When I first ventured into the green building early in the 21st century, I was ahead of most people on the curve. Using materials and methods that were practically unheard of the industry, I was able to quickly take a leadership position in green remodeling. Over the next few years, the daily demands of running a construction business made it difficult to keep up with the industry as much as I would have liked, and now, having stopped building and renovating, I find myself falling farther behind every day. As a consultant, I still have the opportunity to work with homeowners and contractors, helping them step up their product to higher performance levels, but I still do not see as much state of the art technology as I would like.
When I see colleagues working on cutting edge projects, I find myself getting jealous, and consider getting back into building, just to stay on course and not fall further behind. Then I take a deep breath, and remember just how much the actual building process drives me nuts. I recognized a long time ago that being a contractor made me crazy most of the time. There are many things about contracting that I like, but they tend to be outweighed by the things that I don’t like, such as anxiety, loss of sleep, and a generally elevated stress level. I was always very impressed with my friends in the business who were able to leave work at work every day, simply not letting the stresses get to them 24/7. Unfortunately, I am not so lucky. Nearing the end of construction of a house I built in 2006-2007, my girlfriend looked at me and said “do you think that sometime we could talk about something other than how stressed out you are about this project”? Somewhat shocked, I thought about what she said, thanked her profusely for cluing me in, and made a concerted effort to separate my life from my work. If I take on any construction jobs in the future, I will have to keep that in mind.
Right now, I am toying with the idea of building myself a new house. I am worried about the impact it will have on my personal life and excited about the possibilities of pushing the envelope of green building. I am looking at alternative wall structures like Durisol and Hebel block, considering passive solar options (which could be a challenge with all the old growth trees on my intown lot), and mulling over in my mind how to design and build the most efficient house I possibly can. Chances are I will eventually go ahead with this project, but inertia is a strong force to overcome. I’ll have to see how the economy turns out over the next year or so before I commit to taking on more debt. Then again, if my work starts to slow down, I am going to have to find something to do with my time, since I live my work, and generally really enjoy it, I have never developed any hobbies to keep me busy. I’ll keep you posted.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Funny thing. As a green builder in this economy I would like to be a consultant like you. You have the advantage of playing on many different job sites at once and being about to cpature info from more sources that you could have before. You are in a good position to build a new house with all of your friends resources. Knowing you, it will end up becoming a green modular project though. I am considering modular addition for my house to minimize what my family is going to have to go through for our renovation in the future.
BUILD IT and they will come!
Carl,
Build the house. I know you have done this before for other people but have you ever done it for yourself. Passion projects are so much fun and so rewarding. My father just recently removed all his money from the market (thankfully before it crashed) and sunk it all into this amazing house. He worked hand in hand with his two sons on it and we had the greatest time. It rebuilt our family and our relationships and we now have something to enjoy and talk about for years to come. If have a similar situation (with sons or daughters) I highly recommend the process. Ours was almost 5 years but I can still remember excavating the driveway while my brother hauled the material away. Go for it. See you at IBS
Matt Macko
Environmental Building Strategies
I have done passion projects before, although I usually viewed them more as projects than homes and never had any emotional attachment to them. Also, while reasonably cutting edge for the time, everything I have worked on so far, for myself and others, has been pretty mainstream. If and when I move forward with this project it will take a lot of research to figure out the absolute best combination of methods, materials, and design to make it as close to perfect as possible. I recognize that "perfect" is very subjective, and I have always avoided using that word in describing my work, and this house may not look "perfect" in the traditional sense of details and workmanship, but I hope to make it as perfect from a sustainable standpoint as possible.
Post a Comment