sustainability in our business

We try very hard to make our life choices as sustainable as possible, and that applies to our business as well. Some of green things we do that you wouldn't necessarily notice are:

• Rob’s 2022 Ford Transit is all electric

• Dina rides an electric bike and drives an electric car

• we use Seventh Generation Disinfecting Multi-Surface Cleaner and/or Microbalance EC3 to kill COVID-19, mold, and other bacteria

• interior paints and coatings are no VOC (volatile organic compounds) first, low VOC second

• our cabinet line is domestic and Canadian sourced, with CARB Phase 2/TSCA Title VI compliant box work materials

• our eco-friendly sealants and glues are excellent performers

• metal and cardboard waste is separated and recycled

• clean, non-treated wood scrap is reused as firewood

• reusable items are donated to Re-Store or "free stuff" on Craigslist

• we use recycled content office supplies, Energy Star office equipment, and rechargeable batteries in our tools

• our home office is partially supplied by solar panels

• we source locally- and regionally-produced services and products as often as possible

• our self-imposed continuing education program keeps us up to date on code requirements, new products, best practices, improved building methods, sustainability standards, etc.

• our subcontractors, and most of our suppliers, are local, small businesses

sustainability in our home

We sincerely try as best we can to walk-the-walk at home as well:

• In 2016 we installed seven solar panels on our roof and generate on average 1.8 mega-watt hours per year

• In 2008 we sold our clothes dryer so we line-dry always

• All new light bulbs are LED

• We use four 55 gallon rain barrels to water our garden, and to wash our bikes

• We grow the majority of our vegetables in 216 square feet of raised garden beds during the growing season; we try to buy the rest at the Westside Community Market or the Willy Street Coop

• We use rain gardens to limit water run off during rain storms

• Most of our yard is covered with permeable, non-grass, native perennials. We are replacing whatever “lawn” we have left with no-mow grass.

• We compost all our fruit and vegetable scraps and recycle our plastics

• We reuse plastic vegetable bags until they begin to degrade and use cloth bags

• We eat organic fruits and vegetables; free-range, grass-fed meats; and wild-caught fish, exclusively

• Our house is well-insulated and tight, faces southwest to take advantage of solar heating gains in winter, and well-shaded in summer

• Our toilet is WaterSense rated low-flow at 1 gallon per flush

• Our kitchen, bath and shower faucets are low-flow

• All our appliances are Energy-Star rated or use much less electricity than normal models because they are so small (our 24 inch wide refrigerator, for example).

• We live in a small, some would say tiny, house that is 740 sf.

Please let us know if there is something you are doing that we should be doing!