Comments on: New York Green Roof Contractor

By: Inger Staggs Yancey

Inger Staggs Yancey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:02:34 +0000

Heather, it all depends on how slanted your roof is. There are great tools for applying green roof materials to sloped roofs: things like slings and nets and geo-grids. And depending on the orientation of your roof and the surrounding shade generating elements like tall trees and tall buildings, it may also be possible to do solar electricity, rather than hot water. You need someone to take a look at your roof to assess it’s unique characteristics, in order to decide what your options are.

Caution: Don’t confuse the benefits of white roofs with green roofs. Green roofs provide many, many benefits to the building owner, the building itself, as well as to the environment that white roofs do not. And the benefits of white roofs don’t last very long. As the roof collects dirt, it’s ability to reflect solar radiation deteriorates rapidly.

By: Heather Y

Heather Y — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:41:12 +0000

Thanks to all who wrote in about this three way pull between price, quality, and critical mass.

We bought a house in August, and we will have to redo the roof in the next five years. I am right now praying we can get at least one more year’s worth out of the house so we can save up our money for a roof re -do, including attic insulation and at some point passive solar for hot water heating.

Our roof is slanted, and from what I am reading here and elsewhere, I think it will not be very possible to put a green roof up there, unless the design somehow can USE the slant to channel whatever water the plants do not capture OFF the roof and into a rain barrel or other plants or somewhere AWAY from the house.

Is that even possible? Please pretend that cost is no problem and just have some fun with theory and tell me, is it is just MY crazy idea?

Back in the real world, I am interested in a white roof and green walls – vining plants planted along the edge of the driveway and the front porch, trained to go up the roof, to provide shade and to reduce storm water….or should the vines be planted on the ground?

Heather,
(who will now go back to lurking on this thread)

By: Gennaro Brooks-Church

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:59:27 +0000

The classic argument often thrown around in green building is price vs. quality. But I don’t see them as mutually exclusive. You can have lower price AND quality. It just means building smarter. People aren’t going to get richer so I think their buying potential is pretty constant. Their priorities will shift and that will allow for more spending on green but it won’t tip the scale drastically. I’d say the largest impediment to green is the price. In Brooklyn we’ve got thousands of empty roofs just perfect from a green roof. So we either have to lower green building prices or not hit the mainstream. It is that simple for me. AND we need to keep quality higher.

By: Jorg Breuning

Jorg Breuning — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:18:16 +0000

It might not be the best goal getting prices down regardless any other considerations. As I mentioned earlier the quality of any installations on roofs is another big issue in this country.
Putting up a planter, tray or box with Sedums is a good start but not necessarily a reasonable quality since many things depend on perfect details and may require custom solutions with standardized components.

By: Gennaro Brooks-Church

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:57:12 +0000

So James how much can you do a green roof for here in NY? I love the price of $ 0,90 – $ 2,50 per sqft but can we even come close?

By: Gennaro Brooks-Church

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:53:51 +0000

I just met with a roofing materials supplier and they are charging $25 JUST for the sedum trays. I agree that the whole green roof price and cache needs to come down. It needs to move away from an upscale niche market to a common sense affordable one. Which is basically where all of green building in Brooklyn needs to go. We’ve got this great housing stock just waiting for affordable gray water, green roof, solar installations.

By: Jorg Breuning

Jorg Breuning — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:40:23 +0000

I found some updates of the web page. If you like you can also copy some information from our page – but let me know. However I hope you asked the others before you did that. Usually I recommend our clients who want to go into the green roof business doing things in their own words. This is much more attractive for potential clients because it is a personal note. Too much information at the beginning confuses. Regarding the costs: A green roof installation in Germany cost about $ 0,90 – $ 2,50 per sqft which includes everything – including a much higher quality – a quality I hardly found in the US since 1999 as I started with projects here.
The price needs to go down if people are seriously want green roofs as a tool to improve environmental issues or cities want to safe tax payer’s money. Don’t abuse green roofs for potential savings in heating or cooling – insulate the building right from the beginning.
jbi

By: James Friedman

James Friedman — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:33:58 +0000

Thank you
Yes we do great work, but it’s a very difficult time and competing with the low ballers out there. They work for a days pay. Thats okay they won’t be in business for very long and give us a great deal of repair work to do if you know what I mean.

By: Gennaro Brooks-Church

Gennaro Brooks-Church — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:27:01 +0000

Jorg, I checked out your site and it looks like you also do good work.

By: Jorg Breuning

Jorg Breuning — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:48:30 +0000

Hi James,
If you are seriously interested in the green roof business you will find many reliable installers for NY. I know at least 5 high profile installers with great references.
The web is also a great place for some research.
jbi