In the autumn of 2018 we were stalled on our house project. . We decided not to move forward with the contractor we had initially chosen. This was wrenching and frustrating. We were annoyed with ourselves. Our industrial designer daughter, Claire, found Matt for us and presented a consult with him to us as a Christmas gift. The conversation we had with Matt after Christmas put us on track for our net zero build.
No piker, Matt successfully completed the first net zero reno of a heritage house in the US. It was his own place in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His advice - go fossil fuel free, follow the system set up by ILFI International Living Future Institute to achieve net zero, and use the least toxic materials possible to do so. Matt reinforced the idea that “It’s not sustainable if it isn’t affordable.” We hope our house can be a demonstration that will be useful to others.
Matt found us our energy modeler and our contractor. We went with him to the ILFI Conference in Seattle in May 2019. There we learned about many of the materials and suppliers we would ultimately use in the house.
Matt kept reinforcing the virtue of insisting on affordability. No doubt this caused us to look at a lot of the aspects of the build from many more angles than we would have if we were doing a conventional reno. Time and again we would get bids, ask questions, ask for rebids, look for economies. You can read more about Matt under the team section (link) and see his reading list under bibliography (link). Everybody should be as lucky as we were to fund an honest broker with a depth of experience to guide them through a complicated build.
You can read more about Matt under the Team section (link) and peruse his recommended reading list (here). Matt is embarked on a giant off the grid community known as Viridian (link) on the site of an old prison farm in Ann Arbor - check that out here. Don’t forget to spend some time on the site for ILFI which is a font of good information.