Owner of Boydstun Metalworks in Discussions with Newport Landowners To Build Sustainable Newport Community

When it came time to consider homebuilders for their upcoming Newport community called Wilder, Landwaves, Inc. owners Will Emery and Bonnie Serkin had a lot of options. They were drawn to the youngest of the bunch—a startup called Miranda Homes founded less than a year ago by Oregon native Rob Boydstun. The builder’s knowledge of sustainable production processes and materials such as recycled steel and concrete forms with little waste were big in Will and Bonnie’s book. Landwaves also shared Miranda’s commitment to building enduring, resource-efficient homes at sensible prices. Plus, Bonnie said, their willingness to produce coastal village-style architectural homes made Miranda a front-runner as one of the builders for Phase I of Wilder. With building slated to begin in 2009, discussions are currently underway for construction of ten cottages and ten houses in the first few months.
This first phase of the 200 + acre Wilder community will be designed mostly for primary residences--not vacation homes like most recent developments on the Oregon Coast. Construction will take cues from Portland’s historic Laurelhurst neighborhood, where Craftsman cottages, Victorian homes and a few estates coexist around a beautiful park, with shops and restaurants nearby. Yet unlike Laurelhurst, Wilder has the distinct advantage of being set in the serene woods above the Yaquina River.

Landwaves’ driving principle behind Wilder is that development should be so gentle on the land that structures replacing the forest will be as beautiful and ecologically sound as the forest itself—all with an eye to cost. Wilder will have open habitat space and bike and walking trails that may link the village to Mike Miller Park, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Hatfield Marine Science Center, South Beach State Park and a new business park with a wetland preserve off SE 50th Street. If ecological planning comes to fruition, Wilder will serve as a model of integrated stormwater management and alternative energies. The first bioswale for onsite stormwater detention has already been constructed along 40th Street, the new road recently built from Highway 101 to the future village center. Oregon Coast Community College’s (OCCC) new main campus is already under construction on the western edge of the village and is being built to a LEED silver standard.

Wilder’s draw will be pocket homes surrounded by coastal forest in a village atmosphere. It will include shops, cafes and offices in the village center a lifestyle surrounded by natural environments in a village atmosphere. Plans call for all buildings to meet or exceed Earth Advantage standards for energy efficiency, clean air and use of renewable materials. Homebuyers will also have a range of housing options.

Wilder’s goals mesh well with those of Boydstun and Miranda Homes. On his search for a sustainable home for himself, Boydstun found that prices were often inflated 15% or more for additions builders considered “green.” In one highly touted house, the seller and builder didn’t know what made the home 40% more efficient.
Boydstun also felt dismayed by the amount of waste in local home building; not only with the amount of wood products to dispose of, multiple trips to the jobsite, and slower building times, but also the houses themselves were models of waste. He saw builders drywall in more than the acceptable amount of standing water from rain, thereby sealing the homes’ fate with mold or landfill matter 20 or 30 years down the road.

After seeing countless builders in the midst of projects, Boydstun’s aha moment came when he realized he could do it better if he applied the same philosophy and materials he does at Boydstun Metal Works in North Portland. Twelve years ago, Boydstun’s company instituted the Toyota Production System (TPS), a philosophy that has led to the success of Toyota’s products by standardizing processes. The end result is reduced waste, or “muda” in Japanese, and in Boydstun’s case, this makes perfect sense when applied to homebuilding. By using Kaizen principles, Miranda Homes constantly works to improve the production process. He knew if he used panelized building processes, where most of the home is built in a plant, the waste could be reduced by 30%. And he also knew you didn’t have to be a millionaire to buy a sustainable home.
“We use 100% recycled steel from crunched up cars,” he said. “We pre-make the walls and the framing from steel coils that feed directly into our forming machines, so all pieces are extruded to size right here in the factory, thereby minimizing waste and the number of trips to the jobsite. It’s the TPS philosophy applied to panelized building that sets us apart.”
Once the director of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development toured Boydstun’s plant, Boydstun really knew he was on to something. ‘“In all my years of teaching and learning, I never thought I would see anyone with the capability and drive to actually rationalize houses,” the director wrote in a letter to Boydstun. “You have a great future ahead!”’
Boydstun pointed out that framing homes with steel and pre-making the house components in a plant, especially in wet climates like Oregon’s, offers a number of advantages. Work can happen year round and wetness of the building products is no longer an issue. All of the interior and exterior walls are built in the plant in one day and delivered the next day for installation. There are fewer trips to the job site for workers and suppliers, thereby eliminating fossil fuel usage. Instead of taking three weeks to frame a house onsite, it can be done in a couple of days. There are fewer trips to the jobsite for the typical crew. Using steel for framing creates no waste except for punched holes for wiring and plumbing, and that waste is collected and recycled.

Visit Miranda’s site at: www.mirandahomes.com and regularly updated information on the processes and materials they use and why is posted on their blog at http://mirandahomes.blogspot.com/ Special “coastal” models with all-inclusive pricing for lots and homes are in the plans for Wilder, with the pricing goal starting under $200,000. For more information on Wilder, please contact Landwaves at 503-221-0167.

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Contact: Sally Murdoch
murdochsally@mac.com
(503) 735-5943