Energy Smart has New Plans for Habitat 4 Humanity

The Plan template review meeting, left to right: Brian Hower – Purchasing Mgr., Dave Jenkins – ESHP Home Designer, Rick Mercer – VP of Construction, Pat Kowalski – Construction Mgr., and Erin Paul – CAD Technician.

Energy Smart Home Plans is designing new homes for Habitat 4 Humanity of Lee & Hendry Counties. Two more new homes for the Harlem Heights neighborhood and a third home design plan for the Red Hibiscus community in Bonita Springs, FL, are in production. Energy Smart has been happily providing Habitat with hi-performance home designs since 2013.

Energy Smart Home Plans owner Dave Jenkins has helped Habitat home owners saving hundreds of dollars every year in energy costs. Working with Dennis Stroer of Calcs-Plus, the duo has shown Habitat 4 Humanity the most cost effective way to dramatically decrease the energy bills for their customers.

Designing homes with the mechanical system and all of the duct work in the conditioned space makes a $65 to $70 a month electric bill routine.

Habitat’s foreman, Pat Kowalski says, “the energy savings is huge, if we can save home owners even just $30 per month, they are more likely to make their mortgage payment.” Since the actual energy savings Habitat’s customers enjoy is more than double that amount, the net results are very real indeed!

New Plans for Habitat

Thanks to talented volunteers, all of the Lee County Habitat’s walls are assembled in the warehouse, helping to keep production costs low. Prefab walls can pose a challenge to the design team, so Dave and Energy Smart CAD Technician Erin meet with Habitat’s warehouse division to review the latest floor plan templates. The CAD drawings and Habitat’s wall templates need to match to affect efficient installation.

The Increasing Need for Habitat

Habitat home wall assembly.

The average rent for a single-family home in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area spiked 29 percentin 2016, according to data released by RentRange, making the area the No. 1 rent burdened area in the country. Prices continue to increase through 2017.

In Lee County there are 34,290 children living in poverty. With a hand up through the Habitat program, families are given an opportunity at a new foundation for the future.

Affordable housing can improve the health and educational outcomes of low-income families and children, reducing the public costs associated with illness and poor school performance according to the Florida Housing Coalition.

Decent, stable Habitat homes provide the following for Lee and Hendry County families:

Kitchen cabinet assembly.

• Stability for families and children
• A sense of dignity and pride
• Improved health, physical safety and security
• Increased educational and job opportunities

Dave Jenkins and Energy Smart Home Plans are excited to be part of such a worthwhile endeavor.

Serious about saving money!

A two-by-four plank with bent nails stuck in it, tells an important message. It says, “If this is your work, go find another job, do not waste nails, what you save in labor, you wasted $ in nails.”