“The story goes back about 60 years,” laughed the homeowner of Coastal Kin. “My parents bought this property in 1966. They built an original structure by tearing down an old house and putting it back together again. So that house lasted about 50 years in this harsh coastal environment.”

New Energy Works, of course, loves this formative attempt at reclaiming old materials to make something new. Joan’s parents were definitely ahead of the curve when it came to an awareness of reuse and sustainability. 

“When my parents passed away, they left us with the property. Because the house was old when it was ‘new’ to my parents, we decided that it was time to start from scratch,” says the homeowner. “We brought our kids up here throughout their lives and now our children are bringing their kids here. That was the driving part on why we wanted to invest in this new home.”

The coastal property embraces the sandy memories of a long family history. In addition to the generations of family who have spent time at the house, the homeowners were married in the salty air just up the shoreline from their property 44 years prior. They knew there would come a time when the house in its current state would not last long without a significant upgrade. 

“I started doing searches, we were living in Portland and New Energy Works had their studio there. I was thinking that a local timber frame company was something to seek out. I connected with Jonathan [Orpin] on the phone and discussed what we were thinking and if that would be a project New Energy would be interested in. He jumped on it. He and David Shirley came out shortly after to look at our old house and they certainly agreed that it was time to start over.”

“Every facet of the company is involved in this project, it’s been cool to see all of gears essentially of New Energy Works revolving around to make this project come to life,” says Jake Desmarais, Site Supervisor for New Energy Works General Contracting division who is overseeing the Otisco Lake build.

Developed by our in house design team, with a timber frame and high-performance enclosure by New Energy Works; the house also features details from our fine ­craftspeople at NEWwoodworks and sustainable wood products from our sister company Pioneer Millworks. 

Tucked on the shoreline of Otisco Lake, this custom residence is our client’s legacy home, built for them, but also for the family’s future generations. Spotlighting massive intersecting gable roofs, and a rustic timber-centric lake side porch, the homes crowning achievement is its great room. Designed for socializing and embellished by high craft Douglas fir trusses, the room is interred with our high-performance wall enclosures and thoughtfully detailed by our talented NEWwoodworks team.

The homeowners live just next door to the build site, so keeping them up to date on the work has been special for our team, who get great joy out of seeing our clients’ reactions to the daily progress.

“This has been a labor of love,” says Desmarais. “There have been some tiring days but there are other days when you get that instant gratification which is what being in the trades is all about. Days where you can step back and say, ‘Oh my gosh we got all of this stuff done.’ The site supervision is so important and gives the homeowners piece of mind.” 

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Randall Friedman’s and Debbie Nagano’s dream was to power their home, vehicle, and their lives via the rays of the sun. Friedman had an interest in environmental policies and land use stemming from his career as a representative to California in the US Navy. “I saw the human cost of fossil fuel policy, it made me realize that I wanted to live differently,” Friedman said. “I wanted to be part of the solution instead of talking about the problem.”

Some of their neighbors in the suburban town of Forest Home, Washington had started to install solar panels on their roofs. A slow and deliberate move to renewable energy could be felt in their area. 

A focus of Friedman’s post military retirement life was thinking about long-term sustainability and how one could assimilate it into their life. Because his house is perched on the top of a steep slope, access to the roof was impossible. Installing solar panels was not an option. 

“I ended up on a quest to build solar in front of this crazy piece of property we have,” Friedman said. “To me it was never a question of having solar, it was a question of how to do it.” 

Solar power has been a risky proposition in the Pacific Northwest for a multitude of reasons; prohibitive costs and environmental factors (plentiful cloud cover) being two of them.