Maronda Homes Takes Steps To Become Even More Sustainable

The housing market is shifting, and homebuilders are stepping up to meet the moment. Driven by record-low inventory of existing homes, buyers are increasingly turning to new construction to find their dream homes. To help ease affordability concerns, builders have ramped up production while offering smart incentives like mortgage rate buy-downs and closing cost assistance.

Just how massive is this shift? According to the National Association of Realtors: “New-home sales traditionally account for about 10% to 12% of the market for single-family homes but recently have comprised more than 30%. A shortage of existing homes has plagued many markets as homeowners remain reluctant to sell. The shortage of existing homes for sale has opened up the possibility of new-home construction to more buyers who may not have once considered it.”

Elevating the Standard for Eco-Friendly Living

With more buyers than ever choosing the new-construction route, Maronda Homes believes that building for the future means building responsibly. We aren’t just constructing houses; we are committed to creating environmentally sound communities.

As demand rises, so does our responsibility to the planet. Here are the proactive measures we are implementing across every home we build to maximize energy efficiency, reduce utility costs, and minimize construction waste:

• Advanced Energy Conservation: Integrating high-efficiency appliances, superior insulation, and smart home technology to keep your energy bills low and your comfort high.

• Waste Reduction Initiatives: Streamlining our building processes and utilizing engineered materials to significantly cut down on job-site waste.

• Sustainable Sourcing: Partnering with eco-conscious manufacturers to ensure the materials inside your home are as durable as they are green.

Discover how a Maronda home gives you the modern choices you want today, while protecting the world we all share tomorrow.

The Maronda Homes Difference

Maronda Homes was among the first to implement dozens of energy-efficient features that have now become industry standards. These features include framed, insulated low-side foundations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, which create more comfortable living spaces and more efficient energy use.

In Florida and Georgia, Maronda’s homes have ZIP System barriers on wall sheathing, R-30 insulation, and other features such as concrete block construction.

As a concrete block builder, we know air infiltration from “wall leaks” is estimated to cause up to 39 percent of home energy loss. Concrete block walls, which are more air-tight than wood frame walls, seal in air-conditioned air far better, while keeping out hot, humid air prevalent in southern climates.

Every Home is 100% Maronda Certified Energy Efficient

Quality workmanship is the cornerstone of every Maronda home. By controlling more of the construction process than typical home builders, Maronda ensures that each phase meets high standards of efficiency.

Homes built according to Maronda Certified Energy Efficient Standards are designed, produced and installed to meet strict requirements for energy efficiency. Each home is inspected as it’s being built to verify it meets our program standards. This process of value-engineering protects your investment so it functions as well tomorrow as it does today.

To ensure that nothing is overlooked, Maronda’s inspection protocol includes comprehensive checklists and periodic walkthroughs that exceed industry standards. Learn more here!

The Maronda Certified Energy Efficient Quality Checklist:

✓ Complete Thermal Enclosure System

• Provides comprehensive air sealing, quality installed insulation, and high performance windows to deliver improved comfort and lower utility bills.

✓ High-Efficiency Heating, Ventilation and Cooling System

• As much as 44% of the energy used in your home goes to heating and cooling. Our systems are designed for optimal performance resulting in a big effect on your utility bills—and your comfort.

✓ Comprehensive Water Management System

• Protect roofs, walls and foundations from moisture damage. Tried-and-true building practices such as flashing, moisture barriers and heavy-duty membranes drain water from roofs, walls and foundations of Maronda Certified Energy Efficient homes.

✓ Energy Efficient Lighting and Appliances

• Keep utility bills low, while providing high-quality performance and longevity.

✓ Independent Third-Party Inspections & Testing

Limiting Construction Waste

With careful strategic planning, we pinpoint the exact amount of materials needed to produce a home. This means fewer materials upfront and less product wasted. This is less expensive and also not as harsh on the environment.

To put things into perspective, wood alone accounts for 40%-50% of residential construction waste. To become more sustainable, we have been implementing steel studs into our homes. Other popular waste reduction strategies among builders include recycling wood for mulch and composting operations such as animal bedding, landfill cover, and other building products.

Learn how we build our homes.

Paperless Productivity

To extend Maronda’s carbon footprint, our company and model centers are transitioning to be paperless. We have implemented color visualizers, 360 tours, and interactive floor plans to our digital presence. We also utilize Docusign, a software to sign documents electronically, to eliminate the need to print contracts and use scanners. Not only does this allow homebuyers to design and participate in part of the transaction online, but it also cuts back on paper and warehousing shipping. We’re also able to update all documents in real time with any changes necessary when they’re digital. In all, going paperless reduces costs, increases efficiency, and provides easier, quicker access for our homebuyers – all while cutting energy use and decreasing the amount of waste dumped into landfills.

You can find digital-PDF downloads for all of our floor plans, included features, brochures, and more on our website.

Brand New Home, Brand New Landscape

On top of our energy-efficient homes and company-wide paperless initiative, we offer various landscape packages to our home buyers. We enhance the landscape of our communities by planting grass, trees, bushes, plants, and more to make up for all the wildlife torn down during the development stage. In all communities, we highly encourage planting trees and starting your garden; in some communities, planting trees and creating a garden is a part of the contract.

We also offer various resources on our blog to help you become more sustainable. For example, here are five simple ways to reduce energy use and costs in your home.

At Maronda, we recognize that any building construction can impact the environment. That’s why we’re actively taking steps to make our homes and construction process more energy-efficient and striving to provide our homeowners with resources to become more sustainable.