10 Years in the Making: The History of Green Home
In April 2001, then Union carpenter Brian Higgins was looking for work after a recent layoff. He got a call from property owner Jay Endelman, who needed some work done on a University Park house to put it on the rental market. Mr. Higgins was already enrolled in the Prince George's Community College Construction management courses because he was planning, at some time in the future, to "go out on his own" and start his own construction company.
"I was tired of working for others, and the Union in particular, and I wanted to do residential work. I really wanted to build houses. I tried to get the Union interested in that. I volunteered to go work as an organizer on residential projects, but they wouldn't have any of that."
Earlier in the year, during February and March of 2001, Mr. Higgins worked for Davis Construction installing aluminum door frames in office buildings. "We installed almost the exact same frame for every opening, for 6 weeks straight, including Saturdays and Sundays. I think the repetition just drove me crazy and I allowed myself to get into an argument with the foreman, and the next day they let me go."
"Then, when I started working for Jay, I felt like this was a new beginning, even if it was not how I had planned it. One thing I noticed right away was the variety of work available to me in remodeling. In the morning I could be mixing up concrete and after lunch, I started doing exterior trim work. On big commercial or government jobs in the Union, you were given only one kind of work, you'd have to change jobs if you wanted to do something else."
"In the beginning, almost all I had was a tool belt and a few power tools. I worked out of our little red Honda civic, which we still have. I kept books by hand, with a pencil, in a very simple home office. There was no advertising, all projects came through referrals."
"Eventually I hooked up with Tony Belanger's Bunker Hill Group and we did several jobs together, including Island Jim's and Colonel Brooks Tavern in Brookside."
In 2006, the company name and focus was changed. Green Home, LLC was born, allowing Mr. Higgins to blend his concern for the environment with his love and dedication to the craft of carpentry with home improvement.
"I have been a tree hugger from a long way back. But one day in 2005, while talking with a friend about jobs versus environment, I realized something which seems very simple now: if a budget were developed for environmental, earth-friendly concerns, then it would be easy to include them in a renovation project. They wouldn't be seen as an extra costs, if they cost more, because they had already been planned for from the start."
"The first project we did was my own house, according to the Arlington County Green Home Choice Guidelines. It was a partial renovation, which included new roof, some windows, new flooring, painting, day lighting and solar heating, and it gave us a chance to seal up the building envelope, which really improved the energy efficiency of our house."
Mr. Higgins' home has been on the National Solar Tour, the Takoma Park Solar Tour, and the Mount Rainier Tour of Interesting Homes.
In 2006, Green Home forged a relationship with the Community Forklift, renting storage space from them, and the Green Home office is now located in their building.
"We have since done several large projects, and numerous smaller ones, into which we put as much green material and practices as possible. In 2008 we built an addition which was a free-standing structure, with an enclosed causeway between the structure and the house."
Green Home now focuses on appropriate sized additions and whole house renovation work, as well as solar heating. "I wouldn't want to get involved in a 'McMansion' type project. It is best to weatherize and renovate your existing space before adding new square footage, especially if it involves new foundation work."
Looking to the future, despite the dim economy, Mr. Higgins sees real growth opportunities for his company. "We are currently restructuring after the tough years of 2009 and 2010. We have a LOC from M&T Bank, and with the budgeting and planning, we are applying marketing tactics in a systematic way."
"The management structure of Green is also changing, allowing me to focus on sales and outreach, which will encourage more efficient operations and improve customer satisfaction."
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