HOHOHO,
‘Tis the season to eat, drink, and be merry. Can you believe another year has flown by so quickly? Amazing.
Well, it has been quite a year for me so I’m in a generous mood. I’m going to give you not one, but two gifts today!
First things first: knowledge. This month I’m going to talk about deconstruction vs. demolition, and what it means to us as eco-investors.
Sitting on the Board for the Clean Calgary Association has given me access to some profound information. In particular, we have a program called the Calgary Materials Exchange that we run (www.cmex.ca) The sole purpose of the Exchange is to help businesses turn their waste streams into input streams for other business – thereby keeping those materials OUT of our City’s rapidly filling landfills AND saving those companies money on both ends of the transaction. The results are truly win-win-win.
It’s inspiring to be a part of.
But how does this relate to us as eco-investors?zec-->
So, if you are an infill developer, consider de-constructing the existing property or try selling it to someone who will move it off your land before resorting to demolishing it. Both options offer you the ability to recoup some of your costs and reduce your burden on our landfills.
We’re causing enough problems with 2 or 3 garbage bags a week. Imagine the impact on our landfills when we throw out entire houses! It’s nonsense and totally unnecessary in most cases.
This brings us to the second part of my gift: Contacts
Some of you are already familiar with this one, and if so, you probably use their service a lot:
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Habitat for Humanity Re-Store</H1>Habitat for Humanity runs a network of “re-stores” as they are called. The stores sell used and donated building materials, appliances, fixtures, furniture, and more. I have found some incredible bargains there on all kinds of items.
For a complete list of stores across North America, visit http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx
Alberta Demolition Ltd.
This company, a member of the Calgary Materials Exchange, does large- scale deconstruction projects. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Laura, one of the owners. She was in the middle of a massive floor-by-floor deconstruction of a major oil & gas company office building that was being remodeled. This meant that she came into HUGE amounts of insulation, among other things. It just so happened that I had two reno projects on the go at the time, one of which was a large commercial space. It was exactly what I needed, so we worked out a deal and I was able to get what turned out to be nearly 10,000 sq.ft of insulation (more than we needed) that was easily re-usable. That saved us thousands of dollars! Talk about smart eco-investing!
My partners would probably kill me for telling you about this company, because it’s been our little secret, but I’m in an uber-generous mood today and I really want to support REIN members and companies like this.
For those of you that read my column regularly, you know that I’m all about the environment, but it’s gotta be profitable, too! These folks offer one of the single BEST opportunities for sourcing previously used materials at discount prices.
Give them a call, see what they’ve got (it changes all the time), and if it’s what you’re looking for, buy it from them. I make no money from this, so I have nothing to gain from telling you about them. In fact, I’ll probably find she has nothing left the next time I go there! But that will just mean that more REIN members are catching the eco-investing bug and that will mean that I’ve done something good, so I’m happy.
Finally,
The Clean Calgary Ecostore
This is the hub of eco-consumerism is Calgary.
It is the best place to go for a number of hard to find, ultra-eco items,
Eco-coat paint (see my previous postings on Eco Coat), books, and other information. It is also the head office of the Calgary Materials Exchange, so if any of you are involved in companies that produce large amounts of waste, I highly recommend paying them a visit at www.cleancalgary.orgrc--> or www.cmex.ca
Until next month,
Happy Eco-Investing and Happy Holidays,
Kevin.
‘Tis the season to eat, drink, and be merry. Can you believe another year has flown by so quickly? Amazing.
Well, it has been quite a year for me so I’m in a generous mood. I’m going to give you not one, but two gifts today!
- The gift of knowledge (which I hope I always give you)The gift of contacts
First things first: knowledge. This month I’m going to talk about deconstruction vs. demolition, and what it means to us as eco-investors.
Sitting on the Board for the Clean Calgary Association has given me access to some profound information. In particular, we have a program called the Calgary Materials Exchange that we run (www.cmex.ca) The sole purpose of the Exchange is to help businesses turn their waste streams into input streams for other business – thereby keeping those materials OUT of our City’s rapidly filling landfills AND saving those companies money on both ends of the transaction. The results are truly win-win-win.
