The home, built by Winsome Construction in McMinnville, features a number of energy-efficient features.(Photo: LAURA FOSMIRE / STATESMAN JOURNAL)
The Pringle Creek Community has added another LEED-certified house to its collection of energy-efficient homes.
This new house, at 1884 John Muir Circle SE, opens a new chapter for Pringle in several ways.
For one, it’s the first new construction in the community since 2012. It’s a promising step forward after construction stagnated due to the economy, leaving dozens of empty lots.
The latest home also has 2,035 square feet of living space that is powered primarily through solar energy — the first in the neighborhood. Pringle’s other homes are powered by a communal geothermal energy source.
The home is LEED-certified platinum, the highest level of certification available, and offers four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, an attached garage and a number of energy-efficient amenities. Although construction is still underway, it’s already on the market with a $395,000 price tag.
“Our big focus was keeping it affordable,” said Shan Stassens, a partner with Winsome Construction, the McMinnville-based company that built the house. “We’re trying to ground and quantify some of these expensive, high-end features. People would like these efficient features, but the question is how much are they willing to pay for them?”
Green homes, as a rule, are more expensive than traditional homes. But the cost comes with benefits: Namely, durable, high-quality, energy-efficient materials.
In December, Winsome hosted 30 people to the construction site to offer a tour of the incomplete house. These kind of tours are a common occurrence for the company, said partner Wendy Stassens. They call it the brains and the bones — an opportunity to examine the underlying structure that contributes to the home’s green aspect.
The home, built by Winsome Construction in McMinnville, features a number of energy-efficient features.(Photo: LAURA FOSMIRE / STATESMAN JOURNAL)
Read the full article, “Pringle Creek restarts construction with new green home”
lfosmire@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6709 or follow on Twitter at @fosmirel