Choosing A Green Builder

How To Choose a Green Builder - As an environmentally conscious individual or family, you are concerned about the impact your life and choices and daily activities has on the world around you.  Because you most likely spend a majority of your time with your family in your home, it is important to minimize the impact that home has on the environment.  If you have decided to either build your own home from the ground up or undertake extensive modifications on an existing structure, you’ll want to make sure to find the perfect green builder to execute your plans.

Finding a green builder involves more than simply hiring a contractor who promises to be environmentally friendly.  Being green involves more than simply having a heightened awareness of one’s own impact on the environment.  There are several important factors you must consider when choosing a green builder for your home.


First, ask to examine the types of materials that your chosen contractor will use in constructing or reconstructing your home.  Not only should you examine the final products that you will use on an every day basis – appliances and the life – but also the materials that will go into actually constructing your home.  It is not enough to simply buy a few appliances that promise to be green; it is more important to ensure that everything used by your green builder is designed to have as minimized an impact on the environment as possible.  Some examples of green supplies include remanufactured or recycled wood, energy efficient appliance that may also be constructed of remanufactured or recycled parts, and material that is designed to not cause harm should it breakdown.

Second, ask to examine the methods your chosen contractor will use when constructing or reconstructing your home.  Specifically, you’ll want to watch for wasteful or harmful behavior by either the builder or his hired crew.  Do they minimize the amount of energy used when working on your home?  How are excess products handled?  If a hazardous substance cannot be avoided, how is it approached or disposed of?  Ask your builder to walk you through his construction process step by step to determine if he is truly observing green principles or is simple taking one or two steps that are valuable for appearance sake only.

Finally, look into whether or not your home is being constructed in accordance with LEED certification principles.  LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is overseen by the United States Green Building Council.  The LEED rating system includes parameters for measuring the sustainability of green building, both in new and existing structures.  Does your builder follow LEED standards, which is the nationally accepted benchmark for determining if construction is truly green?

You’ve already taken the important first step in working to protect the environment around you and minimize your impact.  By carefully considering variables including building supplies and practices as well as the following of LEED standards, you’ll be able to successfully find the right green builder to help you build your new home or remodel an existing structure.

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