Source: CUSTOM HOME Magazine
Publication date: 2008-03-06

By Stephani L. Miller

Builder Michelle Roberts, president and CEO of Chatham Hill Residential Design and Build in Boston, Mass., and architect Amy Ellison Ostberg, principal and CEO of The New Hampshire Design Collaborative in Hudson, N.H., have teamed up to design and build houses for Roberts' new company, Ecohealth Homes.

Ecohealth Homes will focus on producing environmentally friendly and healthy homes with a historic New England aesthetic, built modularly. The company will design and build both modular custom homes and kit homes.

Roberts worked with the non-profit National Center for Healthy Housing to specify materials and products for Ecohealth Homes; and her company is an Energy Star builder partner. Specifications will also address occupant safety, something many green building programs ignore, says Roberts, among them single-lever faucets, double-hung windows for upper floors, and built-in escape ladders. Each home will be inspected throughout the modular manufacturing process by a third-party to ensure all specifications are met.

Modularly constructing custom homes is a new endeavor for Roberts. Many of her clients encouraged her to investigate the method for their projects, she says. "I didn't know a thing about modular construction, didn't use it at all for Chatham Hill," Roberts adds. She put her design/build business on hold to learn about modular construction and now is hooked. Last fall, Roberts was introduced to Ostberg, who had specialized in modular house design, and a friendship and partnership grew.

Roberts and Ostberg believe modular construction, done properly, is the most environmentally friendly way to build—because materials are protected from moisture inside the factory, houses have a tighter building envelope and use materials and systems that provide better indoor air quality, and less waste is produced in the factory than on a jobsite. "This is 2008; things have changed," Roberts maintains. "Our environment has changed, our needs have changed, people have evolved, and so has the way we can build our homes."

"Personally I would never build otherwise, now," Ostberg says. "I know a lot of my colleagues in architecture think I've gone to the Dark Side, but once you see how well homes can be put together, it's crazy to do otherwise."

Amy Ellison Ostberg, principal, The New Hampshire Design Collaborative.

Michelle Roberts, president, Ecohealth Homes.