The single-family homes currently completed for Hunters Point Homes & Resort (Hunters Point), a housing community in Manatee County, Flo., not only survived Hurricane Ian with no damage or power loss, but also survived Hurricane Idalia.
Pearl Homes Florida’s CEO and founder, Marshall Gobuty, was recognized as U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Florida’s 2023 Community Leader for his commitment to LEED for residential communities, net-zero properties, and advocacy for green building in the state.
In Gobuty’s most recent project, Hunters Point, two homes are being built per month and the entire allotment of 86 homes is expected to be completed by 2026.
The development now includes 30 completed single-family homes that were recognized by Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) as the first LEED Zero single-family home development in the world.
Pearl Homes developments—both Mirabella, near Sarasota, Flo., and Hunters Point—have earned more than 20 awards since Pearl Homes founding in 2016.
There is an official Home Energy Rating System (HERS) by RESNET that measures how efficient homes are. Pearl Homes rank negative 13, while most U.S. homes rank 130, and “good-environmentally sound” homes rank 60-80. In the past, such homes have never received a negative rating.
Manatee County building inspectors conducted blower door tests on Pearl Homes, to check the amount of air escaping a home, and had to recalibrate their measurement instruments. The norm is between 5-7 percent of air escaping. Pearl Homes rated 1.0-1.5 percent, levels the inspectors’ tools could not register. On a large scale, this translates to power savings for big-box stores and supermarket refrigerators.
