Why ICF?

ICF Houses are:

	Highly energy-efficient. In Northern California/Nevada it is reasonable to anticipate a 50% or greater reduction in annual energy costs for combined heating and cooling when compared to a similar house built with conventional building methods.
	Quieter. The penetration of exterior noise is substantially reduced -- up to 75%.
	Strong. Highly resistant to earthquake, wind, fire, and penetration by exterior objects.
	Durable. ICF concrete homes do not rot, do not decay, and do not lose their integrity over time as happens with stick-built construction. Future maintenance costs are substantially reduced.
	Higher Quality. An ICF built home is the highest quality shell and structure that is possible to build. The wood that is available today is much lower quality than was available historically and as a consequence wooden structures cannot be built to the same standards as they formerly were.
	Cost Comparable. Costs are close, within 5%, of the cost of conventional construction. Sometimes the same or slightly less. Within a very few years, it is significantly lower in absolute cost as the energy and maintenance savings accumulate.
	Any Builder Can Do It. ICF construction is not radically different in practice than conventional construction. Contractors can learn it quickly. The tool requirements are changed very little.
	Green construction. The core element of any green sustainable building is energy efficiency and durability. The two combined minimize the long term impact of the structure on the environment. Plus saves trees during construction.
	Wildfire Resistant. A concrete home, coupled with other firesafe design and landscaping practices is the best possible safeguard against wildfire loss. Firesafe construction details
	Greater retained value. As energy costs continue to rise, future resale prices of homes will be influenced by their relative energy efficiency. It is a reasonable forecast to suggest that within the next 10 years, today's ICF-constructed homes will command up to a 15% premium over similar houses built with conventional framing techniques.

Notes for the future: The historic practices of framing houses with wood studs are in the process of becoming obsolete. As of 2006, 18% of all home starts this year in the U.S. will use a concrete exterior wall system rather than wood. The growth rate in ICF construction is about 30% per year. Federal and state governments are increasingly raising the bar on energy efficiency requirements for new home construction to deal with dwindling supplies of fuels. Within 14 years the U.S. Department of Energy goals are that all new production homes in the country will be Zero-Energy homes. The walls of those homes will be a closed cell foam and concrete system that is ultra-insulated, very air tight, and have high thermal mass. Insulating Concrete Forms deliver that today and are the leading candidate for the predominant building system by 2020. And you can have it now!