Bill Hayward, CEO and chief sustainability officer at Hayward Lumber, set out on a personal mission to uncover home health issues, and has grown it into a new business. He thus founded the Hayward Score. More than 30,000 home owners have contributed to data that Hayward uses to inform builders about how to make home designs healthier.
His data aligns home owner health outcomes with home construction and design, along with the impact of improving both.
Below is a chart that shows the incremental costs to achieve healthier homes along with the reduced risk for the builder and the buyer.
This is one trend that isn’t escaping KB Home. The company just launched its 2018 Sustainability Report: Building for Tomorrow, where it lists one guiding principle for sustainability: to contribute to the well-being of the communities in which it operates.
Dan Bridleman, KB’s senior vice president of sustainability, technology and strategic sourcing, has been living that at KB Home for more than 16 years. Bridleman leads the organization’s sustainability initiatives, maintains partnerships with suppliers, and manages information technology. Previously, Bridleman served as general manager of supply chain management at Boeing Satellite Systems in Los Angeles, California, the world's largest manufacturer of commercial communications satellites.
In this podcast episode of HIVE RE:Think, host Philip Beere speaks to Bridleman about the increasing importance of health in new home design, now embedded in KB Home’s business strategy with technology and innovation that offer personal benefits to the occupants.
As Bridleman points out, KB Home is finding that home buyers are prioritizing homes that are healthier for them as well as for the environment.
In response to that, KB Home created a program called eDifference. One of the unique eDifference goals is to create healthy homes by educating buyers about healthier products and construction techniques and expanding standards and options that contribute to wellness in order to improve quality of life.
KB Home is the first national home builder to make the Delos Darwin home wellness technology available to home buyers. DARWIN uses algorithms to improve four main at home health components: air filtration, water purification, dynamic circadian lighting and comfort-focused technologies. The goal of the technology is to enhance energy, improve sleep and overall well-being, and reduce indoor contaminants.
KB Home also offers 100% low-VOC paint and carpeting, high-performance air systems to reduce allergens and irritants and to provide fresh air, systems to manage moisture and prevent mold, along with Kwikset door hardware with Microban® antimicrobial product protection.
KB Home goes beyond physical health when it designs homes and communities by thinking about ways to promote healthier lifestyles, using floor plans that bring the outdoors in, and including amenities that support recreation and connection to nature, like walking trails. Some designs also include features like shared gardens to promote healthier eating, exercise and to promote casual interactions between neighbors.
This story appears as it was originally published on our sister site, www.hiveforhousing.com.
