Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big House and Creating the Not So Big House, is an architect turned writer who laments, "So many houses, so big with so little soul. Our suburbs are filled with houses that are bigger than ever. 

But are bigger houses really better? Are the dreams that build them bigger, or is it simply that there seems to be no alternative? Americans are searching for home in unprecedented numbers. Yet when we look, the only tools we seem to have are those we find in the real estate listings. But a house is more than square footage and the number of beds and baths. In one of the wealthiest societies ever, many people are deeply dissatisfied with their most expensive purchase."

A green and sustainable home is never the largest. Large homes waste valuable resources in their construction and maintenance, even when they are energy efficient or  powered by renewable energy.

A green home is comfortable and is tailored to fit the lifestyles of the owners.

Yet, in order to be sustainable, a green home must be beautiful. According to building physicist Joe Lsitburek,  a home must be beautiful in order to make someone want to take care of it. 

Big is not beautiful for green homes, however, Small is beautiful. 

Susanka says the alternative to building big lies in spending more of the budget on the quality of the space and less on the sheer quantity of it.

All new build customers can read Susanka's book before working with an architect. We agree with Susanka when she writes, "After designing homes for 15 years, I have come to the inevitable conclusion: We are all searching for home, but we are trying to find it by building more rooms and more space. Instead of thinking about the quality of the spaces we live in, we tend to focus on quantity. But a house is so much more than its size and volume, neither of which has anything to do with comfort."

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Contact Terry Jensen at 972 251-1532 or 817 545-0140.