Going for the gold by going green

IfZELLIE Suplicki has to stoP and -[\think for a moment when Pressed for her official title at Chace Building Supply of Connecticut.

With a peek at her business card for affirmation, she confirms that she's the firm's kitchen & bath consultant. But "our green guru" is what everybody actuallY calls her-a moniker that better reflects both her on-the-job role and her personal passion.

When she was hired a Year ago, she came with a master's degree in interior design enriched with sustainability courses. "Those really opened my eyes-changed mY life," she

By Carla Waldemar

attests. "I came to realize how important it was going to be to conserve more and design properlY."

Six months into the job, after raising the topic of "green" at every opportunity, her boss, Ron Tetranult, v.p.-sales, marketing & new business development, a firm believer, too, said, "Go for it."

"We formed a green committee to look at how to Practice what we preach and make Chace a green company," Kellie recounts. "We want to find better ways to Promote green products. We included a couple of our contractor customers on the committee because their input is very impor- tant, and they were very interested in learning more. EventuallY, we'll include community representatives. too," she says.

The biggest challenge, she believes, is one that's part and parcel of the building trade-the waste created by construction and demolition, which overwhelms landfills, "so we were looking at more resPonsible ways to sell and dispose of products."

(The dumpster is her Personal enemy.) FortunatelY, "We found a local trash company that recycles, and we refer him to our contractors, too."

However, screening green Products is like aiming at a moving target. "Evaluating claims is a work in progress for us," Kellie states, "with so many new products, new fads. We need to research items thoroughly so as not to fall for greenwashing, and we're working toward it, toward being comprehensive in our offerings before we go after a widesPread change in our image."

To market Chace as a green company is the goal, for both sociallYconscious and business reasons. But truth in advertising must come first' "Right now, the Paint dePartment is our most green dePartment," she explains. "We carry Benjamin Moore's Mythic, with zero VOC, and Aura, their low-VOC brand, and we're the only ones in 40 miles to do so. People are driving over an hour to buy them. so the message is getting out.

"Paint," she declares, "is a cheaP [green] fix." With new home con- struction taking a hit, as it has across the nation, Chace has positioned itself as the remodeler's choice-and paint plays a big role.

So does Kellie's domain, the kitchen & bath department-"and those customers are very interested in going green-everything from cabinets and countertops to plumbing and energy-efficient appliances," she finds.

Founder Scott Chace also owns a nearby appliance store to which she refers customers for items she promotes as "really sustainable, with the least impact on the environment."

The company's window & door showrooms provide solutions for the many folks eager to cut energy costs (though Kellie, eyes open, remains fully aware of the tradeoffs on the wood vs. vinyl issue). When it comes to siding, however, "we're lollygagging," she allows. "It's a big challenge." And the price for asphalt shingles has (excuse us) gone through the roof.

Kitchen and bath renovations, Kellie's specialty, are a much easier sell. "Kitchen and bath remodelins provides the best return for thi remodeling dollar for consumers, and they can earn tax credits for green choices, so I instruct our employees who do bids and estimates to point that out," she says.

Chace itself earned tax credits for installing solar heating panels in its main Woodstock location and will follow up in the Willington and Plainfield stores as soon as budgeting allows.

Homeowners are welcome to wander through Chace's K&B showrooms. "I'm here as the point person if they want to go green," Kellie adds. As well as energy-efficient appliances, she strives to interest consumers in everything from green flooring and cabinetry to countertops, including her personal favorite line, Ice Store, a product composed of concrete and recycled glass. "Absolutely gorgeous!" she declares. "And it's one of our 'cradle-to-cradle' products, meaning it's made green, and then at the end of its life it can be recycled."

Even better, Kellie believes, is having homeowners explore the showrooms in tandem with their contractors "for the collaborative effect; two heads are better than one." Chace's Contractor College is another avenue in which to retrain builders to use less material. (Classes for homeowners, too, are in the pipeline.)

Plus, says Kellie, "my boss, Ron, is a a huge networker, and he plugs the pros on this aspect. In fact, one of our contractors is building an entire small development with geothermal heating and the greenest products. It's fabulous, and so is the domino effect !"

The company's employees (whose numbers have mushroomed from four when the firm debuted in 1992 to close to 90 presently) receive green education, too. "Ron and I are attending classes to become green-certified professionals; I'm also taking a class in sustainable design. Plus, to become a certified green dealer-an accreditation we want to use in our marketing and advertising-757o of staff needs to complete green course work."

Internally, Chace makes it a priority to walk the talk. An easy first step was becoming paper-free. (Waste baskets are being removed to drive home the message.) Departmental meetings involving the three locations have become electronic or telephonic, too, to save on both gas and travel time. And outside salespeople now drive cars rather than trucks, a savings of about 20 mpg. Kellie herself confers with remodeling clients via telephone "if a single measurement is all they need, rather than drive over and do it myself.

"We've even found a PVC piping firm that will take back and recycle product," she announces proudly. Employees' food scraps also find their way to the recycling bin, to serve as compost for the community garden that Chace is installing on two acres bordering the Woodstock store. "This part of northern Connecticut is still one of the prettiest and most pristine places around, and people living here are passionate about keeping it that way, so we make ourselves available to them," she explains. "We'll run classes [on green remodeling] for them during winter and spring."

Was establishing Chace as the goto store for living green a wise choice? "It's going to happen anyway sooner or later [regarding regulationsl. The process has been slower here than I'd hoped," she concedes to life in real time, "because we wanr ro do it right, do it best-not just market it and then get shot in the foot."

Not only was it the right thing to do "because Chace cares about the people working for them and their community, so this shows we care, but it was a good business decision, too, and will benefit us in the end," she's convinced. "This is a highly profitable area, the wave of the future. If we can get there first, we'll be known for that."

Bottom line: "It'll give us a great competitive advantage"-otherwise known as win-win.

- A former award-winning LBM trade magaline editor, Carla Waldemar writes frequently on the industry. Contact her at cwaldemar@ comcast .net