Tuesday, March 28, 2007

Contact: Andrew Pace, Safe Building Solutions, 262-968-5070

Newest construction trend:

'Using human-friendly materials'

Local business supplies safety and style

By CALEY MEALS

Freeman Staff

TOWN OF GENESEE, Wis. – When three employees of Mitchell, Pace & Associates – a material supply company based in the Town of Genesee – had to be hospitalized because of inhalation complications while working on a condo project in the mid-90s, Andy Pace didn’t get mad, he got motivated.

“We were supplying and installing a water-based coating for the building’s parking structure,” Pace said. “We didn’t realize that water-based didn’t necessarily mean that it was safer, it just meant it contained water.”

Today Pace and his wife, Valerie, own and operate Safe Building Solutions, a supplier and retailer of products that emit lower levels of residual chemicals than standard building products.

The company recently won a 2007 IQ (Innovation Quotient) award for its “human-friendly” line of cabinets. The award recognizes innovation in southeastern Wisconsin companies and the economic impacts of those innovations according to a news release.

“I never thought we’d have a chance, considering some of the past winners of that award,” Pace said. “We’re not that large, but I guess we’re unique enough.”

R&D

Pace said the business started as a side project to his family’s material supply company, Mitchell, Pace & Associates.

“Our family’s been in business in the Milwaukee area since 1939 and there’s no way we were going to jeopardize that history by selling a product that is causing problems,” Pace said. “There are a lot of companies that do things based on how it effects the environment, the ozone layer, global warming and all that. We come from a different angle – it’s got to be safer for the occupants.”

Pace recently collaborated with Jill Salisbury, a Chicago furniture designer that specializes in “eco-chic” furniture, to create a line of cabinets that are “human and environmentally friendly,” he said.

The el:Kitchen cabinet line is made with formaldehyde-free plywood and finishes are low-toxin so they don’t outgas, contributing to more healthful indoor air quality, Pace said.

“The furniture itself is made out of completely renewable, non-toxic materials, yet has a very, very high-end style,” Pace said. “There’s only one other company in the country that makes environmentally-friendly cabinetry and they’re out of Portland. We needed something here in the Midwest.”

Based in Town of Genesee, just outside Waukesha, Safe Building Solutions a 2007 IQ (Innovation Quotient) will be presented its award for the cabinet line at a May 2 luncheon during the Business and Technology Expo at the Wisconsin State Fair Park.

A growing industry

Pace said environmentally and human-friendly building materials were difficult to find in the mid-1990s when the Paces first started looking for them. Similar to the organic foods market however, the industry has grown “significantly” in the last 10 years, he said.

“The organic food industry has grown something like 20 percent in the last six years straight,” Pace said. “And our customers are the same customers that buy organic foods.”

Many of Safe Building Solution’s customers are also chemically sensitive and some even suffer from a disease known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, he said.

“Still, over 50 percent of our customer base are like me,” Pace said. “They just realized there’s something safer out there, so why not use it.”

Laura Finses, manager at Jensen Health and Energy Center in Elm Grove, Wis., said many of the business’s patients suffer from allergies.

The company decided to use materials from Safe Building Solutions when they decided to build a new location in February of last year, she said.

“We had the opportunity to build the building of our dreams so we figured, why not use better materials,” Finses said. “With the products from Safe Building Solutions, we’ve had no issues.”

Several of the center’s clients have started using Safe Building Solutions products in their own homes as well, she said.

“They have great products,” Finses said. “Our flooring is from them, among other things, and it is just beautiful. And better for our patients.”

Maintaining style

Offering products that are environmentally friendly, yet still fashionable, is one of Safe Building Solution’s goals with the new cabinet line, Pace said.

“When people think of green buildings or environmental buildings, a lot of people think of straw bale homes and mud floors,” he said. “What we want to show you is, you can build green, you can build healthy, but do it in a stylish manner so that your home has massive curb appeal.”

(Waukesha Freeman reporter Caley Meals can be reached at cmeals@conleynet.com. Originally published March 28, 2007, Waukesha Freeman, Waukesha Wis., www.gmtoday.com)

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