Amicus can help you craft a project, of almost any size and style, that meets all of your needs and goals.

Design services

Our in-house architects, Sam and Dave, can help you lay out your new kitchen, design cabinets, match floors with counters, coordinate colors, identify your goals, and provide other aids. For larger or more involved projects, these design tools can be combined with our building science advisory services to maximize energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and other sustainability attributes.

Initial meetings that establish your goals and needs, provide brainstorming ideas, and lay a foundation of what you may need are complimentary, usually lasting 20-30 minutes.

Please email or call Sam or Dave to discuss our services and to set-up an appointment.

Before initial appointments, it always helps to email a brief description and/or bullet-list of your project that you may have, including: goals, current situation, house age and style, budget, any existing schedule, work already performed, questions, do you already have an architect, designer, or contractor, and other factors you feel may be important.

Residential services

We offer a portfolio of services to help achieve as many of these goals as possible. Our services apply to all kinds of projects—from remodeling and additions, to new construction, and even developers' speculative projects. These services include:

• Integrated Project Design Consulting, a collaborative dialogue involving all stakeholders in which we emphasize whole system and “out of the box” thinking and inclusion of sustainability goals in the design. Done early in the process, it will save many hours re-negotiating and re-designing due to unforeseen conflicts, a situation that often leads a project away from your goals and toward rapidly increasing costs.
• Energy Analysis, through which we can identify the most cost-effective choices for reducing your energy demand, including insulation, heating, ventilation, cooling, and appliances. We are also able to estimate the cost-effectiveness and financial return for each option and suites of options. Also critical, we are able to evaluate new energy technologies, including solar hot water and photovoltaic (PV) systems, in order to identify a set of solutions suited to your project.
• Research Reports, through which we detail the application, installation and estimated costs of particular solutions of interest. The topics run the gamut, from plumbing designs, ventilation systems, whole house fans, roofing and lumber, to rain gardens, grey water treatment systems and building materials; essentially any topic pertinent to your project can be addressed.
• Coaching and engagement, to help practitioners implement sustainable and high performance practices and systems, minimize any “learning curve”, delays and inefficiencies.

Sustainable Building Advisory Services for Developers and Project Funders

Sustainable (“green”) building is driven by diverse motives from diverse stakeholders: short-term and long-term; strategic and tactical; logistical; political and ethical. But the financial and fiduciary goals and responsibilities of owners, lenders, tenants, insurers and rating agencies are at the forefront of the green building movement.

As green building matures and mainstreams, more expectations will be borne of the building industry. Green building presents sweeping opportunities for the building industry and those that fund it.

When designing and constructing a new building, just a few of the considerations worthy—or even requisite—of review include:

• Cost to build versus cost to own & operate
• NPV and asset appreciation given rising inflationary risks
• Valuing the financial and tangential benefits of green building options
• Climate change mitigation risks and opportunities
• Homeland and international security risk considerations
• Redefining IRR
• Utilizing green building to deal with a growing list of stakeholders, including investors, insurers, NGOs, media, local and national regulators, tenants, and consumers

We take a comprehensive approach that incorporates "green" concerns—including building performance, energy use, i ndoor air quality, occupant health and performance, waste, and emissions—and review them against the central issues faced by industry professionals—risk management, market trends, budget and time constraints, carrying costs, labor management, marketability and return-on-investment.

Reflecting the benefits of strategic integration, implementation, and teamwork, we aim to support all project members, not to replace or sidestep them. Typical deliverables and services that we provide to a project include:

Cost-benefit, return-on-investment, risk and opportunity analyses

• Market development assistance
• Materials recommendations and sourcing
• Specifications guidance
• Training support
• Energy modeling
• Research reports on specific areas of interest

To discuss your project or interests, please email Jason Holstine or Brian Uher at info@amicusgreen.com or call on 301-571-8590.