About Formworks Building

We are a family owned and operated business.  Our experience designing and building earth-sheltered homes and commercial spaces spans 40+ years.  We are committed to every one of our projects from start to finish.  We work with our homeowners and the sub-contractors of their choice, throughout the design and construction processes to ensure that the result is upheld to the highest standards.  

For many of us, a home is the largest investment that we will ever make.  It is our belief that a home should create a safe place; both financially and physically.  Our goal is, and will always be, to see our customers into their dream home.  A beautiful, custom designed home, safe from natural disasters and rising energy costs.  A place to be proudly called “home”.

Energy Efficiency

Controlling indoor climate is the largest consumer of energy in the residential and commercial sectors. Heating and cooling accounts for more than half of the energy use in a typical home, making it the largest energy expense in any home. Our structures are routinely 80-90% more energy efficient than structures built with today’s standards. Our technology naturally utilizes solar and geothermal properties without the immense and ongoing expense of the physical systems. The key principle that gives earth-sheltered homes their utility and viability is thermal mass. The earth’s capacity to store heat for a long period of time is quite impressive. It is the ground’s thermal mass properties that explain the consistent warm-to-moderate temperatures we find when we move just a few feet down below the surface. The earth’s temperature below the surface fluctuates very little, allowing the home to hold a consistent and comfortable temperature year-round. The house itself is the energy system. Windows are the collectors, the roof, walls, and floor are the storage system, and the earth is the protector and moderator. Little can go wrong in the functioning of such a simple system!

Safety from natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes

Our structures are engineered for the worst-case scenario. Over the years, Formworks homes and commercial buildings have been exposed to the worst Mother Nature has to offer. We have never had any type of structural failure.

We have even gone to the extent of participating in a simulated nuclear blast test at White Sands Missile Range under the sponsorship of Oakridge National Laboratory in 1987. Using the same structural system as our standard structures, the test shelter, located only 670’ from ground zero, withstood an 8-kiloton blast with no damage. The results of this test demonstrate loud and clear that these structures can survive just about anything we can throw at it.

Many insurance companies even offer reduced rates on Earth-sheltered houses because they offer extra protection against high winds, hailstorms, and natural disasters such as tornados and hurricanes.