The FreeGreen Blog

Green Home Design Competition From FreeGreen | Who's Next

David — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:25:00 -0600

Today, FreeGreen is proud toannounce our next home design competition, Who’sNext. see below for why we think you should enter, and click on thelogo to view the competition site. We look forward to seeing your design,and finding out Who’s Next:

It’s Easy: Just 9Images, No Boards, and No Hassles

It’s Affordable: Only $50 to Enter

It’s Useful: $5,000 First Prize, 400KViewers, & You Retain the Rights

If you have any questionsplease contact us at WhosNext@FreeGreen.com

A Sneak Peak at the Farmhouse House Plan

David — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:39:00 -0600

Hello All,

As we are sure many of you have heard, we are in the process of creating three new Sponsored and Free House Plans. These plans will be, The Colonial, The Ranch, and The Traditional Farmhouse, which is depicted above. We are really excited about the way that this Farmhouse House Plan is turning out so we wanted to share our progress. We are looking forward to releasing these designs in the late fall\early winter and are excited to have these new free house plans to offer. Please see below for some early words from our designers about this Farmhouse House Plan.

"Families who enjoy the freedom and privacy of open space in rural settings will love FreeGreen's Traditional Farmhouse House Plan. The first in the line of Farmhouse style home plans this design offers spacious rooms, an open floor plan and a large eat in kitchen and dining area ideal for families of all sizes. The Traidtional Farmhouse has a timeless New England appeal while incorporating some modern green building materials such as a standing seam metal roof that will last for generations, fiber cement clap board siding and high efficiency windows."

A Study on Green Homes by FreeGreen

David — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:00:00 -0600

Hello All,

As many of you have recently read about FreeGreen has conducted an independent study of what makes a green home green, according to the average consumer.

You can read the highlights here at Jetson Green: http://www.jetsongreen.com/2009/08/what-makes-a-green-home-green.html

See the full press release with a comparison of our findings to the LEED-H Standards: http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/08-11-2009/0005075652&EDATE=

Or download a the full study here: http://www.freegreen.com/E22B903_EXPANSION_WTD_240709.pdf

We hope you enjoy this study and look forward to the discussion it will bring.

The FreeGreen Green Residential Construction Details Library

David — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:11:00 -0600

As many of you may know, FreeGreen Professional Members have unlimited access to the Building Science Corporation Reviewed, FreeGreen Residential Construction Details Library. We have been asked by many of our users to show more details about this library and how it can be used. To address these questions please click on the video above and watch our latest video tutorial.

If you are interested in this library, please upgrade your membership to a Professional level (you will be asked to login if you are not already), head to your Account Dashboard, and click on the Details Library Box to download the complete Residential Construction Details Library.

Ranch House Plans are Launched

David — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:57:00 -0600

Hello All,

The Modern Ranch House Plans are here. This is a great modern design which represents the true classic feel of the west coast ranch style. This design is being launched as a Premium House Plan, and is only available to our Premium or Professional Members. As we say on the site:

The Modern Ranch was designed with family and a neighborhood setting in mind. It has three large bedrooms, two baths and a large communal space which includes the kitchen, dining room and living room. The exterior maintains some classic features such as a single story, low pitched roof, long proportions and clap board siding but also includes some modern upgrades such as large sliding glass doors, sliding window shade screens and a sleek metal roof. The interior also embraces a clean modern look.

We are very excited by the addition to our house plan offerings, and will be updating our blog with a sneak peak at some of the free house plans that we are currently working on (which are coming down the pike).

Win a Free Home Product from CSN Stores

David — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:57:00 -0600

FreeGreen, in conjunction with its vendor partner, CSN Stores is announcing a contest where one FreeGreen user can win any product on the CSN Stores family of websites. CSN Stores is the third largest online retailer in home goods, with over 200 specialty retail sites that offer a diverse array of products from office furniture by Herman Miller to wall sconces by Murray Feiss. Our contest is very simple:

1) If you are a FreeGreen User (Basic, Premium, or Professional), head to CSN Stores (or any of their websites) and find any product that you like with a value of $100.00 or less.

