Green Building - Home Construction

The best description I can provide you with for green building, would be to create an environment that reduces waste and pollution, while providing building owners with long-lasting building products. In other words, if you can reuse building materials that were previously on their way to the dump, you would qualify as a green builder.

Some building and safety departments require builders to reduce waste, by reusing some of the building materials, from a home that's been remodeled or demolished and then rebuilt. The cities we were working in, a few years ago, weren't really enforcing these rules, but it's definitely starting to create an awareness for home builders and contractors.

Green building also includes solar energy, water efficiency, energy efficiency, quality enhancement, waste reduction and the reduction of toxins that often create health hazards.

If you're a building contractor and you could reduce waste, simply through creating more efficient home building methods, you're going to make more money. If you could reduce the amount of waste on your construction projects, you're going to save money, by reducing dump fees.

When I first started working in the construction business, you wouldn't believe the amount of waste. A large trash truck would come every other day to the job sites I worked on and remove large amounts of scrap lumber and even lumber that was in perfect condition and then take it away to the dump.

They don't do this today, for a few reasons. Number one, the price of wood has tripled, dump fees have quadrupled and the number of contractors has risen, creating fierce competition. The law of supply and demand has forced contractors to reduce waste and create more efficient building practices.

Green building is a necessity and if you're planning on staying in the construction business, you'd better learn more about it. Your survival as a contractor and construction worker, will eventually depend on it.

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