There many never be a better time to get into green building than right now, particularly as a way to hedge your business against the slowing housing market.

“There is no slow down for my company,” says Matt Belcher of Belcher Homes in St. Louis. “Last year we did 15 green homes, and this next year we’ll do 25. I don’t build anything but green homes.”

Belcher says that a confluence of green products, how-to-build-green information, and customers easily sold on the concept have greatly reduced the obstacles builders used to face in getting started. By using the resources now readily available from nation and local home builders associations and other organizations, any builder can establish an individual plan to go green and execute it.

Emily English, director of the National Association of Home Builders’ Green Building Program, says the NAHB’s green Green Building Guidelines publication lays it all out in phased steps.

Step-By-Step Break Down

“There is a learning curve to switching to green practices,” says Emily. “So we have different thresholds of building green, starting with bronze, then silver and gold. The first part of the Guidelines is a checklist for what level of green you are building to. The second part of the Guidelines is how to do it, and a source of resources.”

The process of going green is broken into seven guiding principles (Resource Efficiency, Lot Design, Preparation, and Development, etc.) which each specific element in a principle section given a numerical value. By adopting elements from each of the seven sections into your building program, you move into green building step by step.

“Its easier to go green this year than it was last year,” says Belcher, who will chair the NAHB Green Building Conference March 25-27, 2007 in St. Louis. “There is so much more information out there. Our local HBA of Greater St. Louis and Easter Missouri just adopted the NAHB’s Guidelines. We tweak them for our area, but there isn’t much tweaking needed.

“On the product side, all the manufactures of building components saw the writing on the wall, Belcher adds. “Green products are about all they’re pushing.”

Selling the Green Bling

Belcher said the two largest potential stumbling blocks to going green have been selling the green concept to dubious customers and turning concepts into practice on the job site. Although these are the most crucial aspects a builder needs to get right when switching over to green practices, Belcher doesn’t view them as obstacles any longer.

“I sell the customers with what I call ‘green bling.’ I tell them about things like photovoltaic, structural insulated panels, and the fact that lenders are raising the value of green homes by as much as 18%,” says Belcher. “And when I tell them we are going to build a 3,500 square-foot home and their electric bill won’t be more than $125 a month, it gets them going pretty quick.”

English and Belcher offer a couple of tips for builders to keep in mind as they go green:

• Getting the trades on board was more of an issue in the past than it is today, as the green trend generates infomation, products, workshops and buzz. Still, English says, builders switching to green should plan on spending extra time training the trades and supervising crews on site.

• Belcher advises builders to tell their trade contractors from the very start exactly what they are doing -and why. “These guys pride themselves on being craftsmen, and they appreciate being involved in these advanced building techniques.”

“I can say that using the Green Building Guidelines has improved my bottom line dramatically. I am not wasting a thing,” says Belcher. “After my first few green houses, I was thinking. ‘Why haven’t I been doing this all along?’”

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