When architect Douglas Romines says that building his family’s house in the Catskills was a learning experience, he really means it: It was the first home designed to Passive House standards that both he and his contractor worked on.

Some might see that as a big risk, but Douglas simply shrugs. “This was always how we were going to do this,” he says.

Two key experiences led to that conviction. Early in his career, Douglas lived and worked in Germany, where many elements of Passive House construction—exterior insulation, airtightness, high-performing windows—were already standard in the late 1990s. “That way of building influenced me a lot,” he recalls.

Later, he worked for Frederic Schwartz Architects in New York City and was part of the team involved with the restoration and management of the Ramirez Solar House by Henry Wright Jr.—one of the earliest examples of passive solar design.

Surrounded by nature in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the house offers an escape from the city. It got Douglas and his wife, Andrea Loefke, thinking: “How can we create this kind of retreat for ourselves?”

So in 2016, they began looking for land within a 100-mile radius of their home in Brooklyn and zeroed in on an area of the lower Hudson Valley, where the rolling hills and forested peaks reminded Douglas of the landscape of his youth in East Tennessee. They purchased an untouched 18.5-acre plot along the northern base of the Shawangunk Ridge, ten minutes from Minnewaska State Park.

The following spring, they built a small A-frame cabin so that they could stay on the land while they contemplated what and where they would like to build. The elongated property stretches north to south, meeting the road in the southeast corner and widening at the northern edge, where there’s what Douglas describes as a “peninsula of higher ground” that they settled on for the build site. It had natural drainage and the best potential for views, plus it was deeply set into the property, making it remote and buffered from the surrounding lots.

Douglass and Andrea invested $12,000 to clear trees from the site. “I never believed we could have a view,” says Andrea. “It’s so breathtaking, but it was really hard to imagine.” The felled trees were reused in different ways: some chopped for firewood, while many were milled to be used in future projects by the couple. They ended up having so much wood that they gave some away to their neighbors, and the rest went to the clearing company to be turned into lumber." layout="wide" credit="W. Douglas Romines" photoUserId=""/>

Finding the right contractor proved to be one of the biggest challenges. Not only were they on a strict budget, but they needed someone who wouldn’t be afraid to try new things and build in a way that might be unfamiliar.

They found a willing partner in Dionis Vallee, who, on paper, maybe didn’t seem like the best bet. He’d only worked on additions and renovations, and he had never built a Passive House, but he was “very curious and motivated to build energy efficiently,” says Andrea. “He really wanted to try these things and was excited about it, while others would always block us.”

It helped that Vallee hails from French Canada, where the colder climate necessitates a more sensitive approach to building. His professional training incorporated many of the ideas integral to Passive Houses, but he had never had the opportunity to employ them in his work in the U.S.

“He was so excited because this is how he was trained to build,” says Douglas. “And he tackled it with all of his energy.”

The completed home, which takes the form of a rectangle with a gable roof, measures 1,845 square feet. Natural materials can be found throughout—larch exterior cladding, a cedar roof, and wood fiber continuous insulation—and a 13-kilowatt solar array (sized according to the actual metered electric loads) powers the structure. Inside, the double-height first floor holds the primary bedroom, bathroom, and an open-plan living space with a wall of windows on either side. A bedroom for the couple’s daughter is located on the smaller second floor.

$47,000 Site Work	$36,000 Foundation	$76,000 Structural
$63,000 Wall Finishes	$24,500 Flooring	$27,000 Roofing
$32,500 Electrical	$28,000 Plumbing	$23,000 HVAC
$8,500 Kitchen & Bath Fixtures	$18,500 Lighting	$17,500 Cabinetry
$8,500 Countertops	$18,500 Appliances	$66,500 Doors, Windows, & Glazing
$7,500 Metalwork	$12,000 Clearing
Grand Total: $514,500

As the project progressed, their initial budget of $480,000 shifted. “As we understood more about what we wanted to do, we had to adjust our budget to fall within that,” explains Douglas. “For some things, we decided that it was worth spending more.”

Take the windows and doors, for example. One of the basic Passive House principles is to incorporate high-performing windows with a low rate of heat transfer to eliminate drafts and create a more stable interior temperature. So Douglas and Andrea opted for a triple-paned style manufactured in Poland.

“Did they cost more? Yes,” says Douglas. “Did they cost a lot more? No.”

That sentiment is a key takeaway for the whole project: At a grand total of $514,500, it did not cost substantially more to build this house to Passive House standards compared to the cost of traditional construction. Douglas explains that they paid more for windows, doors, insulation, and labor to achieve a building envelope with a Passive House level of airtightness, but they were able to save by installing a smaller heating and cooling system that utilizes a heat pump.

“I would estimate the building envelope upcharge to be around fifteen percent higher, but the savings on the heating and cooling side would offset that by about five to seven percent,” he says. “In summary, I think the order of magnitude cost was around eight to ten percent higher for us to take a Passive House approach. The end benefit is a house with lower energy use paired with a more comfortable interior environment that we will benefit from for many years.”

hat’s actually the spot that gets the most sun all through the summer,” says Douglas." layout="wide" credit="W. Douglas Romines" photoUserId=""/>

The family has now been living part-time in the house since the summer of 2020, and the learning isn’t over.

“This project is ongoing,” says Douglas. The couple have built sheds for firewood and pool equipment, an art studio for Andrea, and next up is a sauna. They also have a garden, and the landscape is ever-evolving. “It’s an opportunity to test materials and different types of wood, and see how they perform,” he adds.

Overall, the house achieves exactly what they set out to achieve. Not only is it a comfortable, energy-efficient home with a small carbon footprint, but it’s also a secluded retreat that offers a way of living that stands in direct contrast to their loft in Brooklyn. It’s a true respite from the city, one where they can connect with nature and each other.

More Budget Breakdown stories:

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Romines Architecture / @romines_architecture

General Contractor: Dionis Vallee

Structural Engineer: Kent Nash, PE