We have finally settled on a design for our home. It's a Deltec prefabricated round house.  Why a prefabricated round house? Any why Deltec over another company? Glad you asked!

First of all, a round design will allow us to take advantage of the fabulous views.  Just imagine an open, airy, living room with 180 degrees of french doors and windows that lead to a large deck with a panoramic  view of the Kakahaia wildlife preserve, the ocean, and Lanai, Kahoolawe, and Maui off in the distance.  A square home just wouldn't provide us with the same viewplane. In addition, a round design is more aerodynamic during a hurricane or windstorm.  Plus, Deltec offers optional high wind packages and second steel roofing tension collar for homeowners building in areas that are subject to hurricanes and wind storms.  Check out Deltec's webpage that discusses their hurricane-resistant homes and be sure to watch the videos.  

Deltec homes are also energy efficient from start to finish.  Deltec manufactures their homes in an solar-powered facility that utilizes eco-friendly, sustainable bulilding practices. Located in North Carolina, Deltec's manufacturing facility has 273 photovoltaic solar panels that annually generate approximately 66,000 kW.  Their goal, much like our goal, is to generate 100% of their energy needs from clean, renewable sources. 

Deltec is committed to utilizing eco-friendly, sustainable, and green building practices. The company has a comprehensive recycling system and they even ship plywood scraps to Nicaragua to support Nicaraguan building projects (BTW FYI : Nicaragua has the second poorest per capita income in the western hemisphere. Source: CIA factbook)

Another consideration for choosing Deltec is that their product ismanufactured in the United States.  With the economy being the way it is, supporting American businesses that are innovative, ecofriendly, sustainable, and keep Americans employed-- is a good practice. We believe in supporting local businesses. However, Hawaii does not have a prefabricated round house manufacturing company.  Since we can't purchase locally, at least we're purchasing American. 

When we build our home, we'll hire a contractor on Molokai, who employs carpenters, plumbers, electricians, tile setters, and heavy machinery operators from Molokai.

 We plan to build a 2000 sq. ft. Deltec home, elevated on concrete or wooden pillars with lots of windows, french doors, and wrap-around decks. 

Our thought is that building on pillars will minimize the need to grade the property and leave large areas of exposed earth with the potential to runoff into the ocean. 

The reefs of Kawela, Molokai have been negatively impacted by land-based sedimentation and runoff.  Since Dave and I are both coral biologists, we want to be sure that we don't contribute to the problem when we construct our home.