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John Spizzirri recently discussed the burgeoning green construction market with Scott Simpson, owner of Scott Simpson Builders, in Northbrook, Ill., for the CSBA’s Featured Member Profile.
How did you go from a degree in psychology to construction?
When I was done with my degree in psychology, I was tired of school and didn’t want to further indebt myself. I worked for Lettuce Entertain You in management and was a partner in a café off of Rush Street. My wife was a pastry chef and after five years of us doing that kind of work, we were thinking about opening our own place, or at least working towards that. After we had kids, it became pretty evident that the restaurant business wasn’t conducive to family life.
I had worked as a carpenter for a couple of summers. A friend was building an addition to his house, so I said I would help him out. I was working with him from 7 in the morning until about 2 p.m. Then I would work an eight hour shift as a restaurant manager at night, get up and do it all over again.
It became evident that I liked carpentry, that I liked building homes. That was easier on family life. So I got into it full time about 22 years ago and I started Scott Simpson Builders in 1993.
What sort of construction do you specialize in? When and why did you start implementing green construction practices?
We started out building decks and renovating kitchens. Today, we are building homes and we’re very interested in approaching that with sustainability in mind. We’re very interested in being green. Right now, one of our projects is a 13,000 square-foot house in Glencoe and we just finished a house in Wilmette, which will be LEED-certified platinum.
We jumped on the bandwagon and we started doing green just like everyone else did—when it was specified by architects, when it was already all over the news. So I would say we became aware of it about three years ago, or aware that what we were doing was green or aware that there were other options to what we were already doing.
We are certainly not at the forefront of the movement, but we believe in it whole-heartedly now. Even though they’re calling it green now, we like to believe we’ve been building sustainably for the last 16 years.
Is green construction something you propose to clients as an alternative to traditional construction methods or do they hire you specifically because you offer that?
Well, I would say it’s both, because people’s attitudes have changed over the last few years. There are many clients that already know they want green and they come to us with a preconception of how they want to do it. Very often, we can show them how to do it a little differently and make it greener.
Then there are those clients that haven’t a clue about green practices and never broach the subject. So we see that as an opportunity to explain and introduce green alternatives that match what the client originally had in mind.
What is the cost difference in an average renovation or new-build between building green and traditional methods?
I would say it’s somewhere between 10 and 20 percent. But, I would add that the new stimulus package has brought that number closer to 10 percent because it offers a sizeable rebate for the purchase of many green materials, like energy-saving doors and windows and home energy systems.
For example, the rebate for a geothermal heating and cooling system is, I think, in the neighborhood of 30 percent or about one-third the cost of the system. So it certainly helps drive down the initial cost and reduces the payoff period that everyone talks about (the time it takes to see a cost return on an energy-saving item) which can be 7-10 years for a geothermal system.
Does cost turn off some people who initially wanted to go green? Do you see this changing any time soon?
I don’t think it scares people off, but it makes them think a little bit more about it. People are still on the fence about it. But thanks to the hype that a lot of companies and the news media are throwing at this trend, I think more people are being nudged to the side of the fence that we’re working on.
I think the cost has come down for many products and it looks like that the cost of solar is going to come down substantially in the next two or three years.
We’re getting a lot more people who are curious about doing it than ever before or we’re being asked to make changes to existing projects. I’ve had calls from clients that we worked for two years ago asking, “How can we green our house without tearing it apart again
What types of materials and technology do you recommend to clients to provide the biggest impact while creating the smallest carbon footprint? For example, do you use metal studs or wood studs?
We’re using wood studs, but most of the time we’re using FSC (Forest Stewardship Certified) lumber, which is sustainably harvested. We’re big fans of PGIs which are truss joists—basically, scrap from the lumber yard floor is glued up and made into a big wood I-beam.
One of the biggest things we try to get people to do is put more insulation in the house and better insulation. Fiberglass just doesn’t cut it anymore. I would say that over the last two years everything we’ve learned about insulation has been turned upside down. So now we advocate open- or closed-cell foam insulation.
We’re also big fans of geothermal. They’re highly successful, highly economical, especially with the stimulus program in affect. We like solar, too, but again, because the price point is still pushing it out of people’s reach, we think you can get a bigger bang by putting your money in other areas right now.
In addition to the material and technologies that make a house green, are there any practices you use while constructing a home that are green-friendly?
We haven’t necessary implemented any program, if you will—our company is only six people—but we are being much more conscientious about what ends up in our dumpsters. We are using two companies—Active Disposal and MBL Recycling—that recycle 90-97% of the waste taken off of a job.
We’re also using only low-VOC paint whenever possible on the interior and exterior. We’re not always the ones specifying that, but we’re obviously trying to push it. I would say those are the two biggest things.
Geothermal sounds like a huge undertaking. What are the logistics of installing geothermal units for a home and what kind of cost are we looking at? What are the advantages of geothermal versus, say, gas heat?
Geothermal is somewhere around two-and-a-half times the cost of installing a traditional forced air system. The logistics behind it include bringing in a drilling rig or boring equipment that would help you install pipes in the earth around your house.
The house in Wilmette that we just completed had eight loops going down somewhere on the order of 250 feet, where the earth is a constant 55 degrees. The loop is filled with a mixture of water and glycol, which is like antifreeze. That runs through the loops, into a manifold and then into the house. So that mixture runs around your water heater or through the forced air system either warming or cooling the house.
We started the Wilmette project around 20 months ago. Since that time, we completed that job and seven others, and we’re working on nine and ten right now. They make a mess of the yard, don’t get me wrong. But in new construction or even remodeling, it’s stuff you can plan for and work around.
When planning a renovation or deciding on building a new home, what are some basic things a person can do to incorporate green into the existing or new structure?
I think whenever possible, the client should be looking at installing the maximum amount of insulation in the house, thinking about air infiltration and then subsequently indoor air quality.
The next thing they should consider is using as much recycled product as possible, be it tile, windows, doors or trim. Or at least use materials that have recycled content in it. One client we just worked with bought most if not all of their door hardware from a source that takes in old hardware and refinishes it.
In several of the house we’ve worked on, all of the hardwood floors are made from beams salvaged from old barns. And there is a lot of great tile that’s made from recycled materials, like glass.
I would also like them to be thinking about using any kind of renewable energy, be it geothermal, wind or solar power. Those things are great but nine times out of ten, anything beyond geothermal tends to be too expensive. I’d rather see people dropping more money into the insulation. They can always upgrade later.
Our clientele are some of the wealthiest people around. I believe that they should be building as sustainably, as green, as they possibly can. I have been telling clients for years, I would rather see you build smaller and greener than just build huge.
Make green the new status symbol, the new cool thing to tell your friends that you’re doing. I don’t think that hurts in making it more popular, I don’t think it hurts in helping to bring the cost down quicker and I think whatever it takes at this point is worthwhile.
John Spizzirri is a freelance writer and editor in Chicago. He has written on a variety of environmental issues, from greenhouse gases and brownfields to elephant sanctuaries and spider conservation. John can be reached at editor@chicagospeaks.com.
