Since the early 1990s, the modern deconstruction and building-materials reuse industry has consisted mostly of small family businesses and nonprofit organizations. Recently that industry has been hit by two conflicting waves. In the first wave, multiple retail reuse stores, from the west coast to the east, and from Canada to Florida, shut down, primarily due to the inability of those small operations to weather standard industry swings: high prices, shrinking labor pools, and shifts in government policies. Unfortunately, with far fewer places to take materials, the number of residences being deconstructed also plummeted.
Then, a second wave struck. This time in the form of advanced education, driven primarily by the sciences. Universities, professors and students in engineering, architecture, energy, chemistry and sustainability/conservation fields recognized the challenges and benefits of reuse as well as shifting developments in construction materials. I’m not a sociologist, economist or soothsayer; I can’t tell you precisely what unleashed these two waves in rapid succession, but I am thrilled about the second one.
I do not believe, as others do, that small business owners, contractors and workers will be displaced by engineers, scientists and architects. However, I do think this sea change will create some consolidation, with the realization that small operators and family-owned enterprises are unlikely to become major employment generators. The future, if there is to be one, must capture more materials, in much shorter time periods, under safer conditions, and for less money. New economic enterprises run by tomorrow’s graduates in partnership with field personnel (laborers, supervisors, analysts, material handlers and inspectors) will both drive and ride this second wave.
This is part of the New Industrial Revolution, a shift from small practitioners to present-day students of various disciplines who will shortly become professionals in finance, distribution and management. Their involvement will drive money and investors to the building-materials reuse industry.
What prompts my optimism? Over most of the past decade, I received one or two calls per month from university students who were writing papers or conducting research in pursuit of masters or doctorate degrees. Then, just a little over a year ago I began receiving about one call a week. I now get three to five emails a week requesting virtual meetings.
This year I have spoken to professors and students from San Jose State, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boston Architectural College, Georgia Technical University, Columbia University, University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, University of California Berkeley, Purdue University, Bard College and the State University New York.
I wonder when my alma mater (The Ohio State University) will call.