Stephen Ellis, founder of MyGreenBuildings.com and Dwell Green, builds LEED-certified homes and retrofits existing houses. Dwell Green starts with a full energy and water analysis, then sequences upgrades like insulation and window replacement to maximize performance, rather than just swapping out old equipment for bigger units.
I was going to be napping. I could be like 5 minutes from my house right now, just about to close my eyes.
Check, check, check.
Checkity check.
Checkity check. Is that good? You ready to roll? Good talking to my neighbor. I'm here with my green brother, Mr. Steve Ellis from MyGreenBuildings.com.
Thank you very much.
Get a close-up on the logo there. And so, Steve, you're here at Sarasota Naturally. How has today gone for you? Had a lot of fun?
Yeah, it was a very nice turnout. Yeah, we did a lecture this morning, and maybe next time it'll be in the afternoon when people are dying to sit down.
More like you dying to take a nap.
Yeah, exactly.
So tell us a little bit about My Green Buildings.
We're a green builder. We do sustainable homes and we're building, currently building a couple of beachfront LEED homes, LEED certified or to-be-certified homes, one on Beach Road and the other one's down on Casey Key. And we're doing a bunch of renovations. We're also doing some commercial work. We just started a commercial division.
Nice.
We're doing a lot of doctor and dentist build-outs right now.
Oh, okay.
So yeah, things are looking We're picking up on that side of the business.
Good, good. And tell us a little bit about Dwell Green, your latest and greatest venture.
Well, we took a concept that was developed by a guy named John Lambie, who's our partner.
Right. John's been around here a long time, hasn't he?
Lambie. I was talking about him today in the thing, and I was giving Lambie-isms.
Can you give us a Lambie-ism?
The most toast for the least bread. Or, I don't know, I haven't written it down. That's why we partnered with him. He's got great ideas. He knows how to explain to somebody how their life, their home, and their environment fits into the big global picture. Established a company to actually take some of those great ideas that have been floating around there for a while and execute. And really, like, our slogan is for Dwell Green is bringing— we bring accountability— we bring science and accountability to home improvement. So we're going in and starting out with an existing home, we're looking at their home, doing an entire analysis of energy, and how that's used, what they need, water, fortification. We're looking at innovative ways to fortify the home, and then health and well-being and quality of life issues. So we're doing this analysis up front, and then we bring a whole bunch of local qualified contractors to the table to actually execute a critical path to home improvement. So for instance, Critical path.
I love that.
For instance, you know, like in my house, I have an 11-year-old air conditioner.
Yeah.
And if it broke tomorrow, the first thing I would do, like most homeowners, I'd call the AC company and say, "Replace the air conditioner." Right. Like, as fast as you possibly can.
Especially if it was July.
Yeah. But if I did this analysis, the Dwell Green analysis, ahead of time, I'd know exactly what I want to do to perform a kind of a You know, it's like in the business world, it's continuous improvement. I would know step A, B, C, D, E. So for instance, if the air conditioner—
preventive maintenance—
well, no, but if the air conditioner broke, I would know, well, wait a second, before I bring in the 5-ton unit, I might make a call and say, get out of here right now. But I tell them, I want a 15 SEER, you know, Bryant system, right, that's 4 tons instead of 5 tons, because The very next call I'm going to make is I'm going to put insulation on my roof plane, inside the roof plane of my attic. I'm going to seal up the attic. I'm going to replace my windows with insulated windows and so forth. So I'd know what my steps are going to be rather than put the 5-ton back in there and then completely screw up any opportunity to improve my home from that point forward.
Very nice.
You know, anyway, so that's the long answer to a very simple question.
I'm going to ask you the 4 questions I've asked everybody else today. The first question is, what do you love?
My wife, my daughter, my family, my business, my friends. I love you, man. I love you, man.
I love you, man. What do you hate?
The juntas.
No, you love the juntas.
Yeah, I love the juntas.
What do you hate?
A swift kick in the chin.
Okay. What do you need?
What do I need? I'm pretty fortunate. I don't feel like I need a whole lot these days. But I work like I need a lot.
I hear you there.
If I could disconnect between the need and the reality of the need, maybe I'd come home at 5 o'clock.
Here's the last question. What do you know? Not enough. Fair enough. Yeah. Or maybe too much.
I still don't know who I'm voting for on Tuesday. I'm one of the fence-sitters.
You don't know anything.
Really, it's pretty brutal, isn't it?
Okay, beautiful. Thanks, Steve. Thanks for taking the time. And once again, it's mygreenbuildings.com and Dwell Green, same place? Yeah, dwellgreen.com. Dwell green dot com. Say that 3 times fast.
Well, great.
You can do it, you can do it, you can do it. All right, man, I'm gonna get you out of here so you can get a nap.
Thank you.
All right, thanks. And thank you. Thanks, Chandler.
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