Stitt Energy Systems Inc.

Rogers Company Proves Homes Can Be Efficient, Beautiful

W Orlo Stitt seemed predestined to head up a company that designs energy efficient homes.

“My grandfather was a conservationist, always using and reusing what he could,” Stitt says. “My uncle was an architect who taught me about the connection between energy and light. And my mother was always artistically inclined.”

With that background, the founder of Stitt Energy Systems has spent most of his life trying to build homes that promote conservation and provide environmentally sustainable alternative energy.

Starting in 1978, Stitt has never wavered from that mission. Today, the company not only designs energy-efficient homes, but also supplies materials for the energy shell of homes, and sells energy-efficient components such as insulated concrete forms, structural insulated panels and solar water heaters.

In its first year, the company built a display/demonstration home on Highway 71 at Rogers. The 2,300-SF home had no utility company heating installed and is cooled with only a 1-ton air conditioner. Now 22 years old, the home still shows prospective customers that energy-efficient homes doesn’t have to be ugly nor does the lifestyle of the owner have to be one of pain and sacrifice, Stitt says.

The company, which has won seven national EnergyValue Housing Awards, has experienced an average annual growth rate of 25-30 percent over the past three years. Stitt Energy was named “Builder of the Year” last year by EnergyValue Housing and was also named Small Business of the Year in 1998 by the Rogers Chamber of Commerce.

Stitt Energy builds about 20 homes a year with its staff of 15 employees. The company has finished some 200 homes in 15 states.