Kelly Ritz brings a unique perspective to the residential construction and development world. She has a background in environmental law and spent several years in land acquisition and development, and of course, she is a woman in an overwhelmingly male dominated industry. Using her background she started Stone Bridge Homes NW in 2006 to build what she calls traditional homes on the westside of Portland and in Bend, Oregon. From the beginning she has been committed to high performance building and began working in earnest with Earth Advantage at the Northwest Crossing development in Bend in 2009.
Since 2009, Stone Bridge Homes has steadily increased their committment to building to high performance standards. Now Stone Bridge builds all their homes to at least EA Silver Certification standards and they use EA Energy Bill Guarantee launched in 2012. Kelly says of their committment to Earth Advantage; "We're a very traditional home builder and when you're building traditonal, I think it's improtant that you still have a commitment to being a good steward through resource conservation and energy efficiency. Our homes are all built to Earth Advantage Silver certification standards and a fair number of them go to Gold."
Kelly's homes all have tankless water heaters, advanced insulation and sealing, and use only low VOC paints. In 2012 Stone Bridge Homes NW built an impressive home to Earth Advantage Platinum standards at the HBA's annual Street of Dreams. One sustainable aspect of the award winning home was its use of 100-year-old reclaimed barn wood used for flooring. The home earned the show's People's Choice award. Kelly Ritz has proven with Stone Bridge Homes NW that a commitment to high performance doesn't mean you have to sacrifice custom features or traditional looks.