The interior design world is shifting to more sustainable practices, but change is coming in fits and starts. One key element of this shift involves communicating effectively about sustainability with contractors and architects (and first finding ones who are willing to discuss it). Business of Home asked three interior designers with successful track records to share their strategies.
The Experts
Deana Duffek is third generation of a family in the home design business. But when she experienced the effects of mold toxicity in her own home, she reoriented her interiors firm to focus on healthy materials and founded Pure Design House Showroom in Laguna Beach, California, with the goal of making the healthy materials she was sourcing available to other design pros in her area.
Primo Orpilla co-founded the workplace design firm Studio O+A in San Francisco, and has been designing climate-conscious interiors for decades. In 2019, the firm created a climate action team, and has since published the Eco Playbook to help other design businesses in their journey to design more sustainably.
Megan Thompson has run her Denver-based design firm Spark Interiors sustainably for over 10 years. This past July, she founded the member-based GreenList as an online resource of vetted vendors to make sustainable sourcing easier for fellow designers.
Here’s how these three experts talk about sustainability with their design-build teams.
Start the Conversation Early
For any project, the Studio O+A team talks about sustainability goals with its partners right out of the gate. Thompson begins even earlier—before signing on with a prospective collaborator. “In those first meetings with a new builder, I’m always making sure that we let them know this is something that’s important to us and getting a vibe from their response,” she says. If the contractor or consultant responds favorably, the designer dives into the particulars of how they work sustainably. If she gets a negative reaction, she’s less likely to pursue a partnership. And if she’s hired by someone who doesn’t care about eco-conscious design, she’s less vocal about her sustainable sourcing but still uses her preferred climate-conscious brands.
Begin With a Simple Question
When Thompson is brought onto a job late in the game, she’ll ask the build team to fill her in: “Have you talked to the client about whether sustainability is important to them?” That one question can open up the conversation—and even if eco-friendly design is not a priority for the client, Thompson sticks to the trusted sustainable vendors she always uses.
Identify Like-Minded Professionals …
Orpilla looks for contractors and consultants who have been working on climate issues long enough to have established a track record, but he confesses that in the Bay Area it may be easier than elsewhere to find GCs, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineers, and other consultants who are committed to green building methods. For Thompson, the key is to constantly call on new builders in an effort to find like-minded partners for the next job.
… Or Educate the Ones You Already Know
When Duffek was changing how she did business, she didn’t have a Rolodex of green contractors to call upon, but she did have GCs and builders that she knew and trusted. “It’s not [always] so much about going in search of that [sustainably trained] contractor, but helping to educate the contractor you already like,” she says, noting that most people are open to trying something new.
Reassure Collaborators That Sustainability Is Doable
That open-mindedness to new ways of building has a lot to do with Duffek’s approach. “I just try to constantly convey to them that it’s not affecting their bottom line, and I’m going to help them source it,” she adds. With those hurdles out of the way, she’s found that most builders want to build a healthy home for their clients. “Contractors just want to get through the job as quickly as they can and keep the budget down,” she adds. If you can help them do that while building more sustainably, they’re more likely to jump on board.
Ask How They Handle Demo
To avoid the “smash-and-grab” demolition—and all the landfill waste that comes with it—Thompson has found a workaround in hiring a deconstruction specialist, who dismantles building components so they can be used again. “I’ll actually split my drawing sets: I’ll do one drawing set for the deconstruction contractor, who will carefully disassemble, recycle, repurpose and donate everything they take out,” she says. “Then we’ll have the GC come back in and there’s a separate drawing set for them.”
Take Construction Documents to the Next Level
Thompson believes that a good construction document can go a long way toward ensuring your GC uses the sustainable materials you believe in. “Construction documents effectively are a legal document, so if you’re making a specification, that should be honored by your contractor,” she says.
Treat Sourcing as a Team Project
When collaborating with an architect, Thompson approaches sourcing as a team effort. “I’ll tell the architect I want to be intentional about, say, a wool installation or a lime plaster treatment, and ask, ‘Do you know someone or have a resource for that?’ If they say no, then I say, ‘I would like to be responsible for that on this job,’ and then make good on that promise,” she explains.
Spell Out Who Buys What
Many designers just want to draw and write specs and stay out of the nitty-gritty of construction, but Thompson believes engaging with all the purchasing is a chance to specify more sustainable materials while earning more. “If I bring the builder a job, I should be able to do the purchasing on whatever I like,” she says. If that builder brings her a job, Thompson will offer to specify the materials if they don’t want to do it.
Don’t Get Discouraged
Designers, especially those just starting out, often get shut down or bullied by builders, says Duffek. “You have to set the tone for what the design is going to be and why it’s going to be that way,” she adds. “If you have a builder that’s giving you that much pushback, you shouldn’t be working with them.”
Share Your Successes
Communicating values around sustainability isn’t just happening with clients and contractors, says Orpilla. His team is also speaking to the design community at large through social media channels, websites, and publications like its Eco Playbook. The more designers talk about sustainability, the more contractors and builders will realize this is an area of opportunity.
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Laura Fenton is a writer with a special interest in the intersection between homes and sustainability, and is the author of the Living Small newsletter and two interior design books, The Little Book of Living Small and The Bunk Bed Book. She has written about home and design for nearly 20 years, and her work has appeared in many outlets, including Better Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful, Real Simple, and The Washington Post, as well as online publications and regional design magazines.
