Second Life

We are traveling to New Orleans to teach 2,400 people about building deconstruction!  They are all going to get a chance to swing a hammer and pull some nails from the 6 buildings we will deconstruct over 6 days.  This could be a great boost for the deconstruction and building material reuse industry!  Anyone know where I can get 400 prybars?
  
4-29-12 Reuse News:

1. Our Bicycle Program is now called 'Completing the Cycle' -

We just completed our 10th consulting trip where we replaced a rental car with a bicycle while consulting for a client.  The bike was donated to Calvin, an inner-city high school student who, among other cool things, created an urban garden next to his home to grow veggies to help feed his family.  Nice job Calvin,
you deserve that bike!

2. Another 10 structures worked on - They were deconstructed and salvaged over the last 6 weeks with dozens of tons diverted from the landfill.  Almost all of them included training others to continue the fight after we left town.

3. New Reuse Stores - We are very excited to be working with two groups planning brand new stores selling reclaimed building materials!  The green-collar jobs are adding up!

4. New RE-USE pics -


  
Attic decon-----Full Decon-----Owl's-eye view
 
Decon doll house----Holton Center Bike donation


Abandoned/vacant home treasure reclaimed


Bike Donation to Calvin!

3-17-12 Local business 1, Rental car co. 0
This is our version of March Madness!  We are buying a bicycle instead of renting a car on next week's consulting job.  After the job is over, we will donate the bike to our client's favorite charity or a local family in need.  Which bike will we buy??  Find out Monday. 



2 - 14 -12 Second Hand Shrubs

2-13-12 NW Flower and Garden Show

       

2012 NW Flower and Garden Show - Our team (www.

2-8-12 NW Flower and Garden Show

1-15-12 Best of 2011:

BEST OF 2011
Hello all and Happy New Year!

RE-USE Consulting had a great year in 2011 and we hope you did as well.

*Here was our year by the numbers:*
9,000,000+: The approximate population of Cook County, IL where we did a lot of training
and deconstruction was a priority for the Dept. of Environment in 2011
175,000: Number of work hours planned for the City of Chicago's decon
training program - RE-USE designed/manage it and wrapped up our work in 2011
42,500: The size (sq. ft.) of the largest building we helped deconstruct this year
10,000: The approximate number of volunteer hours Lou, the Board, and volunteers of the Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse have put into starting that non-profit in 2011
400: Buildings surveyed for deconstruction potential/studies/salvage/etc.
130+: Green-collar workers trained using our Deconstruction 101 training
curriculum or in hybrid deconstruction techniques
41: The number of States we have consulted in (and 3 Provinces)
26: Buildings deconstructed (16 others salvaged)
8: New deconstruction companies started (2 stores opened)
2: Cool jobsites in King County, WA- one a house to deconstruct, the other a County Park using excess shipping containers and salvaged materials from the house to create park cabins
________________________________________________________________
1 mission - To make building deconstruction a mainstream choice for building
removal and to ‘Build Up An Industry That Takes Down Buildings’


*Best of 2011: RE-USE Consulting's top 10 highlights:*

1. Taking down a 12,500 sq. ft. building with my son
2. Scooter practice in the alley behind Sarasota Architectural Salvage
(first time ever riding prior to the 2011 mile journey across 15 States visiting RE-USE clients)
3. Getting to meet and talk to all of my students in 2011!
4. Helping with the crane work at Reuse Action’s 4 story factory building
5. Buying a bicycle instead of renting a rental car for out-of-state consulting work
6. Arriving at the Decon ’11 conference 15 minutes late after riding a scooter 2011 miles to get there
7. Co-hosting the Chicagoland Deconstruction Networking Event
8. Going to the City of Niagara Falls and NOT visiting/seeing the waterfalls. (Still rethinking that one)
9. Couch surfing for 2.5 weeks to save clients money (and getting home-cooked
meals for my trouble!)
10. Meeting with and talking deconstruction with Senator Maria Cantwell

*Other news from 2011:*
-Reuse/decon article in the national magazine, Qualified Remodeler
-Interviewed by NBC Chicago in front of their downtown studios on America Recycles Day
-Interviewed by BBC Radio – London
-Home town went 228 days in a row with temps under 70 degrees
-Hometown paper published a nice article about RE-USE Consulting
-Said good-bye to the Reuse Center in MN.
-Said hello to the Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse

Thanks to everyone who contributed to our great year. We feel like we are
moving the deconstruction industry in the right direction and can't wait to help
start North America's largest decon company in 2012 if the funding comes through!
We are really excited about our upcoming training operations in Canada and look
forward to a new set of challenges related to those projects. If times are tough for you right
now, hold on and let us know what is up and how we can help. Hope you will all ‘like’ our
Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Re-Use-Consulting/168260119870367.




