Friday Front Porch Feature: An Energy-Efficient New Build

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Are you looking for a sophisticated home with low utility bills?

Our Friday Front Porch is a weekly feature spotlighting attractive homes for sale in Berkshire County. This week, we are showcasing 15 Orchard Lane.

This three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, contemporary farmhouse was built in 2025 and is 1,704 square feet on less than an acre. The house features an attached and insulated two-car garage. 

The interior boasts hardwood floors, electric fireplace and a kitchen with stainless steel appliances. The primary bedroom and en suite are located on the first floor, and two bedrooms, a full bath and bonus space on the second floor. 

The home is electric and energy efficient with heating and cooling technology from the latest Energy Star-rated heat pump technology.

Down in the waterproofed full basement, there is a dehumidifier and a battery-backed sump pump. It has a generously sized covered side porch. 

It is on the market for $829,500.

We spoke with Paul Harsch III with Harsch Associates, which has the listing.

What do you think makes this property stand out in the current market? 

This home stands out from anything else on the market now or that has been available in recent memory because it is brand new. Save for a portion of the foundation and some first-floor framing, it is completely new and much expanded from the original house. Unless one is building from scratch, to find a brand-new home is virtually impossible as there is no spec building and hasn't been any for many years. 

What was your first impression when you walked into the home?

Crisp, clean, all new, bright, and spacious with the cathedral ceiling in the living room space yet compact and efficient. 

Do you know any unique stories about the home or its history? 

The sellers had designed this as their forever retirement home but family matters dictated they remain in Texas thus they are reluctantly giving up their dream home here.

What kind of buyer would this home be ideal for? 

The buyer for this home wants a quiet location yet very convenient to the center of things. They want ground-floor living with spare bedrooms on the second floor for guests or office space. They want a modest-sized yard not requiring a lot of expense or care to maintain but providing a pleasant hot-weather retreat in the shade of mature trees. This buyer wants an efficient low-maintenance home not requiring any attention or work on the exterior other than perhaps the occasional power washing of the siding to show the crisp white lifetime siding. They want a totally dry basement with a warranty to back that up, and they want a spacious two-car garage to protect themselves and their vehicles from the weather or summer heat.

Are there any recent renovations or standout design features? 

Imagine moving into this home and enjoying brand-new, never used stainless steel appliances, a brand-new state of the art heat pump hot air and AC ventilation system, insulation and windows to the newest code standards, never before used floors, bathroom fixtures, sparkling fresh paint on all surfaces, and gleaming hardwood floors. 

What would you say to a buyer trying to imagine their life in this space? 

For those who like to have a safe place to walk, from their doorway, whether just around the inner circle of this pleasant neighborhood or to venture a little farther to access the town walking trails, this would be ideal. For those who like the comfort of having close neighbors but who also enjoy their privacy, this town and neighborhood will appeal. Inside will feel so comfortable all year around with its high efficiency heating and AC system in a home built for excellent energy efficiency with one utility bill for all household needs. For those wanting to live in a clean all electric home with none of the odors or toxins related to fossil fuel heating or cooking and enjoying the ambiance of the electric fireplace.

This home would be ideal for a single person as it would never feel too large but a couple would fit happily here as well. Children and houseguests would fit comfortably on the second floor or use the additional bedrooms for home offices. So many options. 

How would you describe the atmosphere or feel of this home? 

Fresh, efficient, convenient with no wasted square footage. Friendly, comfortable, not pretentious or ostentatious yet individual as well, with its own design and finishes that stand apart from the traditional cape and other colonial designs in the neighborhood and town as a whole.

You can find out more about this home on its listing here.

*Front Porch Feature brings you an exclusive to some of the houses listed on our real estate page every week. Here we take a bit of a deeper dive into a certain house for sale and ask questions so you don't have to.

Williamstown Fire Committee Sees FY27 Budget with Sizable Operational Increase

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, March 31, 2026

The Prudential Committee held its first meeting in the new station in late March with Treasurer Billie Jo Sawyer, left and committee members Lindsay Neathawk, David Moresi and Craig Pedercini.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee last week reviewed a draft annual fire district meeting warrant that includes an operational expenses budget up 9.4 percent from the figures approved at the May 2025 annual meeting.

 

And, with a new line item added to the district's operational budget the total increase is closer to 24 percent.

 

Last May, meeting members — the meeting is open to all registered voters in town — approved an FY26 spending plan that totaled $686,991.

 

On July 1, the first day of the fiscal year, a special district meeting voted to allocate $40,000 from the district's stabilization fund to the operating budget, effectively raising the baseline to $726,991, a 34 percent increase, year over year, from FY25 to FY26.

 

The July 1 meeting moved $20,000 of stabilization funds to the firefighter pay line and $20,000 to the maintenance and operation line — nearly doubling the former and raising the latter by 75 percent from FY25 to FY26.

 

Both those lines are up again in the planned FY27 budget, but more modestly: 2 percent for M&O (up from $123,000 to $125,500) and 27 percent for firefighter payroll ($110,000 to $139,900).

 

Most of the other line items net out to no significant change; some are up a little, some are down a little.