Marketing Advice for a Green Builder
My name is Nick Aiello-Popeo; I’m a homebuilder in Conway, New Hampshire (Zone 6). I started my company, Efficient Building, three years ago and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the demand for remodels and additions – it’s kept my crew and me very busy.
However, my real passion is for high performance building techniques. I am trying to find customers for whom performance would be a focus, rather than an afterthought.
For three years I have never advertised, and I have very little web presence. Now that I’m beginning to work with a web designer, I’m interested in hearing what sort of information a consumer might find useful when searching for a likeminded builder.
I’d be very grateful for anyone’s thoughts on how I could put my best foot forward when seeking out performance-focused clients.
Photos:
-Site-built gable vent reproducing the original antique.
-Installing recycled exterior foam during the renovation of timber frame.
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Replies
Emphasize comfort, not economy. A lot of people associate energy savings with scrimping. A well-built house is just more comfortable -- it's consistently warm in the winter with no drafts and no cold spots, it's quieter, it's cleaner, the humidity is consistently comfortable. That it saves you money is a bonus.
The sad reality is people who have money to spend on custom new construction aren't really going to care a whole lot about operating costs. Some will have an intellectual attachment to being efficient -- but only if they don't have to sacrifice anything else.
For the average consumer who may not be educated on construction techniques, emphasize comfort and life cycle cost savings.
If your market even slightly resembles other markets, there is an enormous unmet demand for contractors who can do residential work for commercial design, construction and real estate professionals. Those are customers who know what they want, realize the value, usually have the means to pay for it, and who can feed you many repeat clients, both from within their industry and through their personal networks (since people think of them as construction experts and often ask for recommendations). I cannot count the number of conversations among such professionals asking each other for recommendations and only getting a list of whom to avoid. The rare times people recommend a GC or a sub, it is a GC or sub who just happens to have a significant portion of their work that comes from this group.
The challenge with this group is that they may often know more about portions of the process than you and your subs, and you have to be willing to listen, learn, consider and usually implement. You need to be familiar with commercial contracting practices, because that is their starting point. In large commercial cost + (with or without GMP) projects, the contractor never spends the owner's money without both the owners approval, and involvement in the details of the process. If you are doing something complex, mock ups and shop drawings are standard. The closer you can get to using similar processes, the more successful you will be with this group. You should also be familiar with commercial construction practices, and be willing to implement some of them in residential. This is a group that understands quality, recognizes it, and is willing to pay for it. It is also a group you cannot bs; the companies whose green building "expertise" is more marketing than doing will not get recommendations from these clients. So there is a higher bar, working with them requires more communication, and more administration. However, once you get some successful projects in your portfolio, you will probably easily get to the point of being able to select which projects you do due to the word of mouth referrals.
I would start to network with such professionals, and do what you can to get a few such projects. Over deliver on those and let that be your marketing.
Thank you both for this excellent information. I really appreciate your time and thoughtfulness.
If anyone reading this happens to be a home owner who has dealt with contractors before, I'd be equally grateful to hear about how those relationships worked (or didn't).
Thanks again!
You may want to get on YouTube and study Matt Risinger Marketing plan for his contracting business. To my eye it seems the homes Matt builds builds are the highest of the high end homes and the money he puts into efficiency ends up as tiny percentage of the jobs cost.
https://www.youtube.com/@buildshow
Walta
As a Real Estate Broker and NAR GREEN Instructor I would recommend searching for GREEN designated Realtors in your area who would be able to sell all the benefits of your high performance building. As others have stated emphasizing comfort is the way to go and also include better health due to better IAQ. GREEN Realtors would also be able to accent the premium and speed of selling a high performance home. I sold my last remodeled 1950’s HP ranch in 2 days for a 6% premium over comparable properties.
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A few suggestions:
Hire HELM (https://buildhelm.com/). They provide a wide range of support services for green builders and designers, including helping with marketing. Their headquarters are in VT but they work in other areas as well.
Hire Energy Circle (https://www.energycircle.com/). They are experts in providing marketing services to weatherization professionals and green builders and designers.
Join a NESEA Bottom Lines peer coaching group: https://nesea.org/buildingenergy-bottom-lines. All of the member companies are in the northeast US and each group has one or two skilled facilitators. It's a great way to learn, and also to network.
Join or start a BS+Beer groups. This one is run by friends (and fellow Bottom Lines members) not far from you: https://www.instagram.com/bs_and_beer_uv/. It's another great way to learn, share and build a local network. If you want to start your own group, start here: https://youtu.be/ubBmo0VVBbc.
I would suggest diversification of some type. Don't put your entire effort into green building, put some time and energy into something else you like to do. Having been involved in energy efficient building since the early 1980's I can say it has been slow to evolve. Don't regret my effort over the years as I have made many good friends along the way. Fortunately for me I diversified 30 years ago and now have something outside of the building realm that is enjoyable.
Doug
I recently went through, or am still going through, the process of looking for builders versed in the techniques describe on GBA.
Here are some of the places I searched;
- Basic google search "green builders near me"
- Various certification directories (Leed, energy star, passive house, and local / state level green building organizations).
