By Shari L. Biediger

Go green these days, and you’ll have a spectrum of choices. With one local residential builder, it’s all under one earth-friendly roof.

“Two years ago, I was doing things with a bunch of different people, all working on basically the same projects, so we decided to put it all under one roof, market it together and offer products and services that complement each other,” says Mike Scott, president of BuiltSmart Resources, LLC. “We formed BuiltSmart in 2009, and it is growing to be the nation’s premier source for education and implementation of sustainable building materials and practices.”

From ceiling to foundation and everything in between — including the surrounding landscape — houses built or remodeled by BuiltSmart are designed for maximum efficiency, and may have solar systems, rainwater collection systems, spray foam insulation and more. 

They’re all custom homes, designed to fit the needs of the client, says Scott. A lot of thought also goes into the home’s orientation to the sun, the direction of prevailing winds, and construction materials that might contribute to indoor air pollution. “We’re able to provide the things in the kinds of houses people want to live in,” he says. They’ve even got curb appeal, an aspect that is still important to most homeowners.

All that technology and know-how is on display in the BuiltSmart Resources Center and Model Home at 2614 East Ramblewood, located near U.S. Highway 281  just north of Borgfeld Drive. The center is open to builders, designers and homeowners, and hosts weekly seminars on efficient homebuilding practices.

BuiltSmart specializes in the Net Zero Home, a home that is designed and built to produce as much, or more, energy than it consumes. A Net Zero home usually costs between 10 percent and 15 percent more than a conventionally built home, and BuiltSmart calculates return on investment within five years.

Scott says BuiltSmart has homes currently going up in Burnet, Utopia, near Lake Travis and in other areas of town. Most of these projects are in the $400,000 to $800,000 price range.

“BuiltSmart is founded on the belief that, collectively, we can make changes today that will benefit us environmentally and financially in the future,” says Scott. “We believe that in the next 10 years, every new home construction project will be incorporating energy-efficient features and design.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

SHARI L. BIEDIGER is a San Antonio freelance writer.