Arthur Rutenberg franchisee creating a “Renaissance” with ECO-Block
22 May 2003Ft. Meyers, Fla. – For the first time, Floridians can choose a new Arthur Rutenberg home made of ECO-Block insulating concrete forms (ICF), an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly way to build.
Lyons Housing Corporation, an Arthur Rutenberg franchisee, recently debuted a home built with ECO-Block at Villagio, a neighborhood within the new Renaissance subdivision near Ft. Meyers in Lee County.
“This marks the first time Arthur Rutenberg Homes’ copyrighted designs have been adapted to our product,” says Ralph Evans, regional manager for ECO-Block. Lyons chose to offer ECO-Block as an upgrade based on consumer demand for earth-friendly living environments.
Available only in Florida but known industry-wide for its popular copyrighted designs, Arthur Rutenberg Homes and its network of carefully selected franchisees make it a dominant player among developers statewide.
“Of course, we hope Lyons starts a trend among Arthur Rutenberg builders,” Evans says. “These are beautiful, quality homes and buyers will be impressed with the added value ECO-Block brings.”
Planned by Worthington Communities, Renaissance already offers its homeowners a unique, natural landscape that includes extensive use of native plants and more than 80 acres of preserve and wetlands. With high-end homes bordering the fairways of an Arthur Hills-designed championship golf course, the community showcases some of the areas most respected builders.
As the exclusive builder for Villagio, Lyons Housing Corporation offers executive-level detached villas to its homebuyers. Lyons sees more than one benefit that might be gained by using ECO-Block.
“The majority of new homes in Florida are made of concrete using traditional construction methods,” says Tim Rose, president of Lyons Housing Corporation. “This means skilled masons can be hard to find.”
“But ECO-Block’s easy-to-use product design makes building concrete homes both simpler and faster, which broadens the pool of workers who can build with concrete.” he says. “When we considered this along with its numerous environmental advantages, the decision to use ECO-Block was an easy one.”
An ECO-Block building presents long-term energy savings for its owners, with utility bills slashed by as much as 50 percent. While the cost of using concrete is competitive with wood, experienced crews also report that building with ICFs can take less time. The easy-to-use process eliminates several steps – such as sheathing and insulating the exterior walls – that are necessary with wood-frame construction.
Made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), ICFs stack and lock into place much like LEGOs. Once in place, concrete fills the forms to create strong walls while providing excellent built-in insulation. In addition to being earth-friendly, ECO-Block increases protection during extreme weather with a resistance of up to 200 mph winds. Building owners also appreciate its exceptional insulating values, which make the structures up to eight-times quieter.