I was recently contracted to write a white paper on selling high performance homes for a client, which led me to interview a few of my old friends in the industry, Mark LaLiberte with Building Knowledge and Sam Rashkin with ENERGY STAR for Homes. It struck me while I was talking to them that the issue isn't technology anymore (yes, some of you will disagree). It's getting builders to understand that they can build their homes to higher standards of performance, use this to create a competitive edge, and effectively communicate the value to their homebuyers.

Who wouldn't want a comfortable home that doesn't have wicked wind blowing through the dining room when winter storms hit (i.e. my house)? Who wouldn't want to eliminate that whopper heating bill that makes you not want to open the envelope when it comes (i.e. my heating bill)? Who wouldn't want to feel like they were doing something right for the environment, in light of everything we're doing wrong? You don't need statistical analysis to show that well, MOST people would happily nod their heads at the opportunity to have a home that helped them with any one of those problems, let alone them all.

That said, there's boatloads of empirical data that shows that consumers will buy performance (see NAHB research results here if you're interested in some of the research). The problem seems to be, builders don't know how to sell it.

What have you seen that is a good strategy for selling high performance homes?