2009-05-25

Metro Brokers TV:  Welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  We are at the Habitat for Humanity project up here in Arvada, Colorado and this is our 2009 project and we are up here with another great volunteer out of Metro Brokers, Mike Cordova and welcome Mike.

Mike Cordova:  Hi.  I am glad to be here.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, is this your first project up here with Habitat with Metro Brokers?

Mike Cordova:  Yes, it is and I really enjoyed it so far.

Metro Brokers TV:  Great and it looks like your wife is up here working too.

Mike Cordova:  Yes, she is, BC Realty's  Mary Barela Cordova.  She talked me into it.  She is the reason I am here.

Metro Brokers TV:  Well, I think we probably need more Metro Brokers talking other Metro Brokers to be involved in these projects.

Mike Cordova:  I think so.  It's a wonderful project.  It's a lot of fun actually.  You know, it's work, but it's good for the community and we enjoy doing it.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, what were you specializing in today or you were involved?

Mike Cordova:  I am actually working on the roof.  I am roofing, which you know I thought it would be harder than it is.  It's really not that hard.  So, it's been fun.

Metro Brokers TV:  Yes, a lot of... I noticed the building products get better every year that we come, you know, the roofing, the windows etc.

Mike Cordova:  Well, I think that you know whoever is going to get this house is going to have a great roof because I personally hammered in those nails.  It's going to be in excellent shape.

Metro Brokers TV:  Well Mike, we appreciate your volunteerism and efforts here for Metro Brokers and for Habitat for Humanity.  So, thank you.

Mike Cordova:  Oh thank you and I am glad to be part of this organization that you know cares about the community and wants to help out.  So, thank you.

Metro Brokers TV:  You bet.

Posted in Giving Back

Metro Brokers TV:  Welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  I am here today up in Arvada, Colorado at the Habitat for Humanity project and I am here today speaking with Cathy Fieberg... Fiebig.  Right Cathy?

Cathy Fiebig:  Fiebig.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, you are... what would you be... or what would your position be considered here on this project?

Cathy Fiebig:  We are... our official title is construction supervisor.

Metro Brokers TV:  And you have been doing that with Habitat for how long?

Cathy Fiebig:  1997, so nine years.

Metro Brokers TV:  Wow.  So, you have seen... have you seen a lot of changes in Habitat for Humanity since then?

Cathy Fiebig:  Overall yes.  I have only been with this affiliate for two years, but overall, yes.  Habitat is... we are getting really good at what we do.  

Metro Brokers TV:  And do volunteers like the ones here for Metro Brokers, is that a critical part of your project?

Cathy Fiebig:  They are not only critical, they are the project.  I am not Habitat... our daily volunteers are actually the program.  We are volunteer driven, always have been, and I hope we always will be.  I am nothing more than a guide during the daily workday.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, I was just talking with Steve over here, one of our Metro Brokers.  He was telling me about some of the energy efficiency aspects that are built in the home here.  Maybe you can expound upon that a little bit.

Cathy Fiebig:  Yes.  We are what is considered a five star, energy star, builder, in other words, we are building at the top of their program.  We are very, very highly rated and it starts right at the foundation up in the way we cock[Phonetic] even our mud sills, our rim board joists to our mud sills and we continue that attention to detail throughout the house.  All 2 x 6 exterior walls, we wrap with OSB, cover that with donated half inch blue board from Dow Corning, tape all that out so we have an absolutely impervious envelope as it's called, energy star rated windows that are very tightly flashed, foamed from the inside then.  We don't want any air leaks.  We don't want any water leaks.  We over insulate everything, over cock[Phonetic] everything, do a lot of little extras during the framing process to tighten up the houses.

Metro Brokers TV:  Yeah.  I was noticing these vents you are putting over all the doors.

Cathy Fiebig:  Correct.  

Metro Brokers TV:  And that's because the... because they...

