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About Us

Practical • Affordable • Climate Forward​

The Minnesota Efficient Builders Coalition (Minnesota EBC) is a group of builders, designers, and other industry professionals committed to practical, affordable, and climate forward solutions that advance efficiency and building performance in Minnesota. 

We are an aggregation of practitioners that are actively building and designing to the highest levels of performance and pushing the boundaries of what buildings can be in pursuit of affordable, climate forward solutions.

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Meet Our Executive Team

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Michael Carlin

Fern Custom Carpentry

For 10 years, Michael has been involved in the building industry as a carpenter, project manager, and general contractor. In 2020, Michael founded Fern Custom Carpentry with the goal of improving the industry standard for building and incorporating environmentally responsible products and practices. With a heavy focus on building science, Fern Custom Carpentry strives to build and remodel homes that qualify as Net Zero or Zero Net Ready as a means of leaving the built environment better than he found it. Michael also cooperatively coordinates the Northern Minnesota BS* and Beer chapter as a means of creating community and education around building for homeowners and building professionals in the region.

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Danny Desjarlais

Lower Sioux Indian Community

Danny Desjarlais is the Industrial Hemp Construction Project Manager at the Lower Sioux Indian Community, a small reservation near Morton, Minnesota. As an enrolled member of the tribe, Danny has dedicated his efforts to rebuilding his community with healthier alternative building materials that will benefit future generations. He has successfully promoted the recent expansion of hemp building activities at the Lower Sioux Indian Community reservation and is recognized across the United States as a leading advocate for the use of hemp building materials and social housing.

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Jim Kumon

Heirloom Properties

Jim oversees design coordination, construction management and business management activities for Heirloom. He coordinates the building design and construction process with an eye towards achieving deep energy efficiency and sustainability goals, rooted in his experience as a LEED accredited professional. He has more than ten years of small business and nonprofit executive management expertise in the industry.

Jim is also Principal at Electric Housing, a private consulting firm that builds upon work he started as Executive Director and Co-Founder of Incremental Development Alliance. The practice supports developers and cities who want to encourage small-scale real estate development in their community. Through his collaboration program Developer in Residence, he trains and mentors non-profit and for profit professionals in the built environment through all stages of design, finance and construction for middle scale housing 1-20 units in size on urban infill lots across the county. His work spans the country in the northern climate zones from the inland Northeast, Midwest and Mountain West from with particular long term engagements with the cities of Kalamazoo, MI and South Bend, IN. He also is a Partner at Neighborhood Evolution, providing real estate advisory and executive coaching services across the country.

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Elizabeth Turner

Precipitate

Elizabeth believes resilient carbon-neutral architecture must be centered on equity and affordability and founded Precipitate in 2017 to accelerate change in the profession toward that goal. She is a 2020 recipient of the Energy News Network’s 40 under 40 recognizing her leadership in the transition to a clean energy economy. She coaches client project teams in energy efficiency as a Certified Passive House Consultant. She teaches =net positive architecture at the University of Minnesota. Elizabeth volunteers extensively with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Minnesota, advocating for public policy with a focus on equity and inclusion toward truly sustainable communities for all.

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Brian Wessels

Intent Built Inc.

Brian Wessels is President and Founder of Intent Built Inc., a General Contracting firm with specialties in Multi and Single-Family Construction, Food Manufacturing and Commercial/TI. Brian also co-leads the Minneapolis Chapter of BS* + Beer, a group of building science focused builders evaluating current construction techniques and approaches. He is also a Co-Founder of CrewSnap, a resource and trades scheduling and tracking software platform.

What We Stand For

Performance Meets Affordability

We pursue measurable efficiency gains while protecting project budgets and access.

Climate-Forward By Design

Every decision — envelope, systems, materials — moves Minnesota toward resilient, low-carbon outcomes.

Community & Practice

We’re a coalition of practitioners sharing methods and results to raise the bar statewide.

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