Steve DeMetrick has been building houses since he graduated from Georgetown University in 1995. He worked for Habitat for Humanity in inner city Washington, DC as an AmeriCorps volunteer for two years, then moved back to Wakefield in 1998 and has been building and remodeling in his community ever since. Now, he’s the owner of DeMetrick Housewrights of Wakefield, and he has a passion for incorporating green building procedures into every project he works on. “My approach to green building is less focused on products and gadgets and more focused on applying attention to detail to standard building practices to create more durable, comfortable and healthy living spaces,” he explains. “Energy savings are a positive byproduct of this approach. I also believe that conservation is one of the most cost effective elements to green building. Buildings that are constructed to last a lifetime with few repairs and basic maintenance are conserving future energy and material costs.”
Steve is currently the only certified Passive House contractor in RI, which basically means that he applies rigorous standards during the building process to make homes as energy efficient as possible. “When considering choices and options, think in the long term, think about durability and think about comfort,” Steve says. “And most importantly, hire a qualified contractor that understands building science principles and how the house works as a system.”
Apparently there is also a lot of information and misinformation out there about green building. As a professional, he sees his role to help his customers better understand and navigate this information. “For example, many people think of bamboo flooring as being green, but when you add the energy impact of shipping it from China, and the fact that many of the brands are manufactured with urea-formaldehyde, it suddenly doesn’t look so green,” he says. “Another good example is geothermal heating. Most people are interested when I explain that we can put a little more money into insulation and heat the house with a $3,500 ductless mini-split instead of a $30,000 geothermal system.”
According to the US Energy Information Administration, 40% of the energy consumed in the US is consumed in buildings. If you think about it, “every home being built and remodeled today is an opportunity to reduce that amount. Every house that is being constructed/remodeled without energy efficiency in mind, will be wasting energy for the life of the building,” he says. “Every house I can work on where I can make a difference in that statistic is a step in the right direction.”
DeMetrick Housewrights Wakefield. 378-6257