Sterling Homes is proud to have been named a Home Innovation NGBS Green Partner of Excellence for 2017. NGBS Green, which is based on the National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS), has certified more homes than any other national green home certification program. Being one of an elite group of Home Innovation’s green certification participants to be recognized validates the commitment Sterling Homes has made to providing its customers with increased value, comfort, durability, and efficiency through its green certified homes. Sterling Homes was one of two Vermont home builders to be awarded this recognition.
To earn certification to the National Green Building Standard, a home must meet rigorous criteria in six categories – Lot & Site Development; Resource Efficiency; Energy Efficiency; Water Efficiency; Indoor Environmental Quality; and Homeowner Education. To date, Sterling Homes has built 84 homes certified through Home Innovation. 7 homes are Gold status, 71 are Silver, and 6 are Bronze.
There are mandatory practices in each category that every NGBS Green Certified home must meet, and there are a wide range of additional optional practices in each category that a builder can select based on the applicability to buyers or renters in their market. There are also mandatory point minimums in every category in order for a home to attain the next level of certification, which is a more stringent requirement than in any other national certification program.
Since January 2009, when the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) became the first residential green building rating system to be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Home Innovation Research Labs has certified nearly 130,000 green single-family and apartment homes, and more than 1,650 lots within green residential land developments.