Handcrafted custom homes built with proven, conventional materials and methods — designed around your vision, your site, and the way you live.
The standard custom home is the path most Forest Heart clients choose. Conventional framing. Conventional envelope. Conventional MEP. Where Forest Heart Builders separates from the field is not in choosing exotic systems it is in the discipline applied to every conventional detail.
Stick-frame construction with engineered lumber where spans demand it. Glulam beams and LVL headers sized to the load, not to the catalog. ZIP System sheathing and high-performance house wraps as standard envelope detailing. Structural engineering on every plan.
Asphalt shingle, standing-seam metal, or clay tile rooflines as the design calls for. Stone, brick, fiber cement, or wood siding executed with the trim-detail discipline that separates a custom home from a tract home. Air-sealed envelope detailing even on standard builds because air sealing is craft, not cost.
Site-finished or factory-prefinished hardwood flooring white oak, hickory, or walnut as the design calls for. Tile from the natural-stone and porcelain lines we trust Ann Sacks, Walker Zanger, Stone Source, and selected Italian and Spanish ranges. Plumbing fixtures from House of Rohl, Kohler, Brizo, and the Waterworks ranges.
Conventional forced-air HVAC with zoned controls. Standard high-efficiency furnaces, condensers, and water heaters. Plumbing and electrical systems sized for the program with thoughtful capacity for future expansion. Generator-ready electrical panels are standard.
| CATEGORY | BRANDS & STANDARDS |
|---|---|
| Cabinetry hardware | Blum soft-close drawer slides hinges as standard on every cabinet |
| Plumbing | House of Rohl Kohler Brizo Waterworks Newport Brass |
| Tile & stone | Ann Sacks Walker Zanger Stone Source Materials Inc Heath Ceramics |
| Hardwoods | FSC-certified North American white oak walnut cherry maple hickory |
| Engineered lumber | Weyerhaeuser TJI joist Boise Cascade LVLs Anthony Forest Products glulams |
| Sheathing | Huber ZIP System sheathing standard |
| Windows & doors | Marvin Signature Pella Architect Andersen E-Series oewen for European-inspired builds |
| Roofing | GAF Master Elite asphalt Englert standing-seam Ludowici clay tile |
| Insulation | Rockwool mineral wool closed-cell spray foam at thermal-bridging zones |
| Lighting | Visual Comfort Hudson Valley Tech Lighting DCW Éditions |
| SYSTEM | STANDARD BUILD | GREEN BUILD |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinetry hardware | Conventional R-values; spray-foam at key bridging zones | Continuous exterior insulation; advanced air sealing; certified Passive House envelope optional |
| HVAC | Standard high-efficiency forced air with zoning | Variable-refrigerant-flow heat pumps, ERV/HRV, multi-zone climate |
| Energy | Code-standard. Generator-ready panel | Solar-ready or solar-integrated; battery storage optional; geothermal where the site supports it |
| Air quality | Standard MERV-rated filtration | Hospital-grade filtration; whole-home HRV; low-VOC materials throughout |
| Materials | Premium standard materials | FSC-certified, reclaimed, recycled-content, and biophilic material selection |
| Water | Standard low-flow fixtures | Rainwater harvesting, greywater systems, native landscape integration |
| Certifications | None required | LEED, Energy Star, Passive House (PHIUS), NGBS Green compatible |
No. Standard, green, and smart-automated are construction approaches, not quality tiers. The craftsmanship is identical across all three same in-house millwork, same hand-selected hardwoods, same 22-step finish system, same quality standards. The difference is in the systems strategy, not in the build quality.
Some, yes. Solar-ready electrical panels, geothermal-ready site planning, and ERV-ready ductwork can be installed during a standard build and activated later. Other green features continuous exterior insulation, certified envelope detailing, ground-source heat pumps must be designed in from the start.
Standard builds typically run 10% to 20% lower in first-cost than equivalent green builds, depending on the certification target and the energy systems specified. Green builds pay back over operating life through energy savings and resale premium but the up-front cost is higher.
Yes. The smart-home approach is independent of the standard-versus-green decision. A standard-construction home can be fully automated with Control4, Crestron, Savant, or Lutron and many Forest Heart standard builds are.
Across the Chicago metropolitan area including the affluent NW suburbs (Barrington, Inverness, Long Grove, Hawthorn Woods, Lake Zurich), the North Shore (Lake Forest, Highland Park, Glenview, Northbrook, Lake Bluff), and the Fox Valley premium corridor (St. Charles, Geneva, Wayne).
