This roof garden relies solely on rainwater so we never have to waste water!

Our bees act as natural pollinators, [...]]]>

Eco Brooklyn’s green roof garden has been flourishing since we installed it over two years ago. Check out the photos below!

This roof garden relies solely on rainwater so we never have to waste water!

Our bees act as natural pollinators, ensuring beautiful flower blossoms for seasons to come! Not to mention they provide us with tasty honey.

Can you believe this self-sustaining oasis could exist on the roof of a New York City apartment? As a NY green contracting company, Eco Brooklyn can make it possible for you to have one of your own!

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/bringing-passivhaus-harlem

[...]]]>

Check out this great article about our Eco Brooklyn’s Passive House in Harlem.  GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, a great online source for building, designing, and remolding green homes, sent Richard Defendorf to our Harlem site to check out our work. Read his write-up of all the techniques we used to seal our passive house!

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/bringing-passivhaus-harlem

Green design is a broad term. In an attempt to narrow it down, we are looking at how green design and “universal design” or lifespan design are linked. First of all, you’re probably wondering what universal design means. Here are the seven principles that define universal design, according to North Carolina State University [...]]]>

Green design is a broad term. In an attempt to narrow it down, we are looking at how green design and “universal design” or lifespan design are linked. First of all, you’re probably wondering what universal design means. Here are the seven principles that define universal design, according to North Carolina State University (check out the link here http://www.ncsu.edu/project/design-projects/udi/):

1. Equitable use
2. Flexibility use
3. Simple and intuitive use
4. Compatible and perceptible information
5. Minimal hazards
6. Minimal physical effort required
7. Size and space appropriate for use

But how are these related to green design? Focusing on numbers 1, 2, and 7 will show how green design and universal design are similar. Being sustainable and “green” are all about sharing, being resourceful, and generally creating a solution that can be sustained through changes that may come in the future. According to adaptiveenvironments.org “Green design focuses on environmental sustainability, Universal Design on social sustainability”. However, I think that both environmental and social sustainability are two sides of the same thing – sustainability overall. Sustainability calls for fair outcomes, both for people and the environment. Universal design calls for a sustainable space that can be continually and easily used by people for changing purposes. At the heart of green design is sustainability – using recycled materials, and installing green roofs are all steps towards an overarching goal of conserving resources for the future.

Universal design is about using your existing space for different things. For example, a couple moves into a small house. Then they have two children, but instead of moving into a larger house, they adapt their space to accommodate their children – building an extra room within a larger room, or adding one on. They can also child proof their house with simple amenities such as adjustable counters, or by adding carpets. Basically, both green design and universal design are about using what you have and working with it.

If you would like more information about the concepts of green building and universal design, check out Yes! Magazine at yesmagazine.org, and specifically http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sustainable-happiness/how-to-build-a-tiny-house, for an article on green houses and universal design.

We started the year in rough times. 2010 was a year where we took on too many projects and didn’t have the management skills to handle them. Getting clients is not [...]]]>

We are over half a year through 2011 and I thought I’d give a short report on our company’s progress. Things are great!

We started the year in rough times. 2010 was a year where we took on too many projects and didn’t have the management skills to handle them. Getting clients is not Eco Brookly’s problem. We get plenty of people wanting our services. Dealing with the fast growth of an eco contractor in NY, basically the only genuine one, is our biggest challenge.

So in 2011 we said “No. Sorry we are too busy to honestly be able to give you the service you deserve.” And despite having considerably less jobs in 2011 than in 2010 we are making considerably more money and doing considerably better work.

All of which achieves our Mantra of Turning New York Green.

The reason for our success improved management and efficiency. Our biggest lesson in 2010 was the embarrassing realization that we, a company obsessed with energy efficiency, wasted huge amounts of energy in bad management. It was a real slap on the forehead: energy efficiency starts with our own lives as humans! (this was pointed out by one of our Green Builders, David Concha).

Once we got that important message we focused on increasing the human energy efficiency. And it worked wonders. This year we are on time, in budget and, well, happy!

The second part of 2011 will be focused on perfecting our management process as well as closing out the amazing Passive House job in Manhattan and our other smaller jobs, the main one being the Green Show House.

