Healthy Home Building & Design
If you are building or renovating, you are making hundreds of material decisions that affect indoor air quality and what you are exposed to at home. Most of them you will live with for decades, and very few come with meaningful disclosure about what is in them. This is the easiest point in a project to get those decisions right.
The system is not designed for transparency. Building materials are not required to disclose what is in them, the safety sheets that exist are written for the crew installing the product rather than the family living with it, and the certifications are paid for by the manufacturers.
What I help with
Building Materials
Flooring, finishes, paints, insulation, cabinetry, adhesives, and sealants that will not offgas into your home.
Electrical Design
Panel placement, wiring routing, and rough-in decisions made while the walls are still open.
Mold Prevention
Getting the moisture details right while they are still drawings rather than after they are built.
Ventilation and Filtration
Evaluating the ventilation in your plans and what it will actually remove from the air.
Water Filtration
Whole-house and point-of-use filtration matched to what is actually in your water.
Lighting
Lighting design in each room that supports sleep and circadian rhythm.
Post-construction
Furnishings, off-gassing, what to do in the weeks before you move in, and maintenance.
Not sure where your project fits?
Some of this I handle directly, and for the rest I bring in specialists I have already vetted, staying in the conversation so that their recommendations fit the rest of your plan rather than competing with it. You do not have to find these people or evaluate them yourself, which is a meaningful part of what you are paying for.
Clarity Backed by Expertise
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As early as you can manage, ideally during schematic design or material selection, because that is the window when changes are still doable. I have come in mid-build, but sometimes a decision has already been made and it is either too late or too expensive to undo. What I hear most often is "I wish I had brought you in sooner."
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Your architect and builder are working on performance, code, cost, durability, schedule, and design. I am looking at one question only, which is what each product means for the health of the people who will live with it, and I bring that answer back to your architect and builder so it can be weighed alongside everything else they are managing.
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Healthy materials means different things to different builders, since there is no standard definition. So the first thing I do is find out what that covers, and then we will know where to focus.
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Not necessarily. Many healthier choices cost the same or close to it, particularly when they are made early enough to avoid change orders. Where something does cost meaningfully more, I think of it the way I think about good food or a gym membership, which is money going into your health rather than money going into the house. I will explain what you are getting for the difference and leave the decision to you.
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Yes. I consult on active projects alongside project teams, either brought in by the client or by you.
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Item descripI am based in Santa Barbara and work in person throughout the area. For projects outside that range I work virtually.
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Yes, I stay on through construction. Specifications change, products get discontinued, substitutions come up mid-build, and those calls need to get made quickly. I am there for them as they come.
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Not at all. While some decisions are locked once they are installed, most builds have more still ahead, like finishes, cabinetry, and flooring, that I can absolutely provide guidance on.
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I do not. Every product I recommend is my own unbiased, evidence-based assessment, and I do not take affiliate fees or referral fees of any kind.