Q&A with James Facer, Builder Sales Manager for Noritz

Is tankless  water heater technology really all that marketable to homebuyers?

People are talking about tankless water heaters, and builders are fielding requests about this hot water heater. They can readily see its marketability. A Colorado townhome builder we know routinely conducts after-close surveys to learn what features really motivated the buyer to buy. In our experience, tankless water heater makes about 30 percent of these lists, which is higher than many other products, including some amenities that might surprise you. Overall, it probably ranks among the top five features in these hot water heater reviews.

Are the energy savings tankless provides really enough for most new-home buyers?

It often depends on the price point of the home as well as the time horizon the builder is using with his buyer.

The tank-versus-tankless price difference can be a challenge if the home is valued at $150,000 or less. Typically, builders of this type of unit will specify a very basic, 40-gallon hot water heater. A utility rebate might help justify the extra cost, but the tankless unit will still represent a sizable percentage of the overall cost of the home.

The newer, smaller Noritz tankless water heater models are also helping to close the cost gap between tank and tankless water heater prices. There’s movement in the other direction as well, as the price of commercial water heater tank units continues to climb as manufacturers work to meet rising energy standards.

But it’s important to talk more than comparative costs. Buyers are increasingly mindful of utility costs over the long haul. Tankless water heaters have a significantly longer life expectancy than conventional tank water heaters: 15 to 20 years versus eight to 10 for a tank unit. For owner’s intent upon remaining in their homes, those extra years represent a major value, as they will get a return on their investments during that time.

And let’s not forget: Providing a product engineered to last two decades can’t help but reinforce the builder’s own reputation for quality construction as well.

Is tankless a true green product?

Any product is measured on economics, social acceptance and — the new kid on the block — the environmental component. A tankless water heater meets all of these values. Builders and their buyers like the idea of continuous, instant hot water, as well as the energy and space savings. Over time, a tankless water heater has become more economically viable with lower up-front costs for smaller models, while the cost of a tank water heater is rising.

But while builders and buyers are better versed in the comfort, convenience, and economic values of tankless water heater technology, they don't always look at the manufacturing process. A tankless water heater is a cradle-to-cradle product, environmentally sustainable from its packaging to its components. These products deliver lower emissions, reduced electrical consumption, a longer life cycle,  and smaller amounts of potentially hazardous construction materials. It has also been proven to be easier to recycle those materials and components once the product is removed from service.

At Noritz, we have even affixed specific alpha codes to various plastic components inside the heaters to help identify their material makeup when it is time to recycle the unit. These products are manufactured by a plant that is committed to sustainability, with PV panels generating the electricity used in the production process. Noritz  simply offers one the best manufactured tankless water heaters in the industry.

Find the correct tankless water heater with the new Noritz America product page

Selecting the right tankless water heater is important because the benefits—cost-savings and lower energy consumption—are dependent on choosing the right model, and you want to maximize these benefits. But how do you know you’re choosing the right model when there are quite a few things to consider? Well, now the pressure’s off! Use the Noritz America Product Page and find out.

Consumers and trade professionals now have the ability to search for exactly what they need, as well as compare their options on the new Noritz America Product Page. Similar to spreading out all of your information in front of you, the new Product Page lets you explore the options before making a decision—and therefore, ensuring you choose the right product for your needs and lifestyle.

By using the “Filter by Type” option, users can easily browse tankless water heater products in the ecoTough, proTough, valueSolutions, Commercial and Accessory lines.

• ecoTough: Innovative, high-efficiency line providing a lower carbon footprint
• proTough: A long lasting and optimized for any size home-size
• valueSolutions: A value solution for smaller sized homes and warm climate living
• Commerical: Precise and efficient options for any commercial project
• Accessories: Other items to make your tankless water heater run at its best

Wondering how to find a tankless water heater based on where you want it located? You can also filter by the venting–type to compare indoor and outdoor models from the four Noritz lines of tankless.

