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NVHomes Upgrading to a Cost-Effective Plumbing System

By: Jonathan Simon on March 1st, 2016

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NVHomes Upgrading to a Cost-Effective Plumbing System

Case Studies

The starter home market in Washington D.C., is highly competitive. NVHomes is in competition with many other regional builders going after the middle-income market of young-professional, first-time homebuyers. NVHomes wanted to find a more cost-effective plumbing system than copper to help stand out in the market. They saw an opportunity to switch out their copper plumbing systems with more efficient, faster-to-install plastic systems

Trial

Tom Ptak, Director of Production for NVHomes, knew about the benefits of CPVC plumbing systems because he had used them in his own home in the mid-1980s and then again in his Vienna, VA home, which was built in 1993. Given his personal experiences with CPVC plumbing systems.

"I didn’t experience any problems or quality issues in either home,” Ptak said. “It seemed to be the right opportunity to offer CPVC plumbing systems to our buyers as well."

The advantages of a rigid plastic plumbing system, including reliability, cost-effectiveness, easier installation, and homeowner satisfaction, convinced NVHomes to specify CPVC in all their properties in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan areas.

To further ensure NVHomes’ success with FlowGuard Gold, Lubrizol developed a consumer and contractor education program to help them understand the advantages of CPVC plumbing systems.

"We had convinced plumbing contractors that CPVC was our material of choice," said Ptak. "And, the home buyers’ perceptions of CPVC plumbing systems were changing as well."

 

Long-term success

In less than a decade, NVHomes made the transition from 100 percert copper to 100 percent CPVC plumbing systems in their homes. And, other builders in the Washington, D.C. area have followed suit.

Given its tremendous success in the townhome projects and in single-family homes with corrosive environments, NVHomes decided to specify CPVC plumbing systems for its entire product line. Not only would CPVC provide homeowner savings, but also better insulation and energy savings.