Unfortunately we are not entirely out of the woods from our 2010 mistakes. A couple jobs still haunt us: failed inspections and call backs. But thank God we are almost completely done with those jobs and ready to move forward with smooth jobs and happy clients.

2011 was a major turning point for Eco Brooklyn. We transitioned from a baby company overwhelmed by easy success to a more mature company in control of our direction.

We have become very focused in our efforts. Every decision we make is considered from our Mantra: “Does this choice turn New York Green?.

We also clarified our Mission Statement: Quality Green Building on Time and Within Budget.

It is such a powerful and honest Mission Statement. It satisfies our Triple Bottom Line business model of People, Planet and Profit.

In closing I would like to thank Eco Brooklyn’s workers and clients. I started this company almost five years ago because I wanted to help turn the world green and construction was something I loved, was good at and it was clearly a low hanging fruit.

When I started it was just me. I would dumpster dive and people laughed at me. I was a lone freak. But I believed in my cause passionately. And I loved it. Our planet is badly damaged. We need to do something about it! And now Eco Brooklyn has a large and equally passionate team of green builders. Each day I am surrounded by really talented and amazing builders who are devoted to the cause of making this world a better, greener place. It is so exciting and I am really honored.

Together we create quality green building on time and within budget that turns New York green. It is amazing to watch. We are powerful and empowered green builders who are defining a green building career and movement.

Eco Brooklyn’s clients are equally amazing. Anyone who calls me I first ask them to read our web site. If they call back excited then we consider them. This has led us to really cool people committed to turning the world green. Getting a new kitchen is one thing, but renovating to better the world is completely another thing.

It is so wonderful working with our clients because our conversations are so not so much about paint colors but about which paint colors are non-toxic, have the least embodied energy, and are locally sourced. Our clients call us up saying they found a salvaged sink on craigs list and if we can use it in their kitchen.

They understand that they are part of the wealthy world and their comparatively vast amounts of money can make a real difference. The renovation is about removing waster from the landfill by creatively using it in the home. It is about strengthening ecological companies. It is about supporting local business. The fact that a beautiful and special home is created at the end is almost secondary. THE PROCESS MY FRIEND IS WHERE YOU FIND SALVATION.

These people are kindred souls aware of the tremendous power they have and eager to use it for good.

Eco Brooklyn has become a movement of devoted people. It is an honor to be part of it. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you to the Eco Brooklyn team: Ian, Dan, David, John, James, Charlie, Lucas, Martin, Paul, Santos, Ron, Joe, Stephen, Floris.

Thank you to Eco Brooklyn’s current clients: Mary Anne, Bill, Jennifer, Christine, Ron, Flona, Loretta, Ken.

BUILD IT FORWARD!

Check out their blog post on Eco Brooklyn here.

But it ends up showing good green building as well.

The many case studies in the book show a pattern. Firstly all [...]]]>

The book Good House Cheap House: Adventures in Creating an Extraordinary Home at an Everyday Price doesn’t set out to be about green building. It aims to show nicely designed and affordable homes.

But it ends up showing good green building as well.

The many case studies in the book show a pattern. Firstly all the homes are small and maximize the space so that they don’t feel small. If you want to build affordable, build less and more intelligently. Obvious enough. This is also a green building must. All things being equal, a smaller house will always be greener than a larger one.

A smaller house creates less of a footprint on the earth in all ways – physically, in materials, and in energy consumption.

All the homes were built with lots of salvaged material. Something salvaged is usually cheaper than something new. But something salvaged is always greener than something new in terms of environmental impact (of course you don’t want to salvage asbestos or lead pipes).

All the homes were renovations of old buildings. No new construction. It is cheaper to renovate than build new if you are willing to work with what you have. It is also a lot greener.

Two works in the book struck out to me as great guideposts for building: Creativity and constraint. To build affordable you need to be creative. There are lots of examples in the book where the owners used materials creatively. One owner put some lights in a salvaged beam and hung it from the ceiling, turning it into a beautiful chandelier. It cost maybe $20 and would hold its own in the fanciest penthouse apartment.

