Green Building 101: Start Where You Are

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

Ask any experienced green professional how to go green, and most will tell you this: Start where you are.

Building green is a new way of thinking about common building practices, but you don't have to go green all at once - you can start by offering a few green options to your clients.

Here's a short list of suggestions offered by experienced green builders to help you ease into this exciting new corner of the market:

Take a bite-at-a-time approach: introduce green practices in the areas you're most comfortable with first. If you start gradually, you are less likely to make expensive mistakes.
Don't discount the learning curve associated with converting from conventional building/remodeling practices to green ones. It can and will impact your budget - and project timeline - if you don't account for this factor.
Seek out partners who have expertise in green building. More experienced green professionals can give you exposure to new techniques, materials, products and approaches.
The earlier you start integrating alternative products and green design principles into your processes, the less it may cost you and your clients in the long run.
Include a 'green page' in each proposal to get your clients thinking green. Give them a choice between conventional and green options whenever possible.
Create green building 'packages' that provide incremental steps toward a truly green home, based on what your market is asking for.
Remember that people buy comfort, luxury and status. If you focus your efforts on the value, comfort, and healthy living aspects of green building, you'll tap into a real opportunity to differentiate yourself in the marketplace and increase your profit margin.
Include ROI data from previous projects. If you don't have any, ask a more experienced builder for data.

This article was generously contributed by: Green Building Blocks

Posted by Daniel on 04/11/2008 at 11:24 PM

Very interesting project with the interesting name. It would be desirable to learn more in detail.

Posted by home selling on 04/09/2008 at 11:42 PM

Nice Post! You have organized information very nicely and easily understandable to start for green building project. I will keep all these steps in mind. Thanks lot for posting.

Posted by kermit johnson on 02/29/2008 at 09:38 AM

I was wondering if you know anyone who is building homes with “cob?”

As a Minneapolis real estate agent, I am interested in green building techniques. I wrote a post one that seems rather far-fetched, but is common in most of the world:

http://realestatetwincities.net/what-is-cob/

Please share this post with your readers in any way that you can. Do you think this could ever catch on?

Posted by Matt Risinger on 08/01/2007 at 03:00 PM

If you’re new to green building, check out the Energy and Environmental Building Association website. www.eeba.org
I got my start on a new way of thinking by attending their “Houses That Work” seminar. It’s the science behind green building.

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