- GBA directory of consultants / builders
- Looked for passive house or similar projects featured in different articles, found out who the architect was, then looked through the architect's portfolios to see if they listed the builders they used. For some reason it is quite easy to find the architect, harder to find the builder, and impossible to find the sub-contractors involved in this line of work.
- Looked for any builders in my local area that were featured in any net zero / passive house / leed platinum type builds on YouTube or were mention in local news articles I could find online.
The builder who I have spent the majority of my time talking with has an extensive portfolio of successful projects, a decent website with a a portfolio full of passive house / net zero / negative HERS builds. They have been involved in this type of building for at least 30 years, have several YouTube videos / interviews that I could find discussing building science topics, and I suspect they are the most qualified in my area.
Another builder I met with was not so visible, a friend of a friend. I asked them fairly pointed questions about their history with building science concepts, HERS ratings, blower door tests, energy star certified builds, etc. I got some disappointing feedback such as "we have used zip-R and spray foam on high performance builds before".
If you wanted to do some type of targeted advertising on facebook or similar I would look for people who follow passive house type groups and are technically trained (engineer / architect types).
Edit: also highly recommend you have a page on your website dedicated to high performance building where you talk about the science, details that are important to you, and showcase any high performance projects you complete, including any stats like blower doors, HERS, etc.
I was in the same boat fifteen years ago in central NH; some knowledge, not quite enough. Then I took the Passive House course, learned more about how house worked than I had in thirty five years, and decided to build only what I call "net zero ready" or as the Mainer's say, Pretty Good House. It's been great. I build the houses I love and everyone is delighted. Plus there is very little competition! Problem now is that I want to step back, but I get tons of calls from all over the state, and I can't help the vast majority. First, understand the science!! then advertise and you'll be swamped! Demand for NZR, or PGH is off the charts, but clients need to know that you understand the science. Spend the time, and money, do this and you won't have time to look back. People want All Electric Houses, fresh air ventilation, COMFORT! Help us & help yourself! PS: Mike's ideas are great; participate in their meetings if at all possible.
Firstly, building a strong online presence is crucial in today's digital age. When working with your web designer, make sure to highlight your expertise in high-performance building techniques. Create a smm panel with best support https://nlosmm.com/ that showcases your previous projects, emphasizing the energy efficiency and sustainability aspects. Include testimonials from satisfied clients who appreciated your focus on performance. In terms of marketing, consider utilizing social media platforms. They can be powerful tools to reach your target audience.
There is a lot of great information above. I would also say, as an architect, find out what architects in your region are doing the sort of work you would like to do and approach them. As an architect, when I need to find a suitable builder in an area that I am unfamiliar with I hit the NESEA listing first. Then put it out on social media and GBA (as you just did) I really good website goes a long way as well. Show off your stuff and show off your smarts and show off your personality!
Two NESEA folks have pointed out excellent reasons to belong. to NESEA. I'll add that they have one of the best high performance conferences in the country , with lots of seminars, and endless opportunities to network with high performance builders. Usually in March. There is another in Burlington, Vermont; used to be February, now April. That one is Better Buildings By Design, sponsored but Efficiency Vermont. Join the hundreds of high performance builders in the Northeast!! They do cost money and take time, but are more than worth it.
When building an online presence, start with showcasing your projects and elaborating on the techniques you use. Real-time or time-lapse videos of your work, from start to finish, can also be captivating. This would give potential clients a clear picture of the dedication and skill that goes into your builds.
You can begin with social media marketing to create brand awareness and gain new customers. Focus on Instagram and Facebook, which are great for showcasing your work + for your niche, these are suitable ones to find more customers. You can use the tool from https://poweradspy.com/ to look into what your competitors are doing online. It can help you see their strategies, allowing you to copy them or tweak yours for better reach and engagement.
Nick,
I am a volunteer SCORE mentor in my spare time. Start with an understanding of your business plan and your marketing plan will naturally fall out of it. I'm not talking about those 30 section, 100 page templates on how to write a business plan you see online. Those things are overly complex and not useful for most small businesses.
Understand what you do for your customers and keep the answers to three questions in mind:
1. What is the benefit you are providing or the problem you are solving your customer? (Hint: it's from the customer's perspective, not what you do. Common mistake is many small businesses describe what they do, not why people seek what they do.)
2. Who is your target customer?
3. Why would they chose you over every other alternative they have?
The answers to these are all linked together. Once you are grounded in your business plan, your can develop your marketing plan from it by marketing through channels that your target market values and with the appropriate messages about your benefit and why you.
Your business plan is also your foundation to look at adjacent growth areas for expansion and also to change course if things don't go as planned.
If you haven't got one, you may be interested in getting yourself a SCORE mentor (it's free) or taking some webinars from them. It's a non-profit partner organization of the SBA comprised mostly of volunteers with a goal of helping small business. I hope the plug for SCORE doesn't break any site rules. It's a government resource for small business, not a private for profit entity.
https://www.score.org/
It's awesome to hear about your passion for high-performance building techniques.