The owner of Bluffton’s newest business has big plans for thinking small.

Andy Chapell-Dick of Bluffton, a general and remodeling contractor, has started Small House Bluffton, a business whose focus is constructing small, fully-functional houses.

“A lot of people want to go small, not just empty nesters, but people who for a practical basis see the cost of living going up,” Chappell-Dick says, in explaining his new venture.

“Bluffton is a unique community. I’m providing something the community hasn’t seen. It’s different housing option,” he said.

He describes “small houses” as those from 600 to 1,000 square feet. They are fully functional houses featuring everything you would need. “There’s just no ‘bonus’ rooms in these houses,” he said.

The small homes Chappell-Dick hopes to construct will be designed efficiently and with lots of innovation. In addition, Chappell-Dick says he will try some new technology and provide older proven technology in the housing construction.

He says his houses will have an overall energy efficiency at least 50 percent greater than the average new house constructed today.

This spring and summer he is building his first such house at 207 N. Lawn Ave. He invites Icon viewers to watch as the house goes up. He and his wife, Wendy, will eventually live in the house.

The house soon-to-be under construction has 960 square feet not counting the basement. Chappell-Dick says it is will have one and one-half floors, a slate roof and will evoke an English cottage feel when finished. He anticipates the house to be completed in a six-month-building period.

Chappell-Dick brings lots of experience to his new business. He served as construction supervisor for nearly a dozen Habitat for Humanity homes in Lima.  And, for one and one-half years he was an apprentice cabinetmaker in Williamsburg, Va. He has a side interested in finish carpentry.

His interest in launching Small House Bluffton came when he entered the Bluffton Center for Entrepreneur’s Business Plan Competition in 2012. He won second place in that competition and received a $1,000 cash prize.

“I used that seed money to achieve my LEED accreditation,” he said. In addition to his services as a construction and remodeling contractor, Chappell-Dick says that is he also a consultant about green design and certification.

For more details, visit his website: www.smallhousebluffton.com
Phone: 419-296-8431

MORE DETAILS ON LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) 
Green Building

LEED Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance buildings. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, the organization that developed LEED, a Green Associate is an individual who has demonstrated the knowledge and skill needed to understand and support green design, construction, and operations.

Those who earn the credential also must undertake continuing education designed to keep LEED Professionals current with advances in green building technology.

LEED is not new to Bluffton. The recent expansion of Bluffton Hospital was certified LEED Silver and Bluffton University’s new athletic center is also a registered project.

The 207 N. Lawn house under constrution is registered with LEED, and has established the certification goal of LEED Platinum, the highest level available. If successful, it will be the first to achieve this rating in northwest Ohio, and only the seventh such single-family home in the state.

The U.S Green Building Council is a private non-profit organization dedicated to the creation of healthy, efficient green buildings. Private sector leaders established LEED in 2000 and it has quickly become the most widely used, voluntary, market-driven building rating program in the country.

LEED is largely responsible for the explosive growth of energy-efficient, high-performance construction, which supports or creates nearly eight million jobs across all 50 states and contributes $554 billion to the U.S. economy annually.

Small House Bluffton is also an Energy Star Partner Builder, signifying a voluntary commitment to designing and building homes to efficiency and durability standards well above most other homes on the market today.

Energy Star is a highly successful program of the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, focused on saving money and increasing homeland energy independence.