Are you always this involved in your projects?
Connie: We like to be. It all ties in with Odin's Hammer's design/build philosophy, where we have one team work on a project from beginning to end. Design/build allows us to be incredibly efficient, not only in the decisions that are being made on paper about how to build a project, but also in the efficiency that happens because our crews have been involved from the beginning. So if we run into a problem on site, decisions can be made right there. The project doesn't have to stop. Three or four people don't have to be called. So clients save a lot of time and dollars.
Another efficiency comes from the fact that as we're designing we're also making financial decisions. So we have some accountability and some measurability from the very beginning of the design process to the final budget. It's an underlying thing that allows us to make environmentally correct decisions that are also an efficient use of the client's dollars. Or, at times we might decide that an element is not an efficient expense. The important thing is that we can work with the client to make those decisions up front.
Dennis: We have two types of contracts — pre-construction and construction. We can tailor the pre-construction contract in many different ways, but often a client will come in and say, 'I have X amount of dollars for this project.' And we may look at that and say that's really close, we're not sure we can do it. But if we go into a pre-construction contract, we'll bring all of the subcontractors out, we'll look at all of the materials, and we'll get it all down on paper, so that we can see whether it will fit within your budget.
Connie: A client has to pay us for this because we're drawing on a lot of our expertise and time, and we're sending our people out in the field to do this. It may cost a couple of thousand dollars and we may find out that the project isn't feasible for the available budget, but it prevents a terrible disaster down the road. On the other side, if we find that the project is possible then, as we move into construction, everything fits because we've taken the time and effort to look at every little part of this project so we don't meet unexpected surprises. Surprises are something that nobody likes, and through a pre-construction contract the client will know everything up front. We'll explain every part of the project to them. We'll show them how the dollars and cents make sense.
Dennis: It can take a few months to set up and design a project. And we always involve the lead carpenter who's in charge of the job in that process. He or she will set up all the subcontractors for the job, do all the scheduling, know in advance exactly what's going on with the job, and be able to communicate all of this to the homeowner. We found that by making everyone in the company familiar with the job from the beginning, even though it costs a little more money up front, it saves money in the end because you minimize delays. He or she knows exactly how a job is going to progress, so when construction starts it runs smoothly from start to finish.
How can clients know if a product is really green?
Connie: They should always look for a third party certification. There are a number of third party certifications out there, especially in the lumber industry where the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a non-profit group, goes out and looks at logging practices. If you have an FSC stamp on a piece of wood it means that it has been tracked from the forest, through the mill, and has been given a number that will be on your invoice from the lumber yard.
A lot of third party organizations have come up with certification levels. Energystar certifies appliances, and local utilities have programs that will certify certain things and give you energy credits for installing them, like double pane windows. So those are the places you want to go to find out if things are green and sustainable.
What kinds of green products are you using?
Dennis: We're using a lot of engineered lumber. We use dual flush toilets, and LED lights that are supposed to last over 60 years. We need to start saving water and saving energy any way we can, but there's always some risk in using the newest products. We once had a job where we put in the first LED cans (recessed lighting). We told the client that these were the first off the line, to make sure she wanted to use them. She said absolutely, so we put them in. Now, a year later, when people walk on the floor upstairs, the lights fall out of the cans, so she has to stick them back in. In this case, we spoke to the manufacturer about this, and they've agreed to come in and install new LEDs. So even though we used something that failed, the company is coming out and fixing it. Sometimes we're out there on the edge of things.
Connie: Our local lumber yard, Truitt and White, is really great at listening to contractors. If we want something, they'll stock it. And if a hundred contractors say they want something, then all the lumber yards start to listen. At first the cost for new products can be high, but as more people buy it the costs go down. Today we use a number of green products all of the time and it doesn't cost anymore than the old products. Insulation is a good example. For years, manufacturers used urea-formaldehyde to glue the fiberglass insulation together. Now we know that urea-formaldehyde off gasses toxic fumes for years. So when a company came out with insulation without urea formaldehyde, a number of contractors started using it. It became so popular that the price has dropped, so that it costs the same as the old product but it's healthier.
Dennis: You can go all the way through the entire house and find these new green products. One example is the new the composite decking that is made from recycled plastic bags and sawdust. It's a material that holds up to the weather and doesn't rot. But you have to be careful because some people have come out with decking made with pre-consumer product. That means they manufacture the plastic for the decking. And you have to decide if that is a good idea. I personally prefer to have the post-consumer plastic because it's actually a recycled product. You have to pay attention to what's going on now because everybody wants to jump on the green bandwagon. There's a lot of 'green washing' going on right now…
Connie: Dennis is right. You have to look at a product's entire life-cycle, from its manufacture, to its installation and use, to its disposal. First, how is it made? Is it toxic to the factory workers? Then, how much energy does it take to bring that product to your job site? When you have a choice between tile coming from India versus tile coming from Oregon, that's a no-brainer from a green perspective. But after you get the tile, you also have to be able to install it in a non-toxic, healthy fashion. And what happens to the tile when you want to remodel 10 or 20 years down the road? Can it be reused or repurposed, or does it go into a toxic waste dump?