Cool Homes Tour...

So, I was able to attend the Cool Homes Tour of 2009. I saw older homes that were renovated using green technology. I also saw homes that were newer and were built using green technology. There were a few homes that stood out to me, yet they all seem familiar. I listened to an architect talk to someone about their ideas of building a green home and noticed it sounded familiar. What I realized is I may have hit a small cap on knowledge. I don't mean to say I understand everything, but I realize I have hit a wall in progress. I understand some green building concepts and have researched information for hours. I have watched presentations and gone to seminars. I still plan to go to the AIA tour of 2009 in October in hopes of seeing or hearing something different and new. I think it's time to move to the next step. At least it's in my timeline of events and works well.

My next step is to start looking at potential architects/home designers and start interviewing them, per se. I want to look at their plans and see their design style. I have met with one home designer in the past and looked at their plans, but plan to go back as part of my final decision process. I hope to find someone that I think I can work with well. I hope to find someone that can see what I can see and recognize my desire to be involved with the entire building process. I hope to find someone that will be able to see past my own limitations and suggest beneficial aspects of a house design that will bring about a better house.

I have my first appointment with Barron Custom Design this upcoming week. I hope this will be a learning experience and a good feeling for what direction I can/need to go. I have a couple of people at the top of my list and hope to narrow them down and actually get going with the plans starting late fall. My understanding is it can take several months to actually get plans ready for the actual building process. A lot of decisions will have to be made during that time. We are starting to from conceptual to actual. I'm nervous and excited about this process. Let it begin...