2) Send a website link of that product to CSNContest@FreeGreen.com

3) This contest runs until 5PM EST on August 18th. On August 19th FreeGreen will randomly select a winner and give them details on how to receive their free product (shipping is included).
* This contest only applies for residents of the United States or Canada due to shipping limitations.

A Discussion of House Plans from FreeGreen on NECN

David — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:23:00 -0600

Hello All,

On August 2nd, Ben Uyeda, Chief Architectural Officer of FreeGreen took part in an interview about FreeGreen on a New England Channel named NECN. We really liked this interview and wanted to share it with everyone. Remember, if you have any green design questions please send them to askben@freegreen.com. We will be launching our first webcast under the Ask Ben Series very soon, and always welcome more of your questions.

Tiny House - Modern Sneak Peak

David — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:55:00 -0600

Hello All,

We know that we have to stop teasing, but with such great work being done on our Tiny Houses we just wanted to share. That said, please see the image above for a first look at our modern Tiny House. Again these plans should be available starting on 7/23. Much more to come as always so stay tuned.

FreeGreen AutoCAD House Plans Video

David — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:12:00 -0600

Hello All,

We want to share our first foray into the video realm with you. The Video above is the first of a series of videos that we will be creating to better explain the benefits and uses of Premium Membership and our Website in general. This specific video focuses on the value that our Premium Members receive through their ability to receive AutoCAD Format House Plans. Other videos to follow will focus on: The Product Discount Program, How to Use FreeGreen Product Specifications, The FreeGreen Customization Process, The FreeGreen Details Library, and much more.

Also, in other exciting video news we are in the process of creating a video series called Ask Ben. Ben Uyeda is the Chief Architectural Officer at FreeGreen we will be working with him to create a video blog series where he will explain our designs, talk about the design vision of FreeGreen, and answer your green design questions. Stay tuned for the launch of this new feature.

Here Come The Tiny Houses

David — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:12:00 -0600

That's right, the Tiny Houses are coming. For those of you have not heard of the Tiny House movement, it is a very interesting trend in which homeowners are looking to take on DIY type projects to downsize their living space, create a guest house or office, or put up shelter on that vacation spot they always wanted. In these economic times the Tiny House has become a popular trend with baby boomers who can no longer afford their dream second home, but still have the dream lot on which to build. FreeGreen is excited to bring you these homes, and as you would expect we will be designing them to be zero energy.

Along with the Traditional and Rustic Tiny Houses above, FreeGreen will be releasing a modern Tiny House as well. These plans should be released on Thursday 7/23. The Modern Ranch will be put on hold until these are out.

New Ranch House Plans from FreeGreen

David — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:34:00 -0600

Hello All,

We are excited for the launch of our latest house plan, The Modern Ranch. This plan is intended to be out by 7/10/09, and will be the second in our line of Premium House Plans. More to come on this plan and many other exciting announcements.

Modern Lake House - The New Premium Plan - Sneak Peak

David — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:07:00 -0600

Hello All,

There is much more of this to come with the offical Premium Membership Lauch coming on Tuesday of next week, but in the meantime we wanted to show off our first new premium house plan

The FreeGreen Premium & Professional Memberships are Here

David — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:16:00 -0600

Hello All,

Today we are proud to announce our FreeGreen Premium & Professional Memberships. We are sure that these new site features, and the new site functionality surrounding these programs will raise many questions, which we wanted to address here. As always please feel free to leave a comment below, or contact us at support@freegreen.com to discuss, give your feedback, and help us develop a better site.

Q1: So….Is FreeGreen Still Free?

A1: Yes and no. FreeGreen still allows users to sign up for Basic (free) membership, which gives you access to all of our great, high quality free (vendor advertisement supported) house plans, our green products database, our knowledge base Q&A center, and our blogs.

