Comments on: Green is giving me the Blues!

By: Steven Lemke

Steven Lemke — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:39:33 +0000

I wish I I had only half the writing skils you had Paul. I would retire and start a cool blog and call it Remodel Crazy.

Thanks for all your inspiration and great articles. Thank you bloggers for all your great comments, they all hit home.
I have been remodeling as you know Paul,for 43 years and managed to retain a small portion of those lessons learned at the school of hard knocks.

The (Green Remodeling) buzz word call it what you want, it has so many meanings to all of us,and need not be so complicated.
When I hear from some it doesen’t cost more I wonder what planet they live on. It must be earth it,s the only Green one.

Green practices, and good remodeling, usually does cost more, and we hope for a return on investment in a reasonable time frame to re-coup our and our customers investment. When it doesn’t who is it helping and how does the idea grow?

I think it boils down to common Sense and we promote it that way. Our investment in labor and time is what makes the difference, ask yourself is it worth it. Is it worth it to yuur customers? To the land fills? To the enviroment? To our Country? The answer is up to the individual.

I took one of the first classe for green remodeling certification, great ideas, but in my opinion, too costly and time consuming to work for the majority of remodelers. Hundreds have taken the class how many projects have been certified? Keep it simple and (MAKE IT WORK) A better way is in all of us. We just need to find the simple solution and share our ideas,it’s staring at each of us right now.

When we build let us think that we build forever. John Ruskin

By: Sara

Sara — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:32:04 +0000

Thank you for explaining the word value and including all the wonderful examples!

By: Diane Menke

Diane Menke — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:43:55 +0000

I loved this post. I love that Paul grabs the Green Bull by the horns and suggests we professionals create useful easy to understand collateral for our buyers. Right On!

Skip the self proclaimed powers from on high and brown nosing “experts” or Green Pusher marketers.

When a builder or remodeler can say ” Sheesh this same priced toilet is gonna save you 50% – 70% on your water bill, here is an proof of what I mean” http://myersconstructs.com/?p=3171

“Hey buyer this simple inexpensive insulation package is gonna save you 70% in energy costs like it did on my house this year.” That is the rubber that hits the road and moves us all forward.

Sell products and methods that exceed current requirements and last 100 years or more. Thats value to your buyers!

I’m all for an industry standard we all sign up for and market ourselves. I don’t have time left in my professional carrier to wait for USG or state regs.

Thanks for your blog post. Cleared up what was making me sneeze so much lately.

By: El Diablo

El Diablo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:20:36 +0000

James basically said all that needs to be said.. We just need to build smart and more efficiently end of story.

We don’t need the hype, government or Green leaders to lead us on the path of more confusion and in house squabbles among them.

They are just polluting the idea and making it harder to move in the right direction.. Hell they don’t even agree with each other so how do we look to them for direction?

The term got watered down and now means little to the consumers they were trying to reach..

Built smart, efficiently, improve on current methods and the greening will come in time.

By: Silvertree

Silvertree — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:17:52 +0000

JB, your opinion is based on experience, that alone give it credit. Careful thinking and our own individual support drives green now and will be the only logical way to bring people around to understanding that we can all do something, it doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be a start.

Its a huge process but like the longest journey, it starts with the first step.

When we demystify sustainability more people will be interested.

By: jb

jb — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:51:56 +0000

Just can’t pass this one up. Paul, props on this post! Shawn above does a great job of crystalizing Paul’s thinking on certain “incentives”; excellent suggestion! The “green candy bar” I think says it all, though — it highlights marketing’s ability to be opportunistic (i know, doing what they are paid to do), and I won’t even address media’s role in this whole thing. I feel and please tell me know if I am wrong — that there is an ungoing, underlying sense of wariness on the part of homeowners that will always confront the residential construction industry. . . becasuse of this, they say, “Is this just another trend being shoved down our throats (I know it’s not)?” But, in a way, it does all depend on who is wielding this “new” science. And right now; green is green and the industry research helps propel smart business people. . .today’s smart homeowner knows this (thanks to Remodel Crazy’s of the media world). Just for that reason: maybe like Paul, I say we’ll take green on a case by case basis, for now, but in the meantime please think about using less water, turning that light switch off and reusing materials at least until the practices and our communication surrounding them can mature. (I hope I didn’t open myself up, too, to a hailstorm of expert advice.) Thank you. and BMoxieBMore. jb

By: James Jacobson

James Jacobson — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:22:39 +0000

I think the trouble here is you can’t make “green” main stream and continue to separate it from good building practices. Good building practices is green, and if “we” as an industry accept that and stop singling it out in customers minds, they will come to expect these “good building practices” as the norm, and this problem will start to solve itself.

By: Shawn Nelson

Shawn Nelson — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:27:39 +0000

I like the idea of eliminating “Green Design” awards, if you integrate green into the criteria for regular awards. That may appear too general, but when judging awards currently all of the categories are vague – use of materials, space planning, etc. It would gentle push the industry forward much more than a niche award. The risk would be even more green washing.