Restoring an architectural gem? Keeping an old home together? Need cost-effective tricks to save old windows, reuse salvage materials, find space for another purpose?

Meet the people with the know-how at the House Restoration Fair, Saturday March 27^th from 10 am to 2pm. The Fair will take place at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Museum located at 25 Nottingham Court at Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo. General admission is $8, or $6 if you’re a Historical Society member.

Speak with craftsmen, artisans, material suppliers, and contractors at display tables AND see presentations of first-hand experiences from a carpenter, homeowners, and architects. We’ll be there….will you??

Next wednesday, March 10th, Buffalo ReUSE is hosting a tin ceiling workshop at 2pm. The workshop will be at the ReSOURCE. For those who do not know, this is our store (where you will find many great things that you may or may not need), so check it out for yourself! 298 Northampton.

If it is nice outside, plan on being outdoors catching some rays and fresh air. Hopefully the weather will be like it has been this week.

I have included a previous blog from one of my colleagues that was written in the past. It includes a great history of tin ceiling as well as the steps that are involved in tin ceiling restoration that we will be partaking in. 

Some may think tin ceiling is out of date, but with a little creativity anyone can come up with different uses for it and bring back its original sublimity. Come next week to find out some neat ways!

Joyce Kryszak of WBFO interviewed Michael Gainer the other day. Click here to listen to the interview.

At its annual meeting October 7, the members of Buffalo ReUse elected a Board of Directors to lead the organization through the next phase of its growth. Newly elected members are Vincent Kuntz, Keith James, Alison Mueller, David Laguerre and Daniel Ash. Michele Johnson was elected to her second two-year term. Vincent Kuntz was elected Board President.

Kuntz said “We wish to thank outgoing Board President Stephanie Simeon, Board Members Jessica Biegaj, Katie Biggie, Darren Kempner, Kirstin Lowry Sommers, Adam Wilson and Trevor Torcello for their dedicated service to our organization. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors and expect to maintain a productive relationship as we all work to improve neighborhoods in the City of Buffalo.”

Also announced at the meeting was the transition of Interim Executive Director Harvey Garrett to a short-term consulting position. Alison Mueller, Board Secretary, said “Harvey’s analysis of our financial situation was instrumental in securing a future for ReUse. He gave his time and expertise to stabilize our financial systems and community programs. We thank him for his service as we navigated through a challenging period of our growth.”
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Michael was interviewed by Great Lakes Urban Exchange, talking about green demolition/deconstruction.A good explanation of what we’re trying to do in Buffalo.

Part Ten of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine

Buffalo Action for Revitalization

The BAR Program was initiated by Buffalo ReUSE to plug people into active citizenship–volunteerism–making a space for The City of Good Neighbors to be good neighbors. We created the BAR Program to improve quality of life in neighborhoods and literally build a thriving neighborhood, beginning with our target area–in the Masten and Cold Spring neighborhoods.  Our ReSource and office space literally straddle the adjoining borders of those neighborhoods. 

The BAR Program may seem like a strange interest for a demolition crew, but we are NOT a typical demolition company.  As a nonprofit organization and a green business we believe that investing in our neighborhood is paramount.  Every business in Buffalo from the smallest corner store to the largest corporation should make contributions of time, talent or funding to improve the city in which it operates and do so while respecting the environment and surrounding community.  Local businesses should emphasize and support sustainable communities through their own lifestyle; we are modeling the behavior we want to see in every local business.
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Part Nineof a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight

We took our first house down on Lombard Street in the early spring of 2007. At this stage in Buffalo ReUse’s creation, we had very little money. We had bills to pay. We took a deep breath and opened for business. We were first open only on Sundays from 11 to 4. On our very first day of sales, we took in something like $1,200, looked at each other and said “This just might work out!” Many of our early customers are still with us today.

We remained open on Sundays for the rest of 2007. During that time, we were building our demolition crew, demolishing houses and we found our current location at 298 Northampton Street in the Cold Spring/Masten neighborhood of Buffalo’s central city.