Cathy Fiebig:  That is our passive[Phonetic] return system, so that it will circulate above and under the door as well to get the convection going when the heat is on.

Metro Brokers TV:  And it is there because basically the house is so airtight too.

Cathy Fiebig:  Part of it is because of that, what you might be thinking of is these passive drafts[Phonetic] in the corner.  Those actually drop down into the crawl space and then we have a 24x7 circulating fan in the crawl space that exchanges all of the air in the house every... I believe it is every nine minutes.

Metro Brokers TV:  Wow.  So, how much... how much are you away from being like lead certified?  Are you doing any lead certified houses at Habitat?

Cathy Fiebig:  I don't know enough about the lead program to address that.  A lot of our practices are also lead practices definitely.

Posted in Giving Back

Metro Brokers TV:  Welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  We are at the Habitat for Humanity project up here in Arvada, Colorado.  We are with another one of the great volunteers out of Metro Brokers, Anthony Rael and welcome Anthony.

Anthony Rael:  Nice to see you Mark.

Metro Brokers TV:  I recall interviewing you last year at this project.

Anthony Rael:  That is correct.  We were out in Commerce City last year.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, you are like a veteran and I recall that you said you had done at prior projects to Commerce City, right?

Anthony Rael:  That's right.  This is my third Habitat project for Metro Brokers and as long as you guys have space for me to come, I will be here every year.

Metro Brokers TV:  Well, it's great volunteers like you that makes Metro Brokers what it is.  What kind of projects were you working on today?  What were you specializing in?

Anthony Rael:  Well, mostly just working on some interior work, putting up some little clips so that the dry wallers can have something solid to screw into.

Metro Brokers TV:  Oh, little plastic clips, I noticed them.  That seems different.

Anthony Rael:  It is different and I am not familiar with it, but I am just following instructions.  I got my marching orders and I do what I was told.

Metro Brokers TV:  [laughs]  Well, Anthony, you know, it's people like you that make projects like this work just from talking to the Habitat people, everything they have labor wise is a 100% volunteer work to build these houses.  So, appreciate you being here and being involved with Metro Brokers.

Anthony Rael:  Thank you very much Mark and as I was telling somebody else from Metro Brokers, I encourage any other Metro Broker to come along and do this project in future years and encourage your children and your high schoolers and whatever to get involved as long as you are 16 and over, they can use the help everyday.  So, come out here and help out.

Metro Brokers TV:  Yeah, literally.  It's not like you have to spend a week here.  You just spend a day.

Anthony Rael:  Exactly.

Metro Brokers TV:  Great.  Well, thank you Anthony.

Anthony Rael:  All right.

Posted in Giving Back

Metro Brokers TV:  Welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  We are up here at the Habitat for Humanity project in Arvada, Colorado.  This is the 2009 project that Metro Brokers is working on and we are with another great volunteer from Metro Brokers Stacey Alyk and welcome Stacey.

Stacey Alyk:  Hi.  Thank you very much.  Good to be here.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, it looks like you have been busy on the project.

Stacey Alyk:  I have.  We have been working on the front it, doing the siding and that yellow ladder has been my home for the last two hours.

Metro Brokers TV:  Great.  So you are with Metro Brokers.  What's your company's name?

Stacey Alyk:  I am with Son And Sea Realty in Broomfield.

Metro Brokers TV:  And that is your company, you are the owner?

Stacey Alyk:  I am.  Yes, I am.

Metro Brokers TV:  Any associates with you there?

Stacey Alyk:  I don't have any; I have one assistant, Debbie Morton[Phonetic], she is awesome.

Metro Brokers TV:  Oh, great.  So, you have been working on the siding then.  Have you been involved in Habitat for Humanity projects before?

Stacey Alyk:  This is the first Habitat.  I have done other volunteer projects, but the first one with Habitat for Humanity and I just think it's a great cause.  So, I was really privileged to be here with Metro Brokers.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, did you pick up any skills today that can come in useful?

