Craig Stevens was thinking about the paradigm shift that Stevens Fine Homes would need to make in order to survive the recession, and he called a big meeting of his suppliers and subcontractors on the theory that their paradigms also could use a little shifting.

“I told them we were all in this together and we had to work together to cut costs without cutting quality,” he said. “We had to find a way to build better houses for less money.”

As an upshot of their brainstorming session Stevens invested in technology and was able to speed up material delivery and construction times. He created a new set of energy-efficient floor plans and opened a design studio where home buyers could see and touch finishes, fixtures and flooring. Best of all, he signed on for the Energy Star program, a joint effort between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

“Most of the things involved in this you'll never have to fix,” he said. “Insulation is there forever. Checking your heating and cooling to make sure it's super tight and sealed extremely well and tested - all that lasts forever. The sheathing in the roof has a reflecting barrier so our attics are cooler than a regular home and that saves you money. We build a little differently and a little better and when you save $60 to $80 a month in your power bill it's worthwhile to do.”

And that's just the money. The savings in carbon emissions is far more significant.

A bar graph of the company's sales reflects the significant events of recent years. It soared to a high of 325 new homes in 2005, plunged to an all-time low of 68 in 2008, and - here's the paradigm shift - rebounded to a projected 160 by the end of 2010.

That has even made a positive impact on the local job market. “Each new house they build provides 3.05 new jobs to the local workforce,” said Donna Girardot, executive officer of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association. “That was 64 new jobs and substantial tax revenue for this region in August alone.”

“Our whole team of sales agents, project managers, office support and subcontractors are hitting on all cylinders right now and coming together to create phenomenal success,” Stevens said.

The Energy Star program requires third-party verification of new construction standards, and Jared Taylor of Optik Energy has been charged with certifying Stevens homes. He follows an EPA-generated “thermal bypass checklist” to qualify every home for the certification.

“We have all homes tested with a blower door and duct blaster,” Taylor said. “What that does is it tests the house to make sure that all the little extras are actually working, like a fitness test.”

He said the blower door “is a door we put onto one of the exterior doors and we pull a negative on the house. Basically we're putting 20-mile-per-hour winds through the house to see how much air is coming in, to check for window leakage and around the doors.”

The duct blaster works essentially the same way to test for air leaks in the ductwork. “We pressurize the duct and it tells us exactly how much air is being lost out of the ductwork. Energy Star guidelines specify a forced-air standard of so many cubic feet per minute, and we want no more than six percent duct loss. A standard home loses about 20 percent.”

Not entirely satisfied that the feds went far enough with Energy Star, Stevens Fine Homes has decreed that there shall be an Energy Star Plus program.

“An Energy Star house basically is going to be 15 to 20 percent more efficient,” Taylor said. “Stevens is actually taking his houses to 30 percent. He said we're going to take this to the next level and we're going to do the Energy Star Plus program.”

Stevens Fine Homes has a Web site at www.stevensfinehomes.com and can be reached at 794-8699.