Green Remodeling 101
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Your clients want their remodeling jobs done greener. Some of them will have specific ideas in mind, like energy-efficient appliances or low-VOC paints. Some of them won’t. In either case, it’s your job to deliver.
And because no two remodeling jobs are alike, there’s no stock answer to how to go green with any particular project. Instead, you have to evaluate each job and then use your advanced knowledge of building science and environmental technologies to make smart recommendations based on your client’s priorities and budget. If you can do that, you’ll add significant value to your bid.
However, you can’t do it without knowing your stuff.
“Every client wants to know what they can do to decrease their energy bill. But if you’re going to tighten up the building envelope or touch any component that moves air or moisture through the house, you have to understand the building science processes involved,” says Dan Taddei, director of education and certification at the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). “For instance, houses are traditionally pretty leaky and they ventilate themselves. But if you tighten them up, you build up moisture inside and you have to get it outside so you don’t have mold and mildew problems. You have to understand how a house breathes.”
NARI’s 12-week green education class is devoted to building science. The course covers topics like indoor air quality, renewable energy and deconstruction—the recycling of building materials removed during demolition.
There’s a waiting list for the courses, which are offered online via webinar, but many local NARI chapters offer in-person courses as well. Taddei says those are your best bet, because different green technologies are more popular in different regions. For example, solar energy makes more sense in Mississippi than Minnesota, whereas a sealed building envelope that doesn’t allow heat to escape is more valuable in colder northern states.
NARI also has a green certification program that requires at least 16 hours of green building education, but the coursework doesn’t have to be NARI-administered. And to receive the NARI certification, you need at least five years of continuous full-time experience in the industry.
Taddei says a green project is one that’s “built to last, to be energy efficient for the client and a healthful environment for them.” But remodeling jobs vary widely in scope, putting the onus on the remodeler to figure out which green concepts are appropriate for a particular job.
Chicago remodeler Marty Bhatia, principal of OM Homes, makes recommendations based on the invasiveness of his design. If the job wouldn’t otherwise call for opening a plumbing wall, then he’ll limit his suggestions to things like more efficient appliances, healthier paints and sustainable cabinetry and countertops. But if he’s already opening the wall, he’ll suggest increasing the insulation so it meets ENERGY STAR standards.
Bhatia says the key to a successful green remodel is knowing how to provide value to clients and also demonstrating that value to them. That means learning which improvements lead to tax credits; hiring energy raters to show proof of increased efficiency; learning which green materials are high-performance as well as eco-friendly (“I’ve used zero-VOC cabinets that fall apart,” says Bhatia); and understanding how new green building materials work.
That requires some ongoing professional education, but Bhatia says the best source is free: the Internet.
“If you need to know the difference between cellulose and a foam insulation, and truly what an R-value is and what all the convectional flows of air infiltration are, Google it or hop on Wikipedia and most of this stuff is out there,” says Bhatia. “It may be heavy, a little on the science side, but they’ll lay it out and have links to several good sites.”
Greening your remodeling business comes with a learning curve. But considering the value you’ll add to your projects, hitting the books is well worth your time.