Stacey Alyk:  I have learned a lot about the saw and measuring three times and cutting twice, but it's worked out pretty well.

Metro Brokers TV:  It's measure twice, cut once?

Stacey Alyk:  Yeah, it's three... it's three times, definitely.

Metro Brokers TV:  Great.  Well, Metro Brokers really counts on and depends on volunteers like you for the efforts that we put back in the community.  So, we appreciate you Stacey.

Stacey Alyk:  Thanks.  It has been a lot of fun and I am glad to be here.

Metro Brokers TV:  Great.

Posted in Giving Back

Metro Brokers TV:  Welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  We are up at the Habitat for Humanity project here in Arvada, Colorado and I am here today with Steve McKensy and welcome Steve.

Steve McKensy:  Thank you for having me here.

Metro Brokers TV:  Hey, you should probably welcome me for being out here in the snow and the mud.

Steve McKensy:  And all of the mud and everything for this day[Phonetic] and Mark you are out here in your suit.  I mean again... I mean what a guy eh, come out here no matter what.

Metro Brokers TV:  Someone has got to do the work.  Hey, so tell me have you been on a Habitat for Humanity project before?

Steve McKensy:  Yes actually, I think this is probably the third time I have been on Mark.  A couple of other times not with Metro Brokers, but this is my first time with Metro Brokers on a Habitat project.

Metro Brokers TV:  How many Metro Brokers you think are on here today?

Steve McKensy:  Well, we have probably 10 to 12 Metro Brokers out here today including many are from our office.

Metro Brokers TV:  And you were... you were telling me you were in an eco broker class here today and I was surprised to hear you talking about the fact... this house is being built above the energy standard requirements, correct?

Steve McKensy:  Yes, I was actually talking to Cathy, who is the project manager here for Habitat, these three homes and it was interesting now after attending the eco broker training and seminar and becoming certified to come here to the new builds and start watching and seeing what's taking place with these homes.  You know it's my opinion in this day and age that the consumer more and more is going to be demanding some of the energy features that you are seeing taking place here in this habitat home.  For example, the energy star windows that are in the home, the [Inaudible] where you can actually see where the sun is coming down the windows, you won't feel the heat.  Same thing on the side of the north side where the cold is at, normally you walk up to those windows.  [Inaudible]  As you go through the home and you start looking, you will see for example the studs.  There are 2 x 6 studs and they are 24 inches apart giving them more the ability to go in and insulate between those walls and put a barrier to prevent the heat and cold of course from coming in.  They also are insulating the inside with R-19 and then on the outside blue board are R-3.  So, giving you about a 21, 22 inch R-rating for your heat and energy conservation.  One of the other things I think that's really interesting she told me about these particular homes is that they are also going to use all energy star appliances and apparently Whirlpool is actually donating on all these Habitat projects refrigerators and the ranges.

Metro Brokers TV:  So, it sounds like they have really stepped it up as far as energy efficiency and even on the Habitat homes?

Steve McKensy:  Yes, the other thing is 90% efficiency furnaces are going to be put in here and I asked Cathy, "What are we going to see as the average utility bill?" and she said, "It probably will be about $85 a month in these homes."  This home here is about a 1400 square foot home, four bedroom, one-and-a-half bath.

Metro Brokers TV:  Great.  Well, we appreciate your work out here Steve.  Metro Brokers you know is involved in a lot of community projects and it is people like you that make things happen at Metro Brokers.

Steve McKensy:  All right.  I appreciate... appreciate the interview and as I said earlier if you think that we [Phonetic] encourage our agents and brokers to start looking at this NAR green designation and there is also another one called the eco broker designation.  We do feel that the... our clients are going to be more and more as time goes on going to be really wanting and demanding these things from us.

Metro Brokers TV:  Right.  Thanks Steve.

Steve McKensy:  Thank you.

Posted in Giving Back