Building materials supplier seeing ‘green’

Company finds increased demand
for healthier, eco-friendly products

By Daniel Kurt

The Freeman, Waukesha, Wis.

June 29, 2007

WAUKESHA, Wis. – Andy Pace was selling traditional construction materials to Midwestern retailers in the early 1990s, when a seemingly routine project turned his entire company around.

Pace's family business was supplying a coating system for an underground parking structure, but those applying the product became violently ill and were rushed to the hospital.

"Why would we want to risk business by selling dangerous products?" Pace recalls thinking.

The Waukesha company reorganized itself with a new name, Safe Building Solutions, and a new product: "green" home improvement materials.

The firm found a small company in California, AFM Safecoat, that specialized in eco-friendly, nontoxic paints and soon began selling them as their flagship product.

Being nontoxic distinguishes these paints from those that only claim being free of VOCs, volatile organic compounds that contribute to low-level smog.

"What good is saving the environment if you're killing the occupants?" Pace said.

Safe Building Solutions is riding a wave of demand for environmentally and health-conscious building materials around the country.

A recent survey of home builders by McGraw-Hill Construction indicates that up to 10 percent of homes built in 2010 are expected to be green, as opposed to 2 percent of residential projects last year.

Whereas growth rates in overall building have been in the low single digits, green building has grown by a robust 30 percent each year, Pace said.

That strong demand has motivated him to add new eco-friendly home improvement products to his offerings, from all-natural linoleum flooring to countertops made from compressed recycled paper.

While the cost of green products is sometimes a concern for consumers, Pace said his products are comparably priced to high-end, traditional home product lines. He’s also quick to point out his materials are more durable than competing products on the market.

The increased resilience of green products is one of the reasons why their integration into the construction industry has grown, said J. Scott Mathie, director of government affairs with the Metropolitan Builders Association.

“Early on when they came out, people couldn’t rely on them and that’s starting to change as they get tested,” he said.

In addition to the recycled products that have become popular among builders, Mathie said traditional paint companies are coming up with “green” offerings.

“I think many people feel that, if you can (use green natural products), you do,” he said. “If it’s feasible, why not?”

(Freeman reporter Daniel Kurt can be reached at dkurt@conleynet.com. Originally published June 30, 2007, The Freeman, Waukesha, Wis., www.gmtoday.com.)

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