Rob Howard, a trailblazer in the housing industry and founder of Howard Building Science, famously quips, “I’ve never built a house to code.” His vision has always been to exceed the standard, beginning with Energy Star+ homes for Habitat for Humanity and North Carolina’s first Net-Zero Ready home in 2005. Howard’s distinctive approach lies in his knack for crafting sustainable and attainable homes that are not just houses but high-performance living spaces. “I aim to push the boundaries of performance while keeping my homes within reach of the average person in my area,” he elaborates. 

When asked how he could offer high-quality housing for under $300,000 (some just under $200,000) in a state with a median price of $389,800, Howard’s immediate focus is on size. “If you’re building the average size home in the U.S., and the cost per square foot of building continues to increase, then housing costs continue to increase,” he explains. “I can only control so many things related to the cost of construction, but I can decide how large these homes are going to be. I wanted to test the market with smaller houses. I call my developments cottage homes instead of tiny homes.”

Howard’s homes, ranging between 800 and 1,400 sq. ft., are much larger than the building-code definition of a tiny house—which does not exceed 400 sq. ft.—but still small by today’s housing standards. This focus on size and affordability, with homes priced within reach of the average person, has made sustainable housing a viable and reassuringly accessible option for many.

In his 11-unit Duke Street Cottages development, only two were larger. Howard moved into one of them. He began building the larger houses on spec, but they sat on the market. “I decided maybe I should let the market dictate…