Our Story
Our mission statement: Promoting better building practices, focusing on energy efficiency and comfort, to raise the knowledge and expectations of customers; encouraging forward thinking in our industry.
36 Builders, Inc. was started as an experiment. We knew there had to be a way to build a better house. Our goal was to build 36 identical houses, 3 at a time, trying to get them as energy efficient as possible, all the while keeping the sales price the same as a typical home.
By house 21, we were able to build a home that was about 50% more efficient than that of the average home. During our research and partnership with the building scientists, the American Lung Association heard about our homes. They set up a meeting to visit and test our homes for qualification of their Health House program. They had heard that our standard homes already met most of their requirements. The director of the American Lung Association Health House program tested our homes, and found that with a few changes we could also meet their requirements. Since then, we immediately made the few adjustments, and now meet their requirements, the most stringent in the industry.
As the Technical Director for the American Lung Associations® Health House® program I have completed training for builders, designers and HVAC contractors across the country. To date you have developed the most holistic building process that not only already incorporates most of our guidelines into your existing building process, but has also done a superb job on integrating both energy efficiency and green technologies into all phases of construction and appliances. Sincerely looking forward to working with you on your developing the first Health House community on the east coast.
Stephen Klossner -Technical Direct of the American Lung Association Health House Program
At this point, we began marketing Insight Homes as a healthier and more efficient home. We found the name 36 Builders, Inc. did not market well, hence we changed our name to Insight Homes.
Currently, Insight Homes is by far the best value in the area, and the only builder on Delmarva reaching the energy efficiency level of top 1% in the Nation and the only builder on the East Coast meeting American Lung Association Health House standards on every home. 100% of our houses are not only ENERGY STAR® certified, but also qualify for ENERGY STAR’s 100% lighting, indoor air quality, and the soon to be released water sense program – with every home we build.
Per IBACOS, Integrated Building and Construction Solutions, who is contracted through the Department of Energy’s Building America program, Insight Homes are currently rated beyond expected building code for the year 2025.
“I have worked with builders of all sizes throughout the US, and Insight Homes provides one of the best overall values in housing I have seen. They look at the house as an complete system, which allows them to cost effectively deliver a highly energy efficient house with the today's most advanced technology. Insight Homes manages to build a state of the art product, and when annual mortgage and energy costs are considered, should be the lowest cost house to own in the Suffolk County market. IBACOS is excited to have Insight working with us in the US DOE Building America program and the Best Practices Research Alliance, providing leadership in the homebuilding industry by demonstrating how to build high performance, greener housing.”
Duncan Prahl Sr. - Research Architect, IBACOS Inc.
Past Board President, Energy and Environmental Building Association
“As a Building America consortia partner working with Insight Homes, IBACOS is familiar with Insight’s standard building performance specifications. When compared to the requirements and guidelines of the National Association of Home Builders National Green Building Program, Insight’s standard building package and practices exceed the requirements for the gold level of certification and average a total of over 480 points.”
Kevin Brozyna - Building Performance Specialist, IBACOS, Inc.
All Insight Homes meet Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac requirements for high efficiency mortgages. We also meet the IRS requirement for their tax credit, as all of our homes are 50% more efficient than code for heating and cooling. All of our ratings are third party verified through Energy Services, the regional certified ENERGY STAR® rater.
36 Builders, Inc., trading as Insight Homes was designed to be a scalable business. All Insight Homes are stick built, however we construct our homes with panelized walls (studs) which improves consistency and speed. Our Production Manager’s experience derived from large production home building firms; Freeman Homes, Gilligan Homes, and then Engle. He is accustomed to building 160-170 homes per year.
Our budget coordinator also came from the home building industry, also a past employee of Gilligan and Engle Homes.
Our Sales Manager has been in sales for over 15 years and recently won the 2008 Regal Award for sales and was inducted into the million dollar club. Our sales staff is also experienced in new home sales – and has sold as many as 51 to 89 homes per year each.
Insight Homes won the 2008 Regal Best Green Home of the Year award, completely based solely on the standard features we included in every Insight Home.