12-11-11 National Magazine features RE-USE

RE-USE was featured in an article in the national magazine, Qualified Remodeler (click here)
Interested in training or finding out more about our reusable building materials industry? Just pick up the phone and give us a call at
360.201-6977


11-11-11
RE-USE turns down rental car from client, buys bicycle instead, then donates it to a family in need
click HERE for details

11-8-11
4-Story building deconstructed with Reuse Action
Fortunately, the $1000/day crane was barely able to reach!  On to the next job, a....two-car garage!



1-1-11
ATTENTION All Green Builders:
Please, stop gluing buildings together and using spray foam insulation that cannot be removed!  You are designing waste into your structures.  You are eliminating future jobs and subsidizing the landfill!


10-10-11
300 buildings assessed for deconstruction in the last 30 days
We were hired to assess 300 buildings for deconstruction and found that some would be worth it and some would not.  We determined that not every building in the world should be deconstructed.  There, I said it, ok?  We need to use our limited deconstruction crews to focus on the better buildings and better materials... 

9-12-11
Creating more reuse jobs
We just hired two new reuse workers for our client's new reuse business!  That felt good...

8-29-11
Hybrid Deconstruction Lab
Occasionally, we put ourselves in a difficult situation with a plan of fighting our way out of it.  Our August building, a 12,500 sq ft structure, was an example of this.  The project was taken on with only two people on the crew so that we would have to rely on our existing hybrid deconstruction techniques and create a few new ones too.  It is projects like this that move us and the reuse industry forward.   


6-3-11 BBC Radio - London
Interview with Dave Bennink, RE-USE Consulting
(While Dave was at SeaTac airport hiding in a corner from jet noise...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9peqjGvxnAE

5-30-11 RE-USE Consulting is planning regional efforts to promote building material reuse
We will launch the first of these in the Chicago area soon.  What we need are more people buying reusable materials and more people requesting deconstruction instead of settling for demolition.
IF YOU HAVE A PROJECT IN THE CHICAGOLAND AREA PLEASE CONTACT US!


5-16-11 Dave Bennink's scooter trip ends at 2000.1 miles at the Decon '11 conference in New Haven, CT.
Dave visited groups from Florida to Vermont.
We hope that we can continue to provide them assistance for their reuse efforts. Images coming soon or on Facebook:
 http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Re-Use-Consulting/168260119870367


5-11 Dave Bennink's 2000 mile scooter tour is underway! (5-5-11)
Thanks to our sponsors:
Action Wheelsports, St. Pete, FL
Sarasota Architectural Salvage, Sarasota, FL
Urban Miners, Hamden, CT
Meeting with EPA Atlanta is coming up soon...

4-11 RE-USE planning pro-bono consulting tour to help the building deconstruction industry in the Southeast and East Coast
Imagine buying a scooter over the internet, flying to Tampa to pick it up, and riding that motorcycle wannabe 2000 miles, stopping along the way to help struggling and new deconstruction and reuse businesses.  I know, time to grow up Dave - right? 

We are calling it the 'Road to Decon '11 Tour' because it begins in Sarasota, Florida, heads north to Vermont, and ends at the National Decon conference, Decon '11, in New Haven, CT.



Each group that we help along the way will be interviewed and each problem we encounter we be laid out on Facebook for your viewing enjoyment. Please follow and 'like' it by clicking the following:
 Moped Tour

3-11 RE-USE Consulting asked to speak at the national deconstruction conference
The Building Materials Reuse Assoc. is holding the Decon '11 conference on Yale's campus in May.  We are speaking and helping organize the exhibitors.  We are looking for all kinds of exhibitors, so if you are interested contact us at dave@bmra.org or check out this FLYER



 2-11 RE-USE to help the second largest County in the USA start a deconstruction program
We will be bringing a customized version of our basic training class to Cook County, IL to train and create green collar jobs for 60 individuals and contractors in the local area, helping the local group the Delta Institute complete the task.  

