Looking for an entre to green building? MyGreenBuildings may have an opportunity for you.
MyGreenBuildings was founded in 2006 at the beginning of the economic downturn. While not a favorable time to launch a construction company, the two LEED-certified company founders, Steve Ellis and Grant Castilow, were able to beat the odds and achieve substantial growth and recognition as the regional experts in high-performance sustainable green construction.
“MyGreenBuildings has completed over 40 projects in the Sarasota area generating over $14 million in sales, and currently has projects worth over $5 million existing for the remaining 2011 calendar year and a substantial yet sustainable pipeline of new projects,” says Grant Castilow, MyGreenBuildings COO. “Our model works, and we are now interviewing environmentally-committed builders in other regions that see the benefit of using our brand and processes to take their businesses to the next level and be part of the growth of a recognized national brand for the small builder market. We have spent over $1 million building the MyGreenBuildings brand and systems and we provide what even most of the best builders do not currently have—the marketing and project management systems that really work.”
“Our model will allow licensees to effectively manage their business, market aggressively, plan for growth, and manage a good process, rather than being reactive, which in this market is the role even a top-tier builder is sometimes forced into,” Castilow concludes.
Licensing the MyGreenBuildings brand, processes, marketing and training tools will allow MyGreenBuildings to expand their reach nationwide by sharing repeat clients in other cities around the country. “We are so confident that we have created a substantially unique business formula that we cannot resist the inner drive to help others achieve their own business objectives with a win-win growth plan,” says Ellis.
MyGreenBuildings has consistently achieved exemplary green ratings and awards on the local, regional, and national level for their work in the high performance green construction field. They have achieved through the company’s focus on marketing, building science, business processes, and hands-on construction management.
Ellis has been called on regularly as a speaker on a regional and national level. In a recent interview with Dick Gordon of NPR’s "The Story," Ellis explained his philosophy of living the Green Dream: “It’s not about giving up anything, it’s about making informed choices, and doing more with less.” The company’s portfolio shows just how amazing green buildings can be. “It’s the ultimate in luxury and doesn’t come at the substantial cost increase everyone was once afraid of,” continued Ellis. As an outspoken advocate of the “triple bottom line” business model (people, planet, profit), Ellis recently dedicated one lecture to the specific topic of The Green Revolution, where he provided specific advice on how to identify business opportunities in the growing “green collar” job marketplace.
According to Ellis, entrepreneurs in the new Green Economy must lead by “helping people to do more with less and use renewable resources; looking for unique ways to solve problems—local, regional, national, global—and make a career out of it; developing great ideas and being unafraid to innovate and cannibalize current business models; and tapping into the new sense of urgency and purpose with respect to environmental awareness and responsibility.”