Builder making solar panels standard on all new homes
New home builder Jayman Built is banking on Alberta sunshine to save new home buyers money.
With the recent announcement that all new Jayman single-family homes will include solar panels as a standard feature, they are the first large builder to take advantage of Edmonton’s 325 days of annual sunlight.
It’s a move that will hopefully boost sales.
“The decision to make our homes more sustainable was not only to add value to our customers, but to show environmental leadership in our industry,” says Jay Westman, chairman and CEO, Jayman Built.
“We have been leading the industry in new home construction and are proud to step up and lead the way in sustainable practices. We have raised the bar yet again.”
Brian Hahn, CEO of BILD Calgary Region, says the association supports all members’ innovative initiatives.
“Our members are consistently some of the most competitively positioned in the business community and are committed to building livable, resilient, affordable, and energy-efficient, world-class communities,” he says.
Dave Desormeaux, president of single-family homes, says Jayman is always looking for ways to make their homes efficient.
“The new mortgage rules took about $100,000 of spending power away from the average buyer. You’ve got electricity and taxes. We want to make our homes as cheap to run as possible.”
He explains that with all the sustainable upgrades that Jayman continues to add every year, including high efficiency furnaces and instant hot water, their homes are already 16 per cent more energy efficient than the latest building codes, as of 2016, require.
“Solar actually takes it to more than 20 per cent better than code. This will force the builders to keep improving,” he says.
Jayman had already ventured into solar energy with their multi-family Westman Village development in Mahogany but began testing single-family homes in April 2018.
The builder made the decision to move forward with solar on Sept. 1, contracting Alberta-based SkyFire Energy as the official installer of panels on all new home builds in Calgary and Edmonton beginning in 2019.
In very simple terms, energy captured by the panels is supplemented by the grid and any excess solar power can feed the grid, which could result in a credit on the homeowner’s electricity bill.
The hail-proof panels on the roof require little to no maintenance and there is nothing the homeowner needs to oversee on the electrical panel. Solar is completely automatic.
“You can use an app from SkyFire, if you’re a techie and you want to see how much energy you’re producing, but really, it’s hands off,” Desormeaux says.
You can use an app from SkyFire, if you’re a techie and you want to see how much energy you’re producing, but really, it’s hands off
He says the retail value of the panels is more than $5,000 but they are included as a non-negotiable standard feature, bringing an annual saving of at least $200 in electricity costs.
Installing solar on a new home is much easier than trying to retrofit an existing home.
“You have to get into the foundation, get into the electric box, run everything through the attic, penetrate the roof and then you have to worry, is the roof new? You’re not going to put panels on an old roof,” Desormeaux says. “It’s not that complicated when you’re building a new home.”
Solar is now part of Jayman’s Core Performance package, which includes Navien-brand tankless water heaters, high efficiency furnace, heat recovery ventilation systems which purify the air every three hours, LED lighting, triple-pane windows, R-50 insulation in the attic, and R-20 in the basement and exterior foundation wrap.
Desormeaux pegs the total energy upgrades at $15,600, at no cost to the homebuyer, noting these upgrades also add to the resale value.
Jayman estimates solar will be included in 750 new homes this year in Alberta.