To facilitate design of policies and strategies which aim to promote a sustainable development of the built environment, a deeper understanding of factors influencing the decisions taken in construction projects is needed. This study investigates Swedish contractors’ perceptions of the new-build of very energy efficiency multi-storey residential buildings (e.g. passive houses). The results of interviews with twenty selected contracts managers disclose several perceived disadvantages and risks associated with such buildings which influence the interest to invest in high energy efficiency. These include several cost and market-related issues as well as issues relating to the performance of the buildings. Without market intervention it seems unlikely that very energy efficient multi-storey residential buildings will diffuse to any substantial degree within the Swedish construction industry.