What is new are FreeGreen's Premium and Professional memberships. These new membership levels provide access to Premium (non-advertising supported) House Plans, FreeGreen's Product Discount Center, AutoCAD files, the FreeGreen Details Library, large discounts on FreeGreen Customization Services, and more. These new programs broaden FreeGreen's ability to help its users realize their dream green home project for a very modest fee.

Q: Who is the Premium or Professional membership for?

A: Our different membership levels are meant to target a wide audience:

The Basic (free) Membership is for anyone just browsing FreeGreen or looking to learn about green design. These members can still download any of our free sponsored house plans.
Premium Membership is for any individual who is planning a green home building or renovation project.
Professional Membership is for a Builder or Architect who is serious about building and designing green homes.

We are very excited about these new membership levels and helping green home enthusiasts in new ways.

Q: What is included in the Premium and Professional membership levels?

A: See our Premium Membership Benefits, Builders Professional Membership Benefits, and Architect Professional Membership Benefits pages for a good comparison. We are working on a tour that will walk through benefits in a more dynamic way. Stay tuned.

Q: Why a premium membership?

A: A decent subset of the FreeGreen community and outside media has expressed both appreciation for our plans as well as a concern that an advertisement-supported house plan may be biased. Though we are confident in the performance and green characteristics of our product specifications, we understand how this perception can create a certain hesitation in a user. In response to this sentiment, we developed a set of house plans that do not contain product advertising. This way, this choice is your, free plans supported by advertisers, or a paid membership to access all of our non-sponsored plans.

However, no ads meant we'd have to charge for these plans, so rather then go into the “traditional house plan” business we wanted to put together a useful membership package which would truly help our users with their green home projects. Said another way, If we were going to charge a fee, we wanted to offer users more than just the plans. To do this we first worked with many of our green product vendor and retailer partners to obtain exclusive discounts on their products that we could offer to our members. Then we decided to allow Premium Users to have access to the CAD versions of our house plans so that they can easily work with local contractors and designers on their projects. We also included huge (50%) discounts on our customization services, and of course the ability to have access to our Premium Plans.

All in all, FreeGreen Premium Membership puts a lot of resources at your fingertips.

Q: What is the value of a Premium membership?

A: A FreeGreen Premium membership provides $9,000-$15,000 of value for only $19.95/year. Here is how we figured that number:

Typical AutoCAD formatted house plans cost $3,000 per house plan
Typical house plans cost $500-$2,000 per house plan
FreeGreen estimates that a user could easily save $5,000 to $10,000 on their home project by using our discount program
FreeGreen estimates an average savings of $500 per customization service

But you don't have to take our word for it. Do your own research and let us know what you find.

Q: Why a Professional Membership?

A: We wanted to offer a toolkit of sorts that would help any professional who is serious about building and designing green homes. This package exists to offer professionals:

Full Premium Membership benefits
Constant access to our Building Science Corporation reviewed details library, with bi-annual updates
Full AutoCAD files of every plan we offer for your use as you please, whether to grab a detail or edit for your clients
The ability to interact with FreeGreen users and match them up with the right designer or builder. Professionals are able to develop a relationship with a user by answering their questions during their research phase and establish themselves as a trusted advisor by the time the user is ready to move forward.

As any professional knows, one use of a CAD plan, the time saved accessing a building detail (rather than drawing from scratch), or a successful project lead would pay for the modest member fee immediately and many times over.

For more on the benefits and pricing of the Professional Membership please see our Builders Benefits Page or the Architects Benefits Page.

Q: But Your Name is FreeGreen, How Can You Charge for Anything?

A: Premium membership was the natural next evolution of FreeGreen's offering. In providing unbiased, ad-free plans, thousands of dollars in product discounts, and CAD files of each plan, we further enable users to realize their dream home. Also see “Why a Premium Membership?” above.

FreeGreen's mission has always been, and will continue to be, to significantly improve the quality, energy efficiency, and environmental impact of residential construction by increasing access to good green design. We feel that we have stayed true to that mission throughout our company’s history. In just over one year, we have engaged over 10,000 registered members, given away 30,000 house plans (the equivalent of $3 million), and helped hundreds of people plan for, start, and complete their green home projects. FreeGreen will continue this mission with an expanded offering to its users.