There are also countless examples of restraint. Knowing when enough is enough is the epitome of good design and good financial management. None of the homes feel constrained but they all have excellent constraint.

Creativity and constraint are key to any good green building too, for the same reasons. We are aiming to reduce our impact on the environment, reduce the materials used, and maximize what we have on hand. To do this you need to be careful how you build and use constraint. You also need to be really creative so that you can find new ways to use the materials you have on hand.

I like seeing the relationship between affordable building and green building. We have everything to gain by making the two synonymous. When green building is affordable it is done more often. And that is good for the owners because they save money, good for the contractor because they get more business and good for the environment because more homes are built in harmony with it.

Eco Brooklyn really forged the way in this connection between affordable and green. As of this post we are the only green building contractor in Brooklyn and NY building high quality green homes for middle class people. We have it down at this point. We can renovate several brownstones at a time and have the sourcing set up to provide all the salvaged materials and green building techniques needed to make real green renovations.

It is really a satisfying stage in Eco Brooklyn’s development. We struggled finding the line between affordable and underbidding. There is nothing more disgusting than paying out of pocket to get a job done that you underbid on. But we have it down now. We have streamlined our salvage process to a point where we have very little material costs yet our materials are of very high quality.

Combine that with high quality artisans who understand old school crafts and you get great building for an affordable price. It took us a while to perfect the process but we have a couple big jobs under our belt where we paid our dues and have now really found a pattern that works.

We can renovate a Brooklyn brownstone to the highest green standards – Passive House, all salvaged etc – coming very close to our Zero Brownstone goal. Hooray!

The sale item that a shop keeper takes a loss on to get people in the door so they buy other things. Half price drinks at the bar with the hope people will stay and buy full price drinks. Pricing something [...]]]>

I love the psychology of sales. It is what distinguishes humans from numbers.

The sale item that a shop keeper takes a loss on to get people in the door so they buy other things. Half price drinks at the bar with the hope people will stay and buy full price drinks. Pricing something at $99 instead of $100.

These psychological sales techniques work.

I have found one important sales technique in green building that also works. It is the reverse of value engineering.

Value engineering is the bane of all green builders. The client comes in with big idealistic goals but as soon as the numbers get crunched the green things are usually the first thing to go. The reason for this in my opinion is a lack of education in the client that makes them prioritize one thing over another.

Here is your typical example:

The client wants a green roof, new plumbing, new walls and a jacuzzi. Like most jobs it is a mix of green idealism (roof), practical needs (plumbing and walls), and personal indulgence (jacuzzi).

The normal contractor bids the job accordingly:

Green roof $10,000

Plumbing $11,500

Walls $11,500

Jacuzzi $7,000

Total: $40,000

But the client only has $30,000. So they need to cut $10,000 somewhere. Out goes the green roof. A perfect $10,000 to balance the budget. The client’s priories do not lie with the green roof.

I hear this story again and again. Architects and contractors are always moaning to me how they would like to build more green in Brooklyn but their green elements often get cut at the first sign of fiscal tightness. But I don’t have this problem. Partly it is because Eco Brooklyn has a reputation for being a leading edge Brooklyn green builder so we attract those clients. None of our clients come to us asking for Jacuzzis. For us value engineering usually revolves around choosing between two green elements, say a living wall or a composting toilet.

But our success in keeping green as the central theme of the project is also very much how I present the bid. The bid is structured to balance out any priorities the client may have.

Here is how I would bid the exact same job above. Firstly I identify the categories: the green elements, the essentials and the non green non essentials. The green roof is a green element. I want that to stay in the job. The plumbing and walls are essentials and the client can’t cut them. The jacuzzi is a non green non essential and I want it out. I know the client wants to stay around $30,000 but they also have a long list of things they want. So they expect to cut some things.

Here is how I bid the job:

Green roof $5,000

Plumbing $12,500

Walls $12,500

Jacuzzi $10,000

Total: $40,000

I halved the green roof price, added a little to the plumbing and walls and added a lot to the jacuzzi. The total comes out to the same.

Guess what gets value engineered to reach the $30,000 budget? Not the green roof. At half price it is too much of a great deal. And besides it would only cut $5,000.  You can’t cut the plumbing or walls because they are code requirements. The next least important thing that also balances the budget is the jacuzzi.

