Nothing could be further from the truth. Bay Area homeowners who demand high quality and high style-are setting a new national trend: going green is gorgeous. At the forefront of this remodeling trend, ABW Construction, Inc., a Los Altos firm, has just won the National Association of Remodeling Industry (NARI) 2008 Gold META award for an entire home remodel in the $500K to $1M category. This META project – short for metamorphosis -shows that a living space can be modern, elegant and luxurious, and still be easy on the Earth.
ABW ContructionThese Portola Valley homeowners - spent 2 ½ years doing research and 1/1/2 years consulting with architects, designers and contractors on their remodel. They wanted to expand their entertainment and family space and still reduce their energy and water consumption. Their goal was to use renewable materials, and to re-use and recycle as much as possible. In choosing a remodeling firm, the contractor’s commitment to green practices was as vital as good building practices, and out of 9 contractors, they chose ABW for their home makeover.
In this project, ABW renovated an entire wing – including the family room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room plus formal dining room - of a single-story, two-wing home. ABW added 650 square feet, and reconstructed another 1100 square feet, for a total remodel of 1750 square feet. The project lasted 120 days, involving 7 sub-contractors and dozens of vendors.
As the NARI judges said in presenting the award: "The remodel creates a light and airy expanse, very open and flowing, with warm, elegant tones and modern styling.” New areas include a state-of-the-art kitchen with island, an entertainment center, two informal dining areas, a wet bar with wine storage, combination laundry-and-mud room, an enhanced half-bath, and upgraded formal dining room. ABW raised the ceilings and installed 2 skylights, added 10 new windows and 2 new entrances, and created a dry zone between the garage and house. They installed new hardwood floors, custom cabinets in the wet bar, kitchen, and laundry room, and custom granite kitchen counters. ABW also hand-crafted two custom pieces: a Chinese-style bathroom vanity and a retractable room divider of antique, hand-carved Chinese panels.
The home-owners love their makeover and love taking people on personal tours. As they said, “It’s a well-designed living space that gives our home more life and a life that is renewed at every level.”
ABW used multiple “green” and more efficient items in this luxury remodel. They reframed the house using kiln-dried lumber and rodent-resistant metal flex cable, upgraded the insulation to meet Title 24 standards and installed new plumbing throughout the addition. They used an on-demand tank-less water heater, plus a new heating and cooling system that has a gas furnace with a 90% efficiency rating and independent 2-zone heating –and- cooling control. All of the lighting is either fluorescent or low voltage, all of the windows are dual-pane, and the laundry room has counter-tops of recycled wood fiber. ABW recycled all the old appliances and cabinets, and re-laid the homeowners' permeable, gravel driveway.
The effect is gracious and elegant with the latest in styling, as well as the latest in energy efficiency. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the kitchen, family and bathrooms account for the majority of a home’s energy usage, so when you’re remodeling, they present a big opportunity to improve energy performance. These Portola Valley homeowners expanded their living space without expanding their energy use or budget, by conserving resources where it counts the most. You can see their lovely remodel, or Extreme Makeover, in the Project Gallery section at www.abwconstruction.com.
ABW Construction, Inc., is a full-service residential construction firm that has renovated and remodeled fine homes on the Peninsula from Burlingame to Los Gatos for over 23 years. ABW has a strong track record of building quality: 65% of all new business comes from customer referrals. ABW’s license is #463240; address is 2053 Grant Rd., PMB#485, Los Altos, CA, 94024; telephone is (650) 961-6900; email is abwconstruction@sbcglobal.net; web site is www.abwconstruction.com.
If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Art Wilbrand of ABW, please contact Robin Landers of Prescix Consulting at 831-466-9235, or email Robin at robin@prescix.com.
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