“Built-In” versus “Bolt-On” Performance

You may have heard the saying, “You can’t un-ring a bell.” Sometimes you just can’t go back and change things.

When a fruit grower decides to grow organic fruit they change their whole way of doing things. There’s no way to make fruit organic after the fact. There’s no “Bolt-On” alternative to doing things right from the start.

When Toyota created the Prius they didn’t start with a Corolla and bolt on an electric motor. They started from scratch to build a whole new car. It has new wheels, a new transmission, a new computerized dashboard, and a new drive system. Every component was reconsidered with the whole vehicle in mind. The result is the most popular hybrid car on the market and the rest of the automotive industry has begun to follow.

The same is true when building homes. We can’t start thinking about energy efficiency, lifespan, health and comfort of a home after it’s built. There are certain essential components that just have to be built in. It starts with a clean slate and reconsideration of every component with the whole house in mind.

Solar panels can be bolted on and energy efficient appliances can be installed but after a furnace and duct work have been installed in the garage it’s not feasible to move them into conditioned space. An insulated foundation, without vents, that includes an earth slab and vapor barrier cannot be installed after the fact. Replacing traditional batting insulation with spray foam insulation would require gutting the inside perimeter of the house. There is simply no alternative to doing things right from the beginning.

We call it, “Built-In Performance” and we don’t build homes without it.

Mark Mecklem - Miranda Homes