canada-based builder introduces green label to its florida communities _ builder magazine
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HOME > BUILDING > BUILDING SCIENCE > CANADA-BASED BUILDER INTRODUCES GREEN LABEL TO ITSFLORIDA COMMUNITIES
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Posted on: October 05, 2010 0 0Like 0 0 0
CANADA-BASED BUILDER INTRODUCES GREEN LABEL TO ITS FLORIDACOMMUNITIESThe Minto Group has been emphasizing the sustainability of its products for a decade.
By John Caulfield
The Minto Group, one of Canada’s greenest production builders, recently
started selling houses at the Monterra master planned community in Cooper
City, Fla., where Minto is marketing its attached products under its new
“Minto Blue” label. The label signifies that the homes will meet the
sustainable design and construction standards of five different agencies:
LEED, Energy Star, the NAHB’s National Green Building Program, the
Florida Green Building Coalition, and Florida Power & Light BuildSmart.
Overkill? Not when “sustainable” and “green” are search words that U.S.
buyers now use to find houses and neighborhoods online, says Glen Trotta,
vice president of marketing for Minto’s Florida division.
Minto, a 55yearold builder based in Ottawa, Ontario, has operated in
Florida for two decades and currently sells from 10 communities there.
Cascada at Monterra, which when completed will have 148 attached townhouses ranging from 1,400 to 1,700 square feet, is
its first significant application of Minto Blue, says Jim Traxinger, executive vice president of the company’s Southeast
Florida operations. The sustainable features in those homes will include doublepaned, Argoninsulated lowemissivity
windows, sliders, and doors; highefficiency HVAC systems; Energy Starrated appliances and bathroom exhaust fans;
watersaving bath fixtures and outdoor irrigation; and lowVOC carpets and paint.
On its website, Minto claims that its homes can reduce an owner’s utility bills by up to $11,328 over a 20year period
compared to other new homes built to code, and by up to $31,037 compared to a 10yearold house. Equally noteworthy is
the opening price point of Cascada’s townhouses, which start in the low $200s.
“The problem with a lot of ‘green’ builders is that they don’t know what to do,” says Andrew Pride, vice president of Minto’s
green group, who oversees its sustainable strategies. “They don’t understand that green doesn’t have to be massively
expensive, but it should be massively impactful.” Traxinger adds that his division has kept construction costs down by
working with trades and suppliers “to leverage the market, and do more with less.”
Minto Group has gained a reputation as a value builder on both sides of the U.S.Canada border. Last month, the Ontario
Home Builders Association named Minto its Green Builder of the Year for the second time in the past three years. Building
sustainable homes “is a deeprooted philosophy that every employee cares about,” boasts Pride. But marketing the value of
sustainable homes requires different tactics in each country. In Canada, consumers have long expected the houses they buy
to be sustainable, as people and their government there “are heavily focused on the environment,” says Pride. The cost of
green is less of a fact in Canada, where home prices in general are higher and building codes more stringent than those in
The Minto Group
A DIFFERENT SHADE OF GREEN: The Minto Group's newcommunity in Florida, Cascada at Monterra, will featuretownhouses that are being marketed under the builder's “MintoBlue” label, which indicates they can meet the sustainablestandards of five different ratings agencies.
JOHN CAULFIELD
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the U.S. “It’s like California,” he says. Conversely, Floridians “are more
concerned about dollars and cents, and are more likely to say ‘show me the
energy chart’ to see how much they’ll save. So it’s an education.” Traxinger
notes that moveup buyers at some of Minto’s Florida communities “are
looking to do the right thing,” and therefore are receptive to sustainability as a
selling point.
Traxinger points out as well that Florida could soon have some of the greenest
building codes in the country, after the state’s Building Commission last
month moved to completely revise its Energy Efficiency Conservation Code,
using the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code as its foundation. If all goes as planned, the final rule adopting the
revised codes would be filed next February.
Those changes could prove to be beneficial for a green builder such as Minto, which expanded its presence in Florida two
years ago when it opened an office in Tampa, and has since been making strategic acquisitions in WestCentral Florida.
“We’ve been patient and have made some strong moves,” says Traxinger, whose company expects to open another
subdivision in the Monterra master plan in 2011.
John Caulfield is a senior editor for BUILDER magazine.
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Orlando, FL.
The Minto Group
GREATER VALUE: Water-saving bath fixtures are among thefeatures offered in The Minto Group's new community, Cascada atMonterra, where its homes will start in the low $200s.
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Keywords:
Subject:
Energy Efficiency Construction Trends Building Performance Green Design Master Planned Communities
Sustainability Renewable Energy
State:
Florida
Location:
Orlando-Kissimmee, FL
People:
Glen Trotta Jim Traxinger Andrew Pride
Organization:
The Minto Group Ontario Home Builders Association Energy Star
DWELLThe World's First Carbon-Positive Prefab House
PROUD GREEN HOMEGeothermal for Net-Zero Energy in Texas Community
GREEN BUILDING ADVISORSolar Beats Utility Power in Many Cities
GIGAOM TRIPLE PUNDIT POPULAR SCIENCE
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