It’s inspiring to be a part of.
But how does this relate to us as eco-investors?zec-->
- For those of us who are into infill development, it presents an opportunity. Most infill builders will simply tear down the old structure and haul it away to the landfill. That is a shortsighted, unsophisticated view of the world.
There are companies that can literally pick up and move old houses to new locations, thereby saving the entire structure (minus the foundation). This is an ideal opportunity for us to capitalize on the fact that the previous owner placed very little value on the building. I think there is a huge opportunity in arranging for old buildings to be moved to new lots and then re-selling them, or renting them. This concept seems to be catching on because at any given moment, you can find a handful of properties listed on MLS for less than $15,000 on the grounds that you will move them off the property. You do the math on that one. Even if you pay $30,000 to move it, $20,000 to pour a new foundation, and assuming you got a reasonable deal on the lot, it’s foreseeable to generate tens of thousands or more in instant equity. AND it’s doing a good deed for the environment! I love it. If any REIN member has done this, I’d love to hear your story.
If moving a property isn’t your thing, there are also companies that specialize in deconstruction. Deconstruction is an eco-friendly way of salvaging the materials that can be used again, selling the materials that have re-sale value, and generally minimizing the materials that must go to landfill. This represents a significant opportunity for eco-investors. Why? Because previously used materials of the everyday variety ALWAYS sell for a fraction of what they would have new. It is true that old beams and valuable wood can sometimes fetch high prices, but for our purposes I’m talking about things like doors, windows, insulation, hardwood floors, etc.
So, if you are an infill developer, consider de-constructing the existing property or try selling it to someone who will move it off your land before resorting to demolishing it. Both options offer you the ability to recoup some of your costs and reduce your burden on our landfills.
We’re causing enough problems with 2 or 3 garbage bags a week. Imagine the impact on our landfills when we throw out entire houses! It’s nonsense and totally unnecessary in most cases.
This brings us to the second part of my gift: Contacts
Some of you are already familiar with this one, and if so, you probably use their service a lot:
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Habitat for Humanity Re-Store</H1>Habitat for Humanity runs a network of “re-stores” as they are called. The stores sell used and donated building materials, appliances, fixtures, furniture, and more. I have found some incredible bargains there on all kinds of items.
For a complete list of stores across North America, visit http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx
Alberta Demolition Ltd.
This company, a member of the Calgary Materials Exchange, does large- scale deconstruction projects. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Laura, one of the owners. She was in the middle of a massive floor-by-floor deconstruction of a major oil & gas company office building that was being remodeled. This meant that she came into HUGE amounts of insulation, among other things. It just so happened that I had two reno projects on the go at the time, one of which was a large commercial space. It was exactly what I needed, so we worked out a deal and I was able to get what turned out to be nearly 10,000 sq.ft of insulation (more than we needed) that was easily re-usable. That saved us thousands of dollars! Talk about smart eco-investing!
My partners would probably kill me for telling you about this company, because it’s been our little secret, but I’m in an uber-generous mood today and I really want to support REIN members and companies like this.
For those of you that read my column regularly, you know that I’m all about the environment, but it’s gotta be profitable, too! These folks offer one of the single BEST opportunities for sourcing previously used materials at discount prices.
Give them a call, see what they’ve got (it changes all the time), and if it’s what you’re looking for, buy it from them. I make no money from this, so I have nothing to gain from telling you about them. In fact, I’ll probably find she has nothing left the next time I go there! But that will just mean that more REIN members are catching the eco-investing bug and that will mean that I’ve done something good, so I’m happy.
Finally,
The Clean Calgary Ecostore
This is the hub of eco-consumerism is Calgary.
It is the best place to go for a number of hard to find, ultra-eco items,
Eco-coat paint (see my previous postings on Eco Coat), books, and other information. It is also the head office of the Calgary Materials Exchange, so if any of you are involved in companies that produce large amounts of waste, I highly recommend paying them a visit at www.cleancalgary.orgrc--> or www.cmex.ca
Until next month,
Happy Eco-Investing and Happy Holidays,
Kevin.