House Plans Re-Org at FreeGreen

David — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:18:00 -0600

Hello All,

As part of our Premium Membership Go-LiveProcess FreeGreen has decided to re-organize our house plans into various HousePlan Collections. This new house plan listing scheme will allow users to find our plans more easily, and allow FreeGreen to better align with the new Premium Membership Features coming out soon. See below for a summary ofthese new House Plan Collections and we hope that you enjoy this upgrade, as well as the major Premium Memberhsip overhaul coming to the site very soon

Dream House Plans

The Dream House Plan collectionhas beencreated to explore the latest concepts in lifestyle based greendesign. Each of these home plans arecompletelyunique from and house plan that you may have seen before, and eachaddresses themost current trends in housing. Mixing high style with demographic trenddata the FreeGreen Team viewsthis Dream House Plan collection as a way toprogress home design and thelivability of the built environment.

Modern House Plans

The intent of the Modern House Plan collection is to mixfunction and aestheticswith simplistic, easy to build forms. Openfloor plans, high ceilings, single floorliving, and urban design concepts arejust some of the ideas expressed by thesehouse plans. Although modern residentialdesign maybe seen by many as a “fringe” building style, FreeGreen willcontinue to usethis collection to show ways that modern style can beintegrated into today’surban and suburban communities.

Craftsman House Plans

The American Craftsman style has been popular since the lastyears of the 19^th century. Typically, recognized byits use of metal, glass, and detailed craftsmantrim, this house plans style hasre-gained popularity over the past fewyears. FreeGreen’s take on this houseplanstyle stays true to its roots but typically uses cleaner lines andcreativeideas to make our homes more affordable to build, easier to live in,and moreenergy efficient.

Cabin House Plans

From small simple cabins, to rustic retreats, this houseplan collection covers allFreeGreen’s cabin styled homes. Thesehouse plans are great for anyonelooking to build on an open or remote lot ofland. Each house plan inthis collection paysstrong attention to the typical climate zones where cabinsare built,optimizing their energy performance and building sciencecharacteristics forthese regions. Eachfloor plans isdeveloped to accommodate easy, simple living, and owners whoenjoy the outdoorsand outdoor activities.

Builder House Plans

The Builder House Plan collection was createdat the requestof the FreeGreen Builder Community (although all users areencouraged to usethese). Each of these plans has been developed to addressbuilder needs, andallow multiple façade implementations of the same basicdesign. The floor plansare simple and efficient, and the exteriors areappealing and identifiable. Allusers will notice that images associated withthese plans are more technical.This has been done on purpose to “cut to thechase” for our builders andexplain what they need.

Cape Cod House Plans

With their weathered cedar shingles, simpleforms, andclassic styles these house plans are unmistakably Cape Code. These home plans are designed toaccommodatea summer family living environment each of these plans think throughthebenefits and realties of vacationing on the Cape. From their window seat benches, totheiroutdoor showers we hope that you will have a lifetime of fun andrelaxationusing this house plan collection.

Mediterranean House Plans

This House Plan collection was inspired by SouthernCalifornia’s outdoorsy lifestyle.These home plans have a casualMediterranean feel and are perfect for temperateor warm climates wherecross-ventilation and passive cooling can reduce the costof air conditioning.Relaxed elegance and a Spanish influence provide curbappeal and comfort. Mostof these plans have integrated patios and garden spaceswhich extend the livingarea, creating a smooth transition between indoors andoutdoors.

Cad Details Library from Free Green Reviewed by Buidling Science

David — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:14:00 -0600

FreeGreen has just launched a building science reviewed CAD details Library. This new products is a must have for any serious green builder or green architect. Also, the most important details in the library were reviewed by Building Science Corporation adding a huge amount of value to this already valuable product. Please click on the image to see more details on this great new product.