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Green Building to Rocket in 2009!

Top Ten Trends

— By Jerry Yudelson, PE, MS, MBA, LEED AP | Principal | Yudelson Associates

Yudelson's Top Ten Trends include the following:

1. Green building will continue to grow more than 60 percent in 2009, on a cumulative basis. We've seen cumulative growth in new LEED projects over 60 percent per year since 2006, in fact 80 percent in 2008, and there's no sign that the green wave has crested.

2. Green building will benefit from the Obama presidency, with a strong focus on green jobs in energy efficiency, new green technologies and renewable energy. This trend will last for at least the next four years.

3. The focus of green building will begin to switch from new buildings to greening existing buildings. The fastest growing LEED rating system in 2008 was the LEED for Existing Buildings program, and I expect this trend to continue in 2009.

4. Awareness of the coming global crisis in fresh water supply will increase, leading building designers and managers to take further steps to reduce water consumption in buildings with more conserving fixtures, rainwater recovery systems and innovative new water technologies.

5. LEED Platinum-rated projects will become more commonplace as building owners, designers and construction teams learn how to design for higher levels of LEED achievement on conventional budgets.

6. Solar power use in buildings will accelerate with the extension of solar energy tax credits for buildings through 2016 and the prospect of increasing utility focus on renewable power goals for 2015 and 2020. As before, third-party financing partnerships will continue to grow and provide capital for large rooftop systems.

7. Local governments will increasingly mandate green buildings from both themselves and the private sector. While concern over economic impacts of green buildings mandates will be present, the desire to reduce carbon emission by going green will lead more government agencies to require green buildings.

8. Zero net energy designs for new buildings will gain increasing acceptance in both public and private buildings. I've shown that you can get building energy use down to low levels with better design," said Yudelson, "and that makes it easier and more cost-effective to buy green power to displace the remaining energy use."

9. Green homes will come to dominate new home developments in more sections of the U.S., as builders increasingly see green as a source of competitive advantage. This trend was foreseen in my 2008 book, Choosing Green (New Society Publishers), which for the first time documented the large number of new green housing developments in the U.S. and Canada.

10. European green building technologies will become better known and more widely adopted in the U.S. and Canada. My newest book, Green Building Trends: Europe (Island Press), was just released and helps accelerate this trend, along with more European architects and engineers opening offices in the U.S.

Greg Brooks
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerry Yudelson is widely recognized as one of the leading green building experts in the United States. On behalf of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), he chaired the Steering Committee for Greenbuild 2004 through 2009, the largest green building conference in the world, and he has trained more than 3,500 people in the LEED rating system. He served on the national board of the USGBC and was a Founding Board Member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Yudelson is the author of 10 green building books, including: Green Building Trends: Europe, Green Building through Integrated Design, Green Building: A to Z, The Green Building Revolution, Marketing Green Building Services and Developing Green: Strategies for Success.

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The Difference Between Cost and Price

-By Bill Lee, President | Lee Resources

A few weeks ago, I was asked to make a proposal for a full day sales seminar to a group of building material salespeople. I spent about an hour on the telephone with the owner asking a lot of questions so I could better understand his company, the specific kinds of problems his salespeople were experiencing and the kind of return he was looking for on his training investment.

After doing quite a bit of design to make sure that my proposal answered his needs, I called back to review the outline with him. He loved it! He told me that he couldn't imagine that anyone could do a better job than I could, but he did need to know my daily fee.

Before quoting my fee, I did my best to remind the owner that I have been in our industry for over 40 years and have been training salespeople in our industry for over 20 years.

A couple of weeks later the owner called back to say that he had made a huge mistake; without telling me, he had hired a young sales trainer who lived in his hometown and whose training fee was about 75% lower than my fee.

"Why do you believe that this was such a big mistake?" I asked.

"This kid was a former car salesperson who had taken up sales training as a side job while he looked for a new sales job. His sales tactics sounded a lot like those used by a lot of car salespeople; they would never work in our industry. I just thought for the amount he was charging I couldn't go wrong."

