On the day before Thanksgiving 2009 we completed the installation of a three-ton, ground-coupled, closed-loop geothermal heating and cooling system for John and Judy Call, principal owners of Home Energy, Inc. The system consists of the ground loop, heat pump unit, and flow center. The ground loop consists of two 300-foot boreholes with one inch SDR-11 geothermal pipe connected through a reverse return header system to 250 feet of 1.25" SDR-11 geothermal pipe. The 1.25" pipe runs from the boreholes in a 4' deep trench to the flow center and heat pump unit in the home.

To push the sustainable building envelope further, we are performing a total gut rehab of a condex at 19-21 Judson Street, Haverhill, MA. We recently constructed two new Energy Star homes at 7 67th Street and 10 68th Street on Plum Island, but this will be our first Energy Star-rated remodeling project.

In late winter of 2009 we completed our second EnergyStar home for Crane Neck Investments, 7 67th St., Plum Island. The home is a center-entry, two-story colonial with an attached mudroom. It is of similar construction to the 68th Street house with 2x6 walls, Maibec, prestained shingles and Kleer PVC trim boards. The interior layouts are similar in that both have 9' ceilings with an open floor plan. The kitchen, with Legacy cabinets and granite countertops, opens to the living room, which holds a custom gas fireplace. A study sits next to the living room space.

 Last July, we began a project for Steven & Jean Berger of Parsons Street in Newburyport. Fulcrum Architects designed the project and Kathy Stathopolous of B&G Cabinets designed the kitchen. The house was built in the 1800's. Previous owners added the kitchen area in the rear of the house in the 1900's, and a screened porch more recently.

The Batson's are big fans of the Not So Big House book. They definitely come from the perspective that they'd rather make their not-so-big house be a dream to live in. They worked with architect Lawrence Reeves to come up with a design that - in their opinion - radically improved their home.

For the Batson's, we worked on about 1/3 the house:

We recently completed a bathroom remodel for Jim Baker and Parkee Jones of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The bathroom remodel is the first step of an extensive first-floor addition and kitchen/bathroom remodeling project. We completed the upstairs bath first, so we could concentrate our efforts and contain the mess to one floor at a time. We expanded and remodeled the upstairs bath to move the laundry room from the first to the second floor. The old bathroom was approximately 6' x 10' and the new bath is 12' x 10'.

Mid-summer of 1999, Home Energy, Inc. undertook a kitchen remodel for Doug and Melinda Crossman of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Ten years earlier, the Crossmans had remodeled the kitchen, adding a family room. They decided the kitchen needed to be updated and procured the services of architect William March for the design work. Mr. March redesigned the kitchen space, proposing to add a breakfast nook and a screened porch with a deck to the rear of the house. Upon reviewing the plans we were eager to land the job.

In the spring of 2006 we began a project for Gary and Emma Campbell of Andover, MA, remodeling their 1970's, Tudor-style home. The Campbells hired architect Lawrence Reeves to redesign the exterior of the home.

We gave the house a shingle-style Victoriann facelift with a remodeled center entry, complete with a rounded copper roof. We matched the center entry with a smaller, side entry with copper roof. Next we installed all new Andersen, energy-efficient windows with several new box bay units incorporated into the design.

Early in 2007 we untertook a joint venture with Jim and Cindy Parker, owners of Willow Spring Vineyards of Haverhill, MA to rebuild a barn. The barn, disassembled by the Parkers, was originally built in the late 1700’s. The Parkers salvaged a little over half of the timbers in the post and beam frame. Fire and decay rendered the other half unusable. To replace the missing timbers, the Parkers purchased and disassembled another barn. This barn, built in the 1850’s, came from Tyngsboro, MA.