I had a few clients recently that wanted to "go green" with their new homes. I think its a wonderful shift in the market, but I had one issue that seems to be across the board. These people wanted to see designs early on. This usually isn't a problem, but none of them had sites. This made my job and my designer's job very very difficult.

Therefore, I would like to encourage all people looking to build a new home to find or use a professional to help you find a site that fits your wants and desires. Having the site when you approach a professional to design and build you a home will make the end product so much better.

I see what you are saying, but isn't it a valid approach to bring in a designer before you have chosen a site or is it the norm to have the site first?

Sometimes finding a site can be hard and finding a professional maybe a little easier.

You can approach a design without a site, but you either miss opportunities or spend substantial time later in the design process updating and back stepping to address site concerns.

When looking to design with sustainability in mind, a site becomes very important, more so than with standard construction. Siting of the home, natural features and linkages to the community are also very important.

It is certain that the process can work in many fashions, but it is my perspective as well as that of many others, that a site is a necessary feature for the proper design of any sustainable home.