And the best part about using the new Product Page to search for and select your tankless water-heating product needs? You can compare models and accessories based on their individual characteristics, which ensures a confident final decision.

Using the “Compare” check box, you can select the models you want to compare in a grid that breaks down:

• Home size
• Indoor or Outdoor Unit Dimensions
• Weight
• Gas Consumption (NG and LP)
• Capacity Range
• Energy Factor
• Thermal Efficiency
• Temperature Settings
• Accessories

You can also check to see if your selection fits your lifestyle but using the Noritz Sizing Calculator, and find qualified installers in your market to quote the job and ensure you’re getting the right product for the right price: Everything you need to make an informed decision, thanks to Noritz.

For more information about Noritz products, please visit our products page.

The benefits of online training

Unable to attend training sessions halfway across the country? Noritz America’s new online training program will save you time and the discomfort of “pretzeling” yourself into that horrid middle seat.

The new Residential Level 1 (R1) tankless water heater training course, held by Noritz University, will allow busy trades people who are unable to attend in-person sessions the ability to quickly deepen their tankless knowledge from the comfort of their own homes or offices.

Unlike traditional training courses, the online course can be taken at any time—day or night—that is most convenient for you. For contractors engrossed in their daily routines, training can often be something you can never seem to schedule. This is unfortunate because your very livelihood requires keeping abreast of new technologies and procedures. The online option allows contractors to accomplish this—at their own pace and at their convenience.

Trainees can access the online lessons through the Noritz website at the office, jobsite or home. The self-guided course will take about an hour to complete and will review technical information, including an overview of available products and guidance on proper sizing and residential installation. Also discussed are common maintenance issues related to water quality and key product benefits.

And, yes, there is a test. A quick recap at the end of the module will confirm that you have successfully completed the online course. Those who successfully complete the course will be listed on the Noritz Website, under the “Find an Installer” section, as well as receive PROCard member status on their account.

Here are some of the topics offered in the online course:

PRODUCT LINE

• What is a Tankless Water Heater?
• Residential Condensing and Non-Condensing Product Lines
• Large Residential/Commercial Product Line

INSTALLATION

• Sizing
• Gas
• Combustion Air
• PVC Considerations
• Direct and Standard Venting, Vent Termination Clearances
• Circuit Board Dipswitches
• Special Applications

MAINTENANCE

• Water Treatment
• Descale Procedure

For more information on the new Online Residential Level training program, please visit training.noritz.com.

Find the answers & follow along on Facebook for you chance to win big.

Thanks to your enthusiasm and the success of our very first Quest for Cash, we’re giving our community a second shot at claiming the big bucks! We want grow our Facebook community with the help of our devoted ProCard members so we’re giving away another $200 American Express gift card. Drop by our Facebook page Monday morning for your first clue! Here’s how to enter:

1. Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NoritzAmerica

2. Find the daily ‘Quest for Cash’ question on our Facebook page

3. Find the answer by following the links provided

4. Leave your answer in the comments section under each question

5. Remember, the more questions your answer, the greater your chance of taking home our cash prize!

Rules & Regulations 

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: One winner will be selected at random and notified via Facebook from the Lisa Herbert (Flying Camel) Account before 4:00pm (ET) on May 26. Winner must respond by June 2. Unclaimed prizes will not be redrawn for.

 NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER. Contest open only to legal residents of the United States of America (Void where prohibited by law) and Canada, 18 years old or older. Please note that there can only be one winner. Offer void where prohibited. Employees of Noritz or their immediate families are not eligible to participate or win. All applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations apply./p>

Q&A with James Facer, Builder Sales Manager for Noritz

How can tankless water heating help me qualify for various green rating systems?

Tankless water heating is one of the most cost-effective ways for builders to "green" their homes. In the state of Colorado, a builder might be looking to follow the Built Green Colorado initiative, which awards eight points for installing tankless. The LEED for Homes certification program, created by the U.S. Green Building Council, gives two points for tankless.

