Building Alternatives, a New Hampshire-based construction management and home building company founded in 1986, has distinguished itself as a leader in innovative energy-efficient construction. Co-founders Kathe and Bob Tortorice have decades of combined experience in construction, civil engineering, process design, project management, and more. And they are long-time adopters of offsite building practices, including modular, panelized, timber frame, and structural insulated panel (SIP) methods.
In the past, offsite construction has enabled Building Alternatives to build faster and deliver higher quality, more cost-effective homes than stick building. But it also restricted the company at times by limiting their design options. So, when the Tortorices were approached to build a 2,500 square-foot geothermal home on Mount Washington, with a custom design and luxury finishes, they began looking for an offsite method that could bring their client’s vision to life.
Project: Custom Geothermal Home on Mount Washington
Home Living Space: 2,500 square feet. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms.
Builder/Developer: Building Alternatives
Solution Provider: CertainTeed
Solution: ONE PRECISION ASSEMBLIES™
The Challenge: Gain the Advantages of Offsite with the Customization of Stick-Built
Mount Washington has the highest elevations in the Northeastern US, making New Hampshire’s cold, wet, windy weather even more perilous, so building quickly with minimal exposure to the elements on the jobsite would be critical. Building Alternatives needed an offsite system that went beyond speed and cost-effectiveness to also provide exceptional weathertightness.
And if the plans for a geothermal system and solar panels to power heating and cooling weren’t challenging enough, they also needed to customize the home design to maximize beauty and highlight mountain views. They would stop at nothing short of picture windows and cathedral ceilings—and that required a lot of design freedom.
From their experience with offsite construction methods, the Tortorices knew full customization was not always an option. Many systems have prescribed floor plans and limited design flexibility. Others would require them to add They needed a solution that was, in Bob’s words, “right in the middle”: factory built, insulated, quickly assembled, energy efficient, and capable of beautiful, custom designs. insulation and other critical aspects of the building on site, slowing down the build and jeopardizing the integrity of materials by leaving them open to rain and moisture.
The Solution: An Enhanced Panelized System with Design Freedom
While searching for a solution that would allow them to build without compromise, the Tortorices discovered ONE PRECISION ASSEMBLIES™ (OPA). Launched by CertainTeed in 2023, OPA is a prefabricated building system created to solve common limitations of offsite construction.
“We’re not limited in any way,” says Bob, who is also the head contractor at Building Alternatives. “It’s panelized with enhancement, because it has the insulation in it, but it’s not modular, so you’re really able to do custom design.”
OPA offers wall, floor, and roof panels factory-built to the builder’s specifications and fully insulated and sealed—a top reason Building Alternatives decided OPA was right for the project.
As Bob explains, “When you’re trying to insulate a house in the field, you have to battle the weather conditions outside, so by having it done in the factory, we’re perfecting the quality of the building.”
What’s more, OPA offered the streamlined process, factory precision, high-quality materials, energy efficiency, and design support and flexibility they needed.
Airtight assembly achieved in days.
OPA’s precision-built panels help to streamline construction and trade management, and they can be raised onsite in days, limiting the amount of time materials would be exposed to cold, wet weather.
Flexible design allows for custom beauty.
With adaptable panels that include a wide range of North American and European window and door brands, the 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 2,500 square-foot home could be built to the Tortorices’ specifications, cathedral ceilings and all.
Code-compliant panels arrive weathertight.
The insulated and sealed panels feature air and vapor control layers to ensure year-round energy efficiency and meet or surpass interior comfort, air quality, and resiliency standards. An innovative service layer is isolated from the building envelope to preserve the weathertight construction and facilitate initial and future electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work.
Precisely manufactured panels reduce waste.
Panels are manufactured with incredible accuracy—within 1/16th of an inch—to ensure a perfect fit on-site. This reduces errors and helps to ensure speedy on-site installation. Plus, OPA uses software to optimize material usage, reducing waste and simplifying jobsite cleanup.
High performance at every layer maximizes durability.
The wall, floor, and roof panels incorporate CertainTeed’s industry-leading building solutions, including insulation, vapor and weather membranes, flashing, and more. Every solution is engineered to work together as a system to increase durability and intelligently control air and moisture.
The Result: A Gorgeous Energy-Saving Home Built 85.7% Faster
CertainTeed supported Building Alternatives through the design and permitting process as they adapted the OPA shell solution to their specifications. Next, CertainTeed built the custom panels in-factory in a matter of weeks and managed their secure transportation to the remote mountaintop jobsite.
“The floor system came off the flatbed trailer and was installed within hours,” says Bob. The preassembled and pre-insulated exterior walls came next and were installed with a crane, followed by the beams and the roof system. Compared to stick building, Kathe notes that “the quality came out much better” and matched their plans “exactly.”
From putting down the floor to sealing off the roof took about six days. This speed was crucial for the high-elevation location known for heavy winds. The Tortorices were duly impressed with the structural design of the panels, which securely brace to the foundation to ensure resiliency against wind and other storms.
They were also impressed with OPA’s unique service channel built into each wall. After six days, with the shell assembled and weathertight, the home was ready for mechanicals, and the service channel proved to be invaluable.
“In a two by six wall panel, they put an additional two by three service channel with space for the electrical wires, so there’s no impact from the rough mechanicals in the insulation,” explains Kathe. “That’s the main reason we picked OPA.”
“What we’re trying to do is get a weathertight shell as quickly as possible,” says Bob. “With most construction, this would take about six weeks to build, but we were able to build it in 6 days.” And, if you notice,” adds Bob, “The floor is not wet at all. There’s no damage to any of the wood.”
The moisture-free raised home is thanks, in part, to the experienced installation crew managed by CertainTeed, who used careful planning, preparation, and precision to raise the home and ensure its airtightness.
A More Efficient Way to Build More Efficient Homes
When it comes to sustainable building, the Tortorices are experts, with a host of green building certifications to prove it, including ENERGY STAR®, HERS®, and Passive House. While they have used panelized methods in the past, they are inspired by OPA’s unique system, which improves on those methods with fully insulated and sealed panels and the freedom to build to spec.
Building Alternatives was able to leverage the OPA solution to create a home that met their high standards for beauty, durability, and energy efficiency. Simply put by Kathe, “In terms of time and dollars, it’s a more efficient way to build a house.”
To learn more about how ONE PRECISION ASSEMBLIES helps residential builders build beautiful, high-performance homes in a fraction of the time, visit certainteed.com/one-precision-assemblies.