Building Green in a Black and White World-- Chapter 4

The following is an exerpt from the book Building Green in a Black and White World. Section 2; Chapter 4; Part 4; Aligning Employee Jobs with Green Building

By David Ritchey Johnston

December 31, 1899

Aligning Employee Jobs with Green Building

One aspect of implementing the green vision and mission includes looking at each set of construction employees according to their responsibilities. These include procurement and estimating, field personnel, trades contractors, and the sales force. Each has an important role to play to ensure the success of the green program.

-------Estimating and Procurement--------

Resources need to be made available so that estimators and procurement staff can easily make green substitutions. If it is difficult to find and price green substitutions, they will likely choose products with which they are comfortable and familiar. The process of making green replacements involves research:

Who has the products?

What do they cost?

Are prices competitive?

Are the products in stock or readily available?

Do you have an account with the supplier?

Does the supplier have a good reputation in the industry?

The Environmental Building News Product Catalog is a great single source for most green products. (See Appendix B for source.) Making green changes often results in creating new relationships with new suppliers. If you want to keep your current suppliers, work with them to handle new lines. If you commit to a new product line, such as finger-jointed studs, for instance, the local lumberyard may be willing to carry them as long as they know you will buy them.

For example, five years ago I specified finger-jointed studs for a green home I was working on. I researched their availability. No one in the Denver metro market carried them. The lumberyard the builder used said they would be happy to handle the studs if I could prove a demand for a rail carload of them. That was a lot of houses, and the builder wouldn’t commit to that many of anything!

Through the HBA environmental committee, I asked members if any of them were interested in committing to finger-jointed studs. Several builders said that if I could get the price right they would use them. I called the manufacturer and told him we were seeding the market for their product and asked if he would adjust the price on less than a carload. He did. I brought the price (which was close to solid-sawn 2x4 prices) to the lumberyard. The owner agreed to carry the studs. Since that time, the finger-jointed studs have been as available to us as regular studs—and they are much straighter!

Continue to Superintendents

Would you like to purchase this book?

Building Green in a Black and White World
by David Robert Johnston

Also See:

I. Creating a Green Company Introduction

II. Creating a Vision