From a strictly economic perspective, the cost of tankless per rating point is lower than upgrading with windows, insulation, or even solar. In short, you are getting more efficiency for each dollar.

How do I justify the higher up-front cost of a tankless water heater versus a conventional tank-type water heater to the buyer?

By substituting a wall-hung tankless water heater for a tank unit, you gain nine additional square feet of floor space. How much of that up-front difference in price is recouped by that space savings?

Actually, this consideration should go beyond the tank unit itself to a consideration of its location. Because of its bulk, a tank heater typically must sit in a mechanical room. In a multiple story house with a basement mechanical area, you will likely run the venting through a notched-out chase system that is routed through bedroom closets, the attic and other living areas, taking up valuable space in the home.

But a tankless water heater is small enough to fit into a variety of locations, so you can make those vent runs shorter and less obtrusive. Gaining back that extra space has a value to the builder and his buyers.

So, what’s next for the green building industry?

From the intensification of drought in the South and West, to the magnification in hurricane, tornado and snowstorm activity nationwide, environmental concerns are having a major impact on the way American homes are designed and constructed. Because of these weather extremes, green homes will keep on increasing in marketability, according to green building experts Ron Jones and Tim O’Brien. But the extent of that growth depends heavily on how convincingly builders promote the idea of sustainability to their customers.

According to Jones, who is president of Green Builder Media, builders need to continue looking through a “lens of responsibility,” one that takes into consideration the durability, performance and security for the people who live or work in the structures they build. “We want to make sure a family can stay put if there is a destructive weather event, and that at the same time, they’ll have a comfortable and enjoyable lifestyle while reducing their consumption,” he says.

Builders need to develop an even greater sense of urgency about making their homes more energy- and water-efficient, according to Tim O’Brien of Wisconsin-based Tim O’Brien Homes.

“We’ve got millions of homes out there right now that are just sucking energy and resources,” says O’Brien. “We’ve got to continue to do a better job as builders and lead the way of building better, high performance homes and stop adding to the pile of waste, if you will, that is being consumed and burned trying to heat, cool and operate homes in our country.”

“Maintaining relationships with manufacturers and suppliers will help us reach the goal of building a better quality home while still keeping it affordable, says O’Brien. “Our ultimate goal is to eradicate the term ‘green home’ from our marketplace. My vision for the future is to be at a point where everyone is building green homes, so that it is not an exception or niche—it’s just what every builder does.”

Stay tuned to our blog for more on information, tips and advice for homebuilders on green building practices.

Green Homeowners

Do homebuyers understand and appreciate the value of green building? Although homeowners are increasingly sophisticated regarding sustainable building practices, new technologies, new systems, combinations and materials are constantly being introduced, says Ron Jones, president of Green Builder Media.

Tim O’Brien of Wisconsin-based Tim O’Brien Homes, affirms Jones’ sentiment about the need for homeowner education. “We saw early on that much of green building technology can be a bit above the level of understanding of the average homeowner, and easily overwhelming,” says O’Brien. “We’ve combated this by pulling buyers into the planning process very early, so that they understand everything that’s involved—that it’s not just about energy efficiency, but also water conservation and indoor air quality, too.

“While we do enjoy a more sophisticated and better-educated client, it’s still incumbent on us—the builder—to be the source of information,” opines Jones, who notes that it is the responsibility of builders to keep abreast of industry and technological developments in order to be a resource for homebuyers.

Don Ferrier of Texas-based Ferrier Custom Homes points out that ‘green buyers’ of all ages are typically much savvier than typical homeowners, but often have different sustainable building motivations. “We’ve seen baby-boomers more interested in the financial payoff through energy savings associated with green building, while younger buyers, typically in their 30s and 40s, believe sustainability is the right thing to do for their families, future generations and the earth.”

