About our Company

Reiss Building and Renovation is a company that builds custom homes with a focus on quality and craftsmanship. We are also dedicated to educating our customers about "green" building or sustainable building practices. Several of the company's employees have been actively involved in the development of the Vermont Built Green Program that is a state wide voluntary program that certifies homes that have been built green, not unlike the energy rated home program. We have experience in the construction of energy efficient super insulated homes including both passive and active solar as well as conventionally framed houses.

Equally important focus for the homes we build is the attention to good indoor air quality. We are very careful about air sealing the homes we build and that necessitates that we provide fresh air to the house. Each one of our homes has some type of mechanical ventilation. Our recommended way of doing this is with an air-to-air heat exchanger. In addition to providing fresh air we recommend building products that do not contribute to poor indoor air quality to begin with. We are sensitive to building products that out-gas and products that may prove to be harmful to the occupants. An example of this is the common use of fiberglass as insulation. The short fiber fiberglass insulation has been placed on the ARC List (Annual Report of Carcinogens) as a probable cause of cancer. Our company has decided to use cellulose as primary insulation in our houses, for energy reasons as well as indoor air quality reasons.

As we build we clearly see our job as one of an educator and communicator in addition to the group of people who physically put a house together. We are craftsmen and take enormous pride in our work.

We enjoy opportunities to be creative in an ascetic sense and in ways that can also be cost effective. Our subs have been working for us for many years and most share our appreciation for green building and all share our appreciation for quality work.

Our company has built homes as small as 1500 sq. ft. and as large as 6200 sq. ft. Our homes have been featured in Vermont Builder/Architect magazine and more recently in the March/April 03' issue of Custom Home magazine. The homes we have built have won awards from the Northern Vermont Homebuilders Association, the Burlington Preservation Society, the Vermont Star Program for energy efficiency and the Governor's Environmental Excellence Award. Our careful attention to detail is evident in how our homes perform and in the quality of our work.

Our preference in terms of working with the clients and the architect is to be part of the design /build team as early as possible. It is our experience that an exchange of ideas and an analysis of cost early on can be cost effective in terms of design time and also gives us an opportunity to suggest building techniques and materials that we have found work for us.

Thank you for your interest in our company. We enjoy what we do and feel that building can be one of the most rewarding endeavors a person can under take. If you have any questions or would like more information about our company please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Chuck Reiss
802-482-3295
Hinesburg, Vermont
vbrreiss@gmavt.net