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"Michael brought a passion to his work and to the people with whom he was working. It wasn't so much that he was
proud of what he was doing, but that he loved what he was doing. You could see it and feel it, and the
house (now three years old) shows it and retains it still."
Michael was a pleasure to work with: He kept us fully informed as to the process of construction; he made helpful
suggestions regarding types and sources of materials; he frequently gave us a very clear accounting of how much
had been spent; when our ideas for changes to the plans were poor ones (which we later realized was
the case) he tactfully told us this, but when the changes made sense, he was very willing to make them. Most
important, we ended up with a house we consider to be wonderful."
"I would be hard pressed to find another builder of Michael Chandler's skill and integrity. He has a
good eye, and I trust him to come up with fine details and finishes that complement the architectural
concept."
"As a builder and designer I strive to build homes that look small and unpretentious from the exterior
but live graciously and reflect the creative spirit of the owners. I choose to keep my business small enough
that I can manage it while still being active at the construction site, keeping myself and my skilled
employees challenged and fully engaged."
Schultz-Popinsh|Rosen|Goldmine|Turtle
Three Waters|Summers|Flash|Henschel|Fullagar|Hillmer
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LEED Silver, Energy Star, Builders’ Challenge, a Gold rating from a local green program, and pending LEED for
Homes certification make this house a green building rating system handbook
More about this home at Green Building Advisor... 
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The home scored Silver in the HBA-DOC green building guidelines and Silver in the LEED-H guidelines and Gold on the NAHB Green Building Initiative. |
The Berry Residence earned a HERS index of 68 from DOE Energy Star (more than twice as efficient as required for energy star designation) and will use only 47.5 MBTU per year of energy for heating, cooling and water heating as compared with 70.3 MBTU per year for a code standard home of the same size. At current energy prices this will result in an annual savings of $608 and a reduction of over 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. A solar water heater on the roof stores enough energy in the crawlspace to heat the concrete slab floors in spring and fall with back up provided by Rinnai demand water heater. By using the radiant floor to cool the water stored in the solar water heater we optimize the efficiency of the solar panels. Tying it all into the Rinnai water heater optimizes the efficiency of the Rinnai and assures that the home owners will never run out of hot water.
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2007 National Association of Home Builders National Green Building Awards Finalist |
The mission of the Green Building Initiative is to accelerate the adoption of building practices that result in
energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green
building approaches for residential and commercial construction. To accomplish this objective buildings are scored on a seven point scoring system for Site Design, Resource Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, Indoor Air Quality, Homeowner Education, and Global Impact. The design and construction of this home addresses all of these issues.
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This house has been getting a lot of attention from the "mainstream green" movement precisely because it is not solar,
is very large at 3,664 sf heated, and still performs very well on the energy star and green building
verifications. It looks more like a "Mainstream house" in its architecture and interior design than some of the
more esoteric homes we build. |
This home was designed for our client to share with her mother and grandmother. In addition to providing comfortable
accommodations for the three of them it also needed to provide an in-home writing studio for the mother and a painting
studio for the daughter as well as an exercise room, two separate kitchens and a dining room that could expand to
accommodate large family gatherings.
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| 2006 National Association of Home Builders National Green Building Awards Finalist |
When people hear that we took second place in the 2006 NAHB National Green Building Awards with this house we
usually get a "What makes this house so green?" type of reaction. The fact is that this house
isn't built of straw bales and doesn't have any solar panels on the roof. The elements that make this
house green are as numerous as they are subtle. When Beth and I were designing this house we were not aiming
to win national recognition, we were just trying to use the most energy and resource efficient systems to build
the most beautiful home we could for a price that is sustainable for the family that is going to live there.
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| 2005 NAHB Seniors Housing Council, Aging in Place Design Winner |
The Schultz-Popish residence was designed to do all we could to optimize indoor air quality and to be a setting to
complement the owners' collection of contemporary American crafts. These photos were taken before the collection and
furnishings were brought into the house, so the beauty of the furnishings wouldn't compete with the
craftsmanship of the setting. The two benches in this photo are a hint of what was to come.
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| This home sold this winter with a full price offer after two days on the MLS. |
The Rosen Residence was a result of a collaboration between the homeowners, their architect friend Bryna Rapp
and the Chandler Design-Build team. This home is 2,484 sf on two levels with a magnificent Joe Kenlon drystack
stone fireplace and locally sawn oak timbers. One of the strengths Chandler Design-Build brings to our projects is
the vision and environmental sensativity to optimally locate the building footprint on the lot. On this project
we had two adjacent ten acre lots to explore and to make a part of the over all vision for the property.
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| A home that uses "outdoor rooms" to maximize living space. |
This 1,540 sf house was built on a $155,000 budget including all hardscaping except for the pentagonal playhouse and
the master bedroom retreat deck. The program called for a music/painting studio that would be acoustically
separated from the master bedroom and nursery by a kitchen suitable for running a one woman catering business. We
identified four .outdoor room. activities; kid's play area, adult gardening and socializing, master
bedroom retreat deck, and an outdoor recycling/ bicycle storage/ vegetable garden area.
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| Chatham County NC — Approximately 2300 sf |
The parking area and driveway for this home with semi-attached studio are across a small creek that bisects the
property and feeds a small pond that the owner has built in her backyard. There is also a grassed over, fair
weather drive on the house side of the creek for moving and deliveries of landscaping supplies.
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| Near Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
The house at Three Waters from the front. The house blends Japanese and Arts and Crafts influences with a
large copper "lantern" on the chimney drawing attention up wards to the sky above. Three foot overhangs with
built-in wooden gutters with copper edging extend to seven feet at the clipped corners creating the effect of
many sheltered bay windows. The kitchen door is tucked into one of these overhangs. The more formal entry into
the music room has a French door with side lights set back into a deeply recessed porch which gives an intimate
space in the sunken entry garden.
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Approaching the Summers house from the drive the first thing you notice is the assembly of red steel roofs at
the edge of the 35 acre field. Even the chimney cap is custom fabricated of matching red metal in a 6/12 hip
design. In this view the garage is hidden behind the screen porch. The building down the hill is the owner's pottery
studio.
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| On the Haw River near Chapel Hill. |
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This house, designed by Michael Chandler, is only 1500 square feet with three bedrooms, two full baths
and an 18 x 24 dance hall living room. Portions of the foundation were hand dug to avoid damaging tree roots.
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This 1300 square foot, three bedroom, two bath design by Michael Chandler features old fashioned stucco
on wire-lath siding, tiled sun room and yellow pine paneling on the walls and ceilings.