“When our clients first come to us, they’re still working to understand how sustainability benefits them,” continues O’Brien. “Overall, we’ve found that these benefits are something you have to experience yourself to truly appreciate. Homeowners who have lived in their homes for 3-5 years are more likely to value the benefits: durability, quality construction, high-energy efficiency and better indoor air quality… The message builders have can then resonate with buyers.”

Stay tuned to our blog for more on information, tips and advice for homebuilders on green building practices.

For this blog installment, we asked our Builder Sales Manager, James Facer to share his best advice for builders on how to recommend and sell tankless water heaters in projects. Thanks to James for this excellent advice!  Enjoy!

 A steadily rising trend on the residential construction scene for more than a decade, tankless water heating is now a legitimate, well-established option for most builders. They no longer wonder how that little box hanging on the wall actually works, or whether it can keep up with a homeowner’s hot-water needs. Today, builders want to know how tankless can work for them, helping them sell their homes in a market that is eager for products that cut energy costs and deliver a payback.

This shifting perspective inevitably impacts the kinds of questions I get from builders on tankless. Most relate to the utility, economic viability and marketability of the product — as well as how to promote these advantages to a buyer.

For me, the easiest way to recall the key benefits of tankless technology in the home is to think of a little word you and your people likely use everyday in your business — S-P-E-C.

• Space savings: Substituting a wall-hung tankless water heater for a conventional tank model frees up approximately nine additional square feet. Multiply that by the cost per square foot of the homes you are building, and you’ve put a hard-dollar value on going tankless. That space and dollar savings could translate, for example, into something of genuine worth to the buyer, such as an additional closet, a larger family room, etc.
• Positioning: Tankless water heater represents a paradigm shift in homebuilding in so many ways. One is to get builders to “think outside the mechanical room,” by way of maximizing the overall value of tankless for the homeowner. Because of their medicine-cabinet size, tankless water heaters fit neatly into many different places: crawl spaces, utility closets, attics, garages, and so forth. By getting involved with the builder at the design stage of a project, a manufacturer like Noritz can help him position the water heater in a more centralized location. That, in turn, should reduce the length of vent runs and eliminate chases and soffits — once again, freeing up space for better and more marketable uses.
• Energy Factor: Builders are looking more closely than ever at tankless. Why? Because they know — and their buyers increasingly know — domestic hot water represents the second largest usage of energy in American households, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Condensing, gas-fired models have an Energy Factor of .93 or .94, while a mid-efficiency unit has a .84 EF. That typically translates into an annual operating cost of around $200. Compare that with $350 in annual costs for a standard tank water heater with an EF of .62. Today's buyer wants lower energy bills, and tankless can go a long way toward meeting that demand, but without sacrificing comfort or convenience. Which brings us to the final letter…
• Comfort and Convenience:  Tankless technology inevitably brings significant life style improvements. Say, for example, you have relatives staying at your home over a long weekend. If your hot water comes from a tank-type water heater, you may need to schedule your bathing times to be sure there’s enough hot water for everyone.

Or never mind overnight guests: Maybe you don’t really have enough hot water to accommodate your own family’s needs. Do you refrain from using your soaking tub, because no one can shower for an hour afterward while the water heater recovers? Does your bath have dual showerheads that provide only nine or ten minutes of truly hot water before the shower turns lukewarm?

A properly sized tankless system eliminates the worry over whether there’s enough hot water for all the members of your household all the time. Tankless is an automatic technology with no storage and no shortage of hot water. Continuous hot water will be there — on demand — whenever you need it, for however long you need it.

Homebuilders today face challenges competing in the marketplace. One opportunity that some may be quick to brush off is green building, which has actually become easier to do and is more profitable in the long run for both homebuilders’ businesses and the homeowner. The first question that most builders have when approached with this topic is, “But, where do I start?”

On Wednesday, February 5, 2014, Don Ferrier of Ferrier Custom Homes, Tim O’Brien of Tim O’Brien Homes and Ron Jones of Green Builder media gathered at the Noritz Booth for a panel discussion at the 2014 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, to answer this question, as well as other questions about green building, being a green builder, and what builders curious about green building can do to apply the concepts to their own practice.

