adds. “It’s very visible on the main street in Longmont, so if we were going to spend this kind of money we wanted it to look nice, as well as mechanically function better.” Design was a collaborative approach between a local architect
and in-house within LHA. “We had a local architect we used and there was a lot of compromising from the original design with the funds we had available,” Counts says. “We came up with a plan that worked really well and kept costs very reasonable. I act- ed as the general contractor. I worked with various subcontractors and did basic scheduling to make sure people weren’t falling over each other and each sub did his job right. It was very interesting.” LHA talked with the residents before construction to alert them
about the project scope and assure them LHA would work to in- convenience them as little as possible. “I was onsite about six days a week to ensure everything went as well as it did,” Counts remem- bers. In full, the retrofit took 12 months. Lobby changes, including a fireplace and updated bathrooms,
created some dust in the air, which Counts says was a concern of seniors because of the potential for excess dust to cause respira- tory problems. In response, the team screened off those areas to contain particulates as much as possible.
Results Counts and LHA are happy with the energy savings. “On a monthly basis, it doesn’t add up a whole lot,” he says, “but it does through- out a year. Payback will take a while but we did get some credits from a local utility company, which eased construction costs. We’re still happy.” The project budget was about $1 million. “If you break it down to
individual units and the major systems we replaced, the cost isn’t really that outrageous,” Counts says. “That’s basically the idea with many of our older buildings—keep
costs down as much as possible,” Counts continues. “We feel like all those improvements were worth the money spent. They were systems that needed to be replaced anyway just because they had reached their life cycle. We chose items that were as energy efficient as possible.” The first year after the retrofit saw a 30 percent savings in nat-
ural gas, 31 percent savings in electrical and 8 percent savings in water use. Looking forward, Counts says most work going into the building in the next decade will be standard maintenance, such as replacing carpet and repainting. “After that decade period, we’ll probably be looking at replacing appliances; that might be one of the first things to fail.” LHA has approximately 400 units spread through seven build-
ings in Longmont and is adding to its portfolio. “We will continue to pick energy-efficient products as much as possible,” Counts says. “We’re very proud of our portfolio and the way the buildings perform.” Seeing the anticipated savings turned into a reality was ex-
tremely rewarding for Counts and his team. “With a lot of this, when you put pencil to paper you’re anticipating some savings and some- times it happens and sometimes it doesn’t,” he says. “In this par- ticular case, I was really happy to see our efforts were worth it.”
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