, Designing Your Perfect House, and complimented me on it. Then she asked, “Do you design houses that protect people from radio waves.” My answer was the same as yours probably would have been. Total silence. I had no idea what to say. (more…)