1-11   2011 is filling up

RE-USE Consulting will be speaking twice at the Decon '11 conference, has 12 buildings set for deconstruction, and is scheduled to train over 120 people, creating green-collar jobs across the USA and Canada.  We taught a great group of workers with barriers to employment this month where all had a work-ready attitude and graduated from the class, and we hope for the best for them as they begin to search for jobs.

12-10 What decon ever happens in December?

RE-USE Consulting helping Iowa training program get off the ground
RE-USE in Canada: Two Canadian decon pilot projects ready to start
BMRA tool expo coming to Decon '11 - contact us for details!
RE-USE starts its Rebuilt Shed Project, an effort to make
 a shed completely out of the parts from a larger building
 

11-10 New Training About to Begin
We are now working with Cook County and Delta to train contractors on deconstruction with the hope that they will hire deconstruction workers, including our Chicago Decon training program graduates! 
Best wishes to Lou Dickson at her new business, the Evanston Rebuilding Center in Evanston, IL


10-10 The Award for Greenest City in the World Goes to....?
 
RE-USE Consulting is now helping the City of Vancouver, British Columbia with their efforts to become the greenest city in the world by 2020!

9-10 Not all news is bad news
 RE-USE Consulting has been covered by a number of news networks this year including:

NPR, MSNBC, CNBC, and more!

We hope to continue to promote the building material reuse industry through opportunities like these!


See you at the Reuse Alliance's conference in October, www.reusealliance.org



8-10 One long road trip
This summer, we traveled 11 out of 12 weeks, training and taking buildings down.  We worked on 10 buildings, conducted decon studies, held meetings and made presentations in what was one of our most productive summer seasons.

7-10 RE-USE in the news
Note: We are aware that this page is way too long and a bad idea.  Please stop writing and blogging about this point.  It remains at the bottom of our do-to list.

Note: We are aware that our website has a
 'RE-USE in the News' page.  Please stop writing and/or blogging about this point.  It is important that we self-promote ourselves and yes, we do click on the links daily just to increase the hits. 
1. USA Today spells Dave Bennink's name wrong:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/home-recycling/1
2. Pop City spells Dave Bennink's name right:
http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/deconstruction061610.aspx
3. The Root covers one of our ex-offender jobs:
http://www.theroot.com/views/jobs-ex-offenders-green-economy
4. RE-USE creates job training program for City of Chicago - will employee 140 trainees and 160 overall:
http://mayor.cityofchicago.org/mayor/en/press_room/press_releases/2010/march_2010/0311_ex_offenders.html
5. RE-USE to help deconstruct building - materials to be provided to other historical presevation project :
http://everett.komonews.com/content/port-votes-deconstruct-collins-building




6-10 Top Ten Reasons To Deconstruct (in no order)

• Create jobs in your community
• Save the environment!
• Decrease imported oil - decon saves energy 
• Reduce harvesting of natural resources
• Preserve historical architectural elements
• Two words: L.E.E.D. points
• Work force development
• Helping low-income homeowners
• Ex-offenders back to work=less crime
• Deconstruct buildings, work hard, lose weight

   (http://reuseconex.org/)

and the Building Materials Reuse Association (BMRA) plan their upcoming deconstruction conference (May 2011)(http://bmra.org)

4-10 Mainstream moves
We continue to conquer different types of buildings, market and sell their materials, and create green collar jobs and benefit the community all at the same time.  Would someone please call us with an easy 100,000 sq ft warehouse?  All of these lower-value debris filled abandoned properties are tough!

 

Coming soon:
An update on the new RRP Lead Class from the EPA
An update on the new lead painted material rules.


3-10 RE-USE is on the move

RE-USE Consulting was asked to study and design and now help manage the nation's largest building deconstruction and building materials reuse training program.  We expanded on the City's original goals and now are very happy with the results.  Around one dozen reuse businesses will receive help through this program and almost 200 jobs will be created during this time.  Participants will learn about all aspects of the building material reuse industry.
  
  

1-10 RE-USE Consulting's current 14 building project was featured on Public Broadcasting television (PBS) stations in Jan 2010.  The project, the oldest underground power plant in the WORLD, is full of interesting materials that all help tell the Power Plant's story (click links): 

1-10 Thank you Buffalo Reuse, the people of Buffalo, and ABC for making Extreme Decon such a success - The two-hour episode of Extreme Home Makeover touched on building deconstruction, construction waste management, recycling, reuse, and even visited the Buffalo Reuse store!  I don't think we could have expected more. 
Here is what we have of the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99qkxd0uxLk
http://www.movieweb.com/tv/TEEMDJGLAndLIL/VIzYTFAGpMyCEA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4k_X1VuDH4&NR=1
Deconstruction works... What are you waiting for?