We moved the store and all its contents in the Fall of 2007 from downtown to Northampton Street, changed our slightly enlarged hours to Saturday and found conditions for retailing much improved. We started with the current back door as our front door, begin acquiring pallet racks and just started loading in the materials. As the months went by and we needed more space, we began renting more of the building. We finally moved into the front of the building in the early summer of 2008. We now occupy the entire building, with several entrances on Northampton Street and our yard/parking lot on the side.
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Part Eight of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven

The ReSource is Access. It is an open door to affordable, high quality building materials and a support system for home owners. Buffalo ReUse’s ReSource is our retail destination for high quality building materials, environmental education and community activism. The store is located in Buffalo’s midtown, at 298 Northampton Street. It is nestled right on the border of the Masten Park & Cold Spring neighborhoods. It is just around the corner from Canisius College, Art Space, the Merriweather Library and the newly restored Packard Building Apartments.

As part of our mission aimed at regenerating neighborhoods and empowering communities, the ReSource functions as our largest point of contact with the public. We serve predominantly an East Side customer base, but attract people from all over WNY and nearby Ontario.

All day long, we sell high-quality building materials at very low prices–including many items which are rare or one-of-a-kind. Our prices and materials help people at all income levels stabilize and improve their homes. We also spend a great deal of time engaging in lively conversations with everyone who calls on the phone or comes into the store. We’re constantly connecting customers and local residents with Buffalo ReUse community programs, with each other, and with other resources they need and with government services.
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Part Seven of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six

The demolition business certainly has more challenges to achieve financial self-sustainability, but this aspect of our organization has created an identity for our organization and captivates the imagination of people in so many other cities who call us with great regularity to learn about what we do.  We’re convinced if we can make green demolition work here in Buffalo, it can work anywhere. 

There are challenges.  For one, as mentioned earlier, the cost paid per ton for waste disposal here in Western New York is extremely low.  Waste diversion is our greatest competitive advantage over traditional demolition.  However, in Buffalo, 50 tons of diversion only saves us $1,250.  In New Jersey, that same diversion would save us $6,250.  If there were higher disposal rates here in Buffalo, we could invest more of the savings into the higher labor costs associated with our method. 

Demolition contracting is also “CASH FLOW” intensive.  Lots of money comes in and goes out the door.  Thus, as a not-for-profit we have the immense challenge of balancing these transactions without a line of credit.  This situation created many of the cash flow challenges we experienced during the winter of 2008, while we were waiting for reimbursements for State Grants. 

Finally, equipment rental costs are exorbitant.  Had we financed a machine when we first started, we would have more then paid for that machine by now with the funds that we’ve spent on equipment rental alone.  Equipment rental also puts immense pressure on the organization to complete projects in an expedient fashion.  We pay per month and for the purposes of estimating we figure we can complete two projects per month.  However, if a project takes thee weeks because of weather challenges, we end up paying more for equipment rental, and we lose money.  Owning a used all-terrain forklift will provide more project flexibility, and decrease our demolition costs per project.  It’s an asset that will retain its value and can be sold in the future if green demolition proves to be infeasible for Buffalo ReUse. 
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Part Six of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five

We’ve learned a lot about finances in our founding two years.  Most importantly, we’ve learned that if you don’t have funds you don’t exist.  We’ve learned that if you don’t make a margin, you don’t have a mission.  We’ve learned that to make a start-up work, you need to hustle.  You need to sell your brand, sell your services, sell your mission, and in our case sell some building materials.  We’ve learned that at the end of the day, you need to balance the books.  We’ve learned that even with a strong business model and complementary social program, you need to ask people for money.  And we’ve learned that we can’t do all of this alone.  It’s critical that our board participate in fundraising in order for ReUse to advance its mission and achieve its goals. 

I’ll admit, that Buffalo ReUse was my first opportunity to initiate a social venture and it has proved to be the challenge of my life.  However, in the short span of two years, we have sold our mission and we have sold our material.  Buffalo ReUse is unique in the not-for-profit world in that we have tremendous earned income potential and we will likely generate nearly 75% of our operating revenue in 2009 from our fee-for-service ventures.  The remainder of the funding will come from private foundation grants, some government grants, and individual donations. 
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