At an early age, Maria Mercedes Hernandez became influenced by her father‘s construction business. His inspiration was a catalyst and fused with her passion for designing concepts and interior spaces, motivated her to earn her degree as Interior Designer in Venezuela. In 1986, she moved to United States of America and few years later she earned her certification as a General Contractor in the State of Florida and became the Founder and CEO of H & H Design and Construction.
Impacted by so many environmental disasters and its effect on buildings, Maria Mercedes started to compare the construction in U.S.A. with the strong-concrete buildings she saw her father build with in Venezuela. In her mind, she couldn’t comprehend why the construction was so weak here in the States, jeopardizing so many lives. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was her wake-up call, at that point Maria understood that changing the way we build was completely necessary to avoid so many losses, suffering and negative impact to the environment.
Maria’s desire to help people in need after those disasters awoke in her the need to become disaster inspector. As an independent Federal Contractor for FEMA, she was call to help on the recovery effort of Hurricane Sandy aftermath in 2010. New Jersey, was her destination, and inspecting damage and destroy buildings was her duty. Hurricane Sandy was a powerful learning experience and the moment that shape her life and her career. All the suffering witnessed, buildings destroyed and the negative environmental impacts, focused her dedication and commitment for Green building, Sustainable and Resilient construction.
Looking for better solutions for the building-environment, people and planet, she became certified as Leader in Energy and Environmental Design with specialization in Interior Design and Construction, (LEED AP ID+C). This certification allowed her to understand the interrelation between the way we build and the impact on people’s health, safety and the environment.
In 2014 Maria Mercedes became certified by the US Department of Energy as a verifier for the ZERO Energy Ready homes program and building analyst. These certifications deepened her knowledge about high performance buildings that ensured outstanding levels of energy savings, comfort, health, and durability.
Maria Mercedes believes that to change the way we build and to create a sustainable world, the most important thing is to educate and create awareness within the community. With that in mind she became an environmental activist and columnist writer for the Ciudad Weston Newspaper. For over seven years she has written articles about sustainability, conservation, Indoor Air Quality, Climate change, building efficiency, disaster mitigation, among other important subjects to inform a bilingual community. For her dedication and leadership, the Ciudad Weston Newspaper awarded her with the prestigious Emerald Heart Award 2014: Environmental and Sustainability
In her mission to empower and inspire her community to protect the Environment, Maria Mercedes became project leader for HandsOn Broward, leading environmental projects like: beach cleanup, e-cycling computers, coastal restoration, recycling Christmas trees, planting trees for Broward county parks. For her selfless dedication for the environment protection, she was recognized as “2014 Volunteer of the Year: Heart of the Community” by HandsOn Broward and Miami Herald.
Maria Mercedes is very passionate about giving back to the community and encourages her staff to become active at a local level. Her desire to help and change the built environment has become her passion, her mission and the cornerstone of her profession. She believe that to create beautiful spaces, we must first take into consideration the People and the Planet.
“I believe that is imperative that the construction industry has to go beyond building standards to protect the people from the challenges of Climate change and to protect the environment from destruction”
Maria M. Hernandez