12-09 Nationwide audience, meet hybrid building deconstruction.  Hybrid building deconstruction, meet the nationwide audience.
January 24th is the date for EXTREME DECON - Our team's full house decon on Extreme Home Makeover (Buffalo Reuse/RE-USE Consulting)
more soon...

11-09 The Challenge
 Fully deconstruct a building in 12 hours on national television! 
Stay tuned...

And the winner is...
Buffalo Reuse and RE-USE Consulting were successful in fully deconstructing a 2700 sq ft home in 15 hours in a project that will demonstrate the benefits of deconstruction to a national audience of over 31 million viewers!  Nice job Michael Gainer and Buffalo Reuse - we were happy to help!
 

10-09 On the road again
RE-USE is on the road again after several weeks in the office.  We spoke at the GRRN conference outside of Boston and then took down two buildings (totalling 4500 sq ft) in four days, continuing our experiments in the more aggressive building harvesting techniques designed for communities with few recycling options.  We continued our trip to consult on the removal of 18 more buildings that would have to be removed in 18 calendar days! 

Below: That's not a rake, this is a rake - seeing how carefully an excavator can rake the second floor for us.

Another win-win scenario
After our team submitted the winning bid on another prevailing wage job, we suggested that we turn the project into a fund-raiser for the school district we were working for.  The contractor, Mitchell Contractors, took it one step further, donating 100% of the sales of salvaged materials to the school district to buy equipment that the school couldn't afford due to budget cuts.  The 50' long 10x10 rough sawn trusses were returned to the owner so that they could be used in a future building. 

Green-jobs created - landfill diversion - donations to a school - owner reuse - all materials kept on the Island and all within a 7 mile radius of the jobsite.
  
8-09 100 windows in one day
Dave Bennink set his personal record by removing 100 windows in one 11 hr shift.  Think that 11 hrs is unfair and it should be based on an 8 hr shift?  Too bad, didn't ask you.  It wasn't really that hard (screwed-in/double caulked vinyl replacement frame windows), but it 100 still sounds nice. 
Chicago - The Windy City

RE-USE Training: RE-USE Consulting is working with the City of Chicago to start the largest deconstruction training program in the USA.  Over 140 green collar jobs will be created and Chicago's deconstruction industry will be built up, surpassing the efforts being made in most other cities around the Country.
7-09: WHAT ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN?
We are training and promoting deconstruction nationwide.
RE-USE Consulting continues to train and consult for new deconstruction and reuse operations around the USA.  We just completed three more trainings in the last five weeks, taking down three buildings and helping with two new stores selling used building materials. 

6-09:
If you have a historical building renovation project in Snohomish County, WA and would like some materials donated, let us know asap. 

CALL SOON IF INTERESTED
   

4-09:
RE-USE Consulting was asked to speak at the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Conference in Dallas, Tx and the Building Materials Reuse Association's Conference in Chicago, IL.

We were named
    National Building Deconstructor     of the Year - 2009
by the BMRA in Chicago!

3-09:
2009 Our Deconstruction Flood Relief Was A Success!
Our clients donated (6) 26' moving vans full of building materials
to families around the Pacific Northwest and we would like
to thank them for their efforts. 
Below: flood damage pictures- ruined flooring, doors, sheetrock, etc.
     


2-09:
2009 Deconstruction Flood Relief Effort
RE-USE Consulting is working together with multiple building owners to help victims of the flooding in January 2009. 

We intend to give away all of the doors, cabinets, trusses, lumber, and lots of other materials from 7-10 deconstructed buildings.  These materials are going to worthy and qualified families, farmers, and both for-profit and non-profit businesses, primarily in King, Snohomish, and Whatcom and Skagit Counties.

If you know of someone in need, please contact us ASAP using the 'contact us' page of this website.  RE-USE would like to thank the anonymous donors that are making this possible!

 
1-09Dave Bennink of RE-USE Consulting used to co-manage two used building material stores in Western Washington.  Now he is deconstructing one of them!  The old 30,000 sq ft Sash and Door building complex in Bellingham, WA is being partially deconstructed and Bennink is pleased to be involved.  Look at those 3x14s!


