Custom Builder Weekly - Feb 26th, 2026

Resilient products found at IBS | Japanese builders expand US footprint | Architect marries client goals with passive design

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The Things You Don't See

There's a moment in this week's Elysian Fields case study that stuck with me. The architect described how the house slowly comes into view as you round a hill. A point of discovery, he called it. When so many houses compete to impress you from this street, that idea to hold back a bit felt refreshing.

That same thread seems to be showing up much more in what we're hearing and seeing lately.

At IBS last week, some of the more interesting products weren't the loudest ones on the show floor. They were products and materials with a story to tell: designed to age well, perform well, and hold (or even build) a home's value over time. Next week's full IBS wrapup gets into the bigger signals, including the fact that Freddie Mac now factors energy efficiency and resilience features into home valuations. Durability and resilience are coming into their own, it seems.

The Pennsylvania architect in this week's Builder in 5 makes a related point. The "geometric simplicity" he advocates for isn't really a design preference, it's what drives passive house performance and long-term cost savings, he said. That's why he spends a lot of time obsessing over window installation details that most visitors won't really ever notice.

The homes worth watching lately seem to be doing a lot of heavy lifting before they're really ever seen.

— Pauline Hammerbeck, Head of Content

Signals: What We're Tracking

Japanese home builders are quickly expanding their U.S. footprint through acquisitions. On Feb. 10, Japan-based Sumitomo Forestry agreed to acquire TriPointe Homes; then, on Feb. 23, the Japanese-owned Daiwa House agreed to purchase United Homes Group. [Learn why Japanese firms are buying more U.S. home builders→]

Oregon is mandating heat pumps, over conventional ducted AC, in new construction homes under new residential code updates approved last week. The state's Building Code Division estimates the change could save residents about $125 per month, or roughly $1,700 annually, in energy costs. Supplemental or backup heat is still allowed, but the primary system must be a heat pump.

Context: The move reflects a growing push of electrification as a cost-saving strategy. Energy prices in Oregon have risen 50% since 2020. [Read more on the new codes]

LA apparently has too much pavement. And a new map makes the case that builders and developers are part of the fix. The nonprofit Accelerate Resilience LA says nearly half the county's pavement may be unnecessary, and that residential parcels play an important role: if every property were to cut a 6-by-6-foot tree well in their patio, the report said, it would remove 1,530 acres of pavement, at an average loss of just 3% of patio space.

Context: The report lands against a broader trend of more hardscaping in residential projects, but says pavement is ultimately a design decision, suggesting a rethink in how much concrete projects actually need. [Read the LA Times story→]