This owner was guilty of the same mistake I have made and many buyers make: he confused cost with price. He did get a cheap price, but in the long run it cost him the entire amount he paid the first sales trainer plus what he paid me because he ended up hiring me to travel to his city and spend a day training his sales force.

When you run into price problems with your customers and prospects, remember the Cost vs. Price example. About nine times out of ten, we all get what we pay for.

In my case it was a power spray washer I wrote about in my Gross Margin book. I "saved" $250 by buying a spray washer at Home Depot, but as it turned out, my ignorance about buying spray washers allowed me to overlook the quality differences. After "saving" $250 at HD, I had to replace parts valued at $400 within a week.

The price I paid was $400 less than the spray washer ended up costing me.

Exercise: Make a list of how many situations you can think of where you may have lost a sale because your price was higher than your competitor's, but by doing business with the competition, your customer-in hindsight-ended up having a higher overall cost.

Keep up this practice. Make detailed notes so you'll be able to refer to them when you're faced with a similar pricing situation in the future. These examples will come in handy each time you are competing with a competitor who may have a lower price than you are authorized to quote.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill is a construction supply industry consultant and trainer who helps owners and managers put more profit on their bottom lines and helps salespeople improve their sales and gross margin.

He is author of Gross Margin: 26 Factors Affecting Your Bottom Line, now in its third printing. His most recent book,
30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot was released in October 2005.

864-303-8366 (Mobile)
864-248-4048 (O)

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Typar® Weather Protection System and Flashing RA™

From the roofline to the foundation, the complete Typar® Weather Protection System includes Typar® HouseWrap, Typar® MetroWrap™ for commercial applications and Typar’s newest offering, StormWrap™, an impact resistant wrap for areas prone to extreme weather conditions. Completing the system is Typar brand Flashings, Construction Tape and RoofWrap, all backed by the security of a manufacturer’s 10-year limited warranty.

Typar® Flashing RA is a rubberized asphalt flashing that is an affordable choice with best-in-class performance. Designed specifically for use in the Typar Weather Protection System, which is backed by a 10-year limited installed warranty, it has all of the advantages of Peel & Stick Flashing but is offered at a lower price.

Typar Flashings and Construction Tape play a critical role in assuring seams, edges and openings are “buttoned up” to assure the highest level of system performance. In fact, sealing all joints with tape improves the wrap’s performance by approximately 20% according to EERE, Consumer’s Guide: Air Barriers, U.S. Department of Energy, 2006.

The Typar system contributes to the requirements for the ENERGY STAR® Qualified New Home Program as an important component in the Air Sealing and Insulating category. Typar system products can also contribute to the US Green Building Council’s LEED® certification points in both LEED – New Construction and the pilot program LEED for Homes.

For more information, contact your Huttig Selkirk rep or visit www.typar.com.

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StoneCraft Industries™ - Natural Added Value

With incredibly authentic texture, StoneCraft manufactured stone veneer delivers all the beauty of stone, without the cost that comes with quarried stone. Our proprietary manufacturing process ensures a completely natural look with minimal repeat, and our sustainable mix of ingredients produces stones that will weather and age just like real stone.

Available through Huttig Building Products, StoneCraft brings a uniquely rugged sophistication, adding value to homes and outstanding charm to light commercial buildings. Find out more – call your local Huttig branch today or visit www.stonecraft.com.

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Hello from Huttig Selkirk!

I’d like to start out by saying thank you for your continued business. We are starting to see signs of hope in our industry and are ready to talk about anything other than a housing slump!

As we all know, green building is a growing and important segment in the building industry. According to Jerry Yudelson’s Top Ten Trends article in this month’s issue, it’s going to keep growing. He predicts that environmentally focused building will continue to grow more than 60% this year due to the Obama administration’s focus on new sustainable technologies and local governments’ increasing mandates on green building. To keep our customers informed on this fast changing segment, we are including a “Green” section in this month's Dealer Digest to educate you on green building.

I encourage you to take advantage of all the information this site has to offer. Forward any relevant information to others within your organization to keep your team on top of the latest industry trends, new products and Huttig promotions.

We at Huttig Selkirk thank you for your business and welcome your special requests. Let us know what we can do to assist you.

Thanks!

Michael Catalina • Selkirk GM •