Homestar ratings
The Consumer guide to creating a Homestar worthy house.
The Consumer guide to creating a Homestar worthy house.
If you're looking for lower utility bills and warmer winters, adapting your house to Homestar requirements could be just what you need.
To achieve a Homestar rating, the design, energy efficiency, property management and innovation criteria of a house is considered. You need to achieve a minimum number of points to reach each threshold.
A Homestar home will not only be a warmer, drier home, it also factors in environmental impact and lifestyle factors. Unlike with the passive house certification, you can cherry-pick where you put the focus to suit your way of life.
The criteria are:
Last year, BRANZ ran the numbers on the costs associated with going for a Homestar rating for 10 different houses in Hobsonville Point, Auckland. There was a 3% to 4% premium to achieve the minimum rating. Getting the top rating would add a quarter to the final build cost.
The minimum Homestar rating (a six) guarantees a home that’s warmer, drier and healthier than a similar one just built to code. It’ll also use less power and water, an important consideration if your water is metered.
As you progress through the ratings, the thermal performance of the house will improve along with increasing sustainability of the building with features such as greywater recycling (for example, shower water run-off is used to flush the toilets).
The study also calculated the payback period and found it leaned heavily in favour of opting for Homestar on your next build. The payback time for a six rating was only six years. A 10 would take a lot longer (20 years), which isn’t unreasonable if you’re planning on living in your home for the long haul.
The cost increases shown in our table are for keeping an original house design and adapting it to the Homestar level. So, for a level six or seven Homestar qualification, you could get away with no extra investment by specifying a smaller floor area or cutting costs when it comes to the internal fittings. Another option is rolling up your sleeves and doing some DIY, such as painting, and redirecting the money you’d save on tradies towards Homestar improvements.
Consumer NZ is non-profit. To help us get a fairer deal for all New Zealand consumers you can make a donation. We’ll use your contribution to investigate consumer issues and work for positive change.
This site uses cookies to help us understand how visitors engage with our website. By using Consumer NZ, you accept our use of cookies.
Get even more Consumer NZ news and invitations to share your voice on important issues straight to your inbox.
By subscribing you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can opt out at anytime.
Member comments
Get access to comment