For business professionals who are looking to establish themselves in the green home building industry, delivering green products to the marketplace won’t be enough, according to speakers at the May 16-18 NAHB National Green Building Conference in Raleigh, N.C.

Companies who bill themselves as green builders can expect to be scrutinized by the public for assurances that their operations embrace the same principles of sustainability that are represented by their homes.

“Green goes beyond the product offering,” said Tim Costello, chairman, president and CEO of Builder Homesite. “The purveyor of goods and services needs to be consistent with those goods and services. Builders need a congruent message. There is more that green building companies can do than build green homes,” he said.

If builders don’t practice what they preach, “consumers will see the disparity,” Costello said. “Think about your construction activities, the services you use, your office and showroom practices. You have to think green internally so you will be a role model for the industry.”

In a keynote address to the conference, John Replogle, president and CEO of Burt’s Bees, described the steps his company took to entirely eliminate waste from its offices and manufacturing facilities in an ongoing effort “to be the greatest personal care product company on earth.”

Despite a 30% surge in its business growth in the 18 months between January 2007 and June 2008, Burt’s Bees was able to reduce the waste it was having hauled off to the landfill by 85% — from about 30 tons a month to five tons.

“We made it happen by including everyone (in the company) and making dumpster diving a sport,” he said.

To eliminate the remaining waste, the office was closed for a “Dumpster Day” afternoon that started with a free lunch and continued with every Burt’s Bees employee sorting the trash into three categories: items that were recycled, those that should be recycled and those that were truly trash.

Today, the real trash that was found in the dumpster is composted, he said, “and we are a manufacturer who sends not a single ounce of waste to the landfill.” As a result, waste has gone “from a cost center to a profit center” and “it’s a story I can sell.”

In its efforts to create “a sustainable business model,” the company occupies space that is LEED-certified; makes a product that is 100% natural, with recyclable packaging; uses 100% renewable energy and has reduced its energy consumption by 40%; has cut the use of water not going into its products in half; and is working with Habitat for Humanity to produce affordable green housing for the local community that can hold utility costs to as low as an average of $26 a month.

“This is what we’re doing for people and the planet,” he said, and it’s also adding to the company’s bottom line.

Replogle advised builders to make sure their “words and actions match.” This is conducive to “building trust, which is the definition of a brand: communication between you and the customer.”

With concerns over personal and environmental health becoming more deeply rooted in the lifestyles of consumers, now is an optimal time for builders to go green, he said.

There will be “winners and losers,” he said, “but those who are more efficient with resources will gain.” He added that, “We are now in a conserve-cash mode, but now is the time to prepare for what’s coming next.”

Builders were told to take a “systemic approach” in recasting their companies and to look for opportunities where there is a market imbalance. For instance, an estimated 30% of prospective buyers may be in search of a green home, but only 2% of the housing stock is green .

“Improve quality to differentiate product,” Replogle said, and be aware that “people are buying on benefits, not just price.” Also, improving the use of construction science can reduce waste, materials costs and even marketing costs. “The green consumer is your marketing evangelist,” and with good word-of-mouth in play, builders, like Burt’s Bees, can spend half of what their competitors spend on marketing.

Replogle also recommended rethinking ways to restore existing structures as an alternative to demolishing them.

“The healthy home environment is one of the emerging trends for where the green consumer is going next,” he said. Roughly 20% to 30% of the U.S. population can be considered green consumers, and they tend to be located more along the coasts and around major cities. “The penetration is not as deep in the center of the country, but it’s coming,” he predicted.

And green consumers are well worth pursuing, in his estimation, because they tend to be better educated, research what’s on the market and are more affluent, highly loyal and less price-sensitive. They are ringing up $200 billion worth of goods annually, $50 billion of that related to green building.

For information about green resources available from NAHB, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.

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