12-08 We had another successful training project in Cleveland, OH.  RE-USE Consulting worked with Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland (ULOC) to take down an almost 2400 sq. ft. 2 1/2 story home.  Despite it being only there second project, it only took us 4 days to get the building down to the foundation, and about 1 1/2 days later to finish cleaning the site and to denail about 6500 board feet of lumber and flooring.
See: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/deconstruction_salvages_abando.html
 


11-08 RE-USE News...
New Page on our Site: RE-USE in the News

We are happy to report that the 2008 Great Lakes Building Reuse Conference was successful and that Buffalo Reuse and the BMRA had about 140 participants in the first year.  RE-USE Consulting's full day workshop had about 40 in attendance.  We also traveled to Cleveland and helped the local group Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland hit a home-run.  Despite many people losing interest in deconstruction in the area, we gave them a new perspective with the following:
1800 sq ft home - 2.5 stories - 4.75 crew members -
building down to foundation in 3.5 days - job complete in 5 days
If we had 6 people  (recommended for the Three-Day Decon system to work efficiently), we would have had the building down in 3 days and cleaned up/processed in 4.



10-08 Training and Retraining..
RE-USE Consulting has recently trained many of the big names in deconstruction including: Buffalo Reuse, Construction Junction, Build It Green NYC, and more.  What are you waiting for? Give us a call.

9-08 Nov. 19th, 2008 -Find out more: www.greatlakesreuse.org
We keep rolling - three buildings deconstructed in three weeks
totalling over 5100 sq ft. (in New Jersey and Pennslyvania).  These were all part of our Three Day Decon training program as we attempt to help create hundreds of 'GREEN COLLAR JOBS' through building deconstruction efforts.


8-08  RE-USE Consulting Promotes Building Deconstruction Nationwide
RE-USE is helping put together the 2008 Great Lakes Building Reuse Conference in Buffalo, NY Nov. 16-18.  We will also be offering a full-day workshop titled Designing a Project for Deconstruction on Nov. 19th after this event.

 
7-08 July was a huge month for RE-USE Consulting.  We helped our clients take down 17,000 sq ft of structures:
 2 garages, 2 homes, 1 interior decon project, 1 shed, 1 barn, 2 covered walkways, 5000 roof tiles, 800 sq ft deck
View from the deck (Beacon Rock in the Distance):

Find out about this jobsite at: www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_072808_news_gorge_home.109b73a0.html

6-08 RE-USE Consulting is in Forbes Magazine!   The article got some of the numbers wrong so contact us to see why 8 out of the last 10 buildings we worked on were completed for less than estimates for demolition.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0630/074.html

5-08 RE-USE Consulting recently helped out on a Washington State Heritage Barn Program jobsite.  We are hired to assist in the deconstruction of a 100+ yr old 15,000 sq ft barn so that the materials saved could be used to repair other heritage barns.  Around 40,000 board feet of beams, etc. were saved!

4-08 RE-USE Consulting's project of the month - a 1918 7500 sq ft home in New Jersey with a 1500 sq ft garage.  Our efforts on this single building will divert over a third of a million pounds of building materials from the landfill and save the owner over $20,000 compared to demolishing it!


   3-08 Sign up for the Great Lakes Deconstruction Conference in Buffalo, NY Nov. 2008 - contact us for details or click here

2/08 - NOW OPEN IN Mt. Vernon, WA: 
Skagit Building Salvage!
 
(see our Materials For Sale page for details)

1/08 - New website complete with bad grammar and other glitches - sorry too busy saving materials from the landfill to fix them.  More site updates each week.
12/07 - RE-USE chosen to help with fully deconstructing 5 apartment buildings totaling over 54,000 sq ft.
11/07 - RE-USE helping plan a new reusable building materials store in Western Washington State!
10/07 - RE-USE interviewed on National Public Radio and is mentioned
 in the NY Times
9/07 - RE-USE runs a salvage crew at ABC's Extreme Home Makeover project in Washington State
8/07 - RE-USE assists our client in labeling + panelizing the 1893 Richard R. White house prior to its move and reassembly on another site.
7/07 - Too long ago, can't remember. Oh yeah, RE-USE Consulting was runner-up for National Building Deconstructor of the Year - 2007!!