A jacuzzi is something you can do without. Especially at that expensive price! And hey! it is an even $10,000 so it balances the budget perfectly! How convenient!

So instead of the client renovating their brownstone and getting an energy guzzling jacuzzi they get an ecological green roof. At the same price! On my job the client makes derisions that are better for the environment and ultimately themselves. At least in my opinion, which is based on many things including global ecology and idealism.

Notice I make just as much money as the first job that had the green roof nixed. And what contractor feels better about themselves? I do of course. I’ve not only done a good job but I feel I have made the world a healthier place.

I honestly believe the client and the world are better served by a green roof over a jacuzzi. So I price my bid accordingly. I set up the budget so that I may not make money on the green roof but I make it up elsewhere. I add a little more profit to the absolute essentials that I know they won’t cut (plumbing, structural, electric etc), I offer the green elements at rock bottom prices, and I price the non essential non green things high so they look wasteful and price them strategically so that if they are cut they balance the budget perfectly.

Manipulation? Definitely! Dishonest? No. I’m just putting my money where my mouth is. I don’t care if they cut the jacuzzi. I fact I’d refuse to do it anyway. So I make it costly and conveniently priced to be cut. I do care very much if they cut the green roof. So I price the green roof too good to turn down. And I carefully balance the rest of the bid so I still make a profit.

It really works well. The client is happy. I am happy. And the world is a green place. This strategy is part of the triple bottom line of People, Planet, Profit.

I see it a little like affirmative action. Because of the prejudice they face, green building techniques need a little financial help.

I wouldn’t say this is the case with [...]]]>

Building along green standards does not significantly increase the construction time or cost. There is no reason why not to build green since it may save money in the short term and is guaranteed to save money on a monthly basis once the building is done.

I wouldn’t say this is the case with most “green” building out there because they are still building along traditional methods and “adding green elements.” Of course in that model building green is an added expense above the “normal” building. And of course the green elements are the first to go when money gets tight because they are so clearly add-ons.

As true green builders we don’t do it that way. Our building can’t be segmented into normal building and green building. There is no either or.

Our style offers significant savings in some areas that we transfer into other areas. For example we save in wood costs since we don’t buy wood, period. We salvage it for free. Those savings are transfered to buying more (already cheap) salvaged insulation. The end result is a house with four times the insulation without any extra cost or compromise.

The same cost as normal building but four times the normal insulation! This then reduces monthly utility costs by four! It is powerful and simple. And we’ve not even mentioned that no trees were cut or insulation manufactured!

That is what normal builders don’t get because they are still stuck in the old way of building. The truth is that green building is smarter on all levels.

But it can only be done by completely redoing the building process. When we build we need to allot time for wood and insulation “harvesting”, we need to have carpenters who can work with odd shaped wood, we need to have non-traditional material sources etc.

To get four times the insulation at the same cost we have to completely rework the process from start to end. It can’t be simply tacked on to the job. It needs to BE the job.

The Eco Brooklyn veggie oil truck after a successful salvaged insulation harvest

But here is the kicker: I get people [...]]]>

As a green contractor in Brooklyn, NY. I can post an add on Craigslist.org and get a hundred responses in an hour of highly qualified people asking very little for their work. Such is the nature of the economy, a highly skilled region and immediate technology.

But here is the kicker: I get people asking to work for free on my jobs because they love green building. There is a hunger for it. It allows them to fulfill something normal building does not. It is principle driven instead of money driven.

Anyway, all this lends itself to the availability of a lot of highly skilled cheap workers. So for me it makes a lot of sense to get old school and return to a more old fashioned way of building. This is where you use more basic materials that are cheaper instead of paying for the convenience of pre assembled materials.

It has nothing to do with loss of speed since you simply put more workers on the job. You can afford to do this because you aren’t spending extra money for the more convenient products. Instead of buying pre cut stair stringers you buy the wood and cut it yourself. Instead of buying pre made counters you buy the glass and concrete and mold them yourself.

The workers are no longer robots tightening the pre made widgets into place. They are artisans who get a lot more satisfaction from their creations.