Q: In your personal experience, where does the sustainability process start when building a new home?

Don Ferrier: Sustainability starts with planning. You have to be sure that you have a good team and that the entire team, including all of your subs and vendors, involved with the project are committed to what you’re doing. If you tell your electrician or your plumber that they made a penetration in your wall envelope and you want it sealed because you don’t want moisture intruding or air escaping, they’re going to look at you like you’re crazy, because they’ve never heard of that before. Sustainability is something that’s slightly different—enough different that it takes a lot of education in-house as well as everywhere else. But of course, you start with the site and determining how to best handle it, and then you walk through what the owners want to accomplish and you try to merge those two the best they can.

Tim: I think another piece is making sure that everybody understands the components of sustainability. You know, it’s not just one area. Like in our market, we’re in a cold climate, and people think that green is energy efficiency. There’s more to it than just energy efficiency. And like Don said, bringing everybody on board to make sure they understand why you’re doing the things that you’re doing is very important and it’s just as important to get education in the field to the trade contractors as well as to your internal staff.

Ron: These guys are great builders and they have expressed a number of things that I distill down into one word, and that’s intent. Sustainability starts with your intention. You have to have a commitment to outperform what’s acceptable. You want to excel in this business, and the way you do it is by setting a higher standard for yourself and the people you’re working with. The product selections, the systems and the outcome will follow.

Don: Another thing that always comes up at the beginning of the planning process in dealing with a client, is something which we’ve heard for many years: a passive home requires an active homeowner, and that if you want a home that is very high performance, the homeowner may have to open some windows and doors. Often builders can use this as a selling point though, because in my experience, most of them are already willing and used to doing that. I deal with clients based in hot climates, and in the spring and fall it’s 80 degrees inside and 60 degrees outside as it’s cooling off in the evening. I always ask clients, “Will you open the windows to flush it out, or will you turn the air on?” Typically about 90 percent—unless they have allergy problems—say they would open the windows. We’re always trying to think of ways we can get the predominantly south/southeast winds flowing through the home to flush it out, things like that.

Overall, you’re looking at the efficiency as a scale. You’ll typically pay more for those items up front, but they’ll always pay for themselves and the energy they save. For that matter, we do energy modeling on every home we build so that the homeowner can see that and it helps them make decisions. Our clients come in and they’ve got 50 things they know they want in their house and I’ll ask them what kind of budget they’re looking at, and from there, I let them know how many of those things on their list can fit into their budget, and that’s when we facilitate them through their decision process.

Stay tuned for more topics that were discussed by this group of experts at the Builders’ Show for advice and tips on green building.

Talk, tweet and win spending money for VEGAS!

Drop by anytime between 10:00am to 12:00pm Tuesday, February 4 & Wednesday, February 5 in Booth #C8322!

There are so many reasons for builders to specify Noritz tankless water heaters in their projects. From continuous hot water and product longevity to energy and space savings, we aim to be a greener, more cost effective solution to consumers and builders alike.

This year at the International Builder’s Show we’re getting social, giving away daily prizes and want to hear how you can build Noritz into your projects!

Here’s how to enter:

• Follow us on Twitter at @NoritzAmerica.
• Head over to our booth (C8322) where we’ve set up a cool photo station.
• Chat with our friendly reps about the pros of using a Noritz tankless water heater in your building projects.
• On our chalkboards, let us know how YOU can build US into your project.
• Take your own photo in our booth with your phone (we love Noritz selfies) or let us do it for you.
• Tweet us your picture using the #NoritzBuilds hashtag on Twitter and you’re automatically entered to win a daily prizes!

Get social and let Noritz give you spending money for your VEGAS experience. Help us tear up Twitterverse with #NoritzBuilds!  See you in Vegas!