Selling green

It's like the local hardware store meets the co-op.

At heart, Maloney's store is at the leafy green tip of a new eco movement among home builders and renovators, one that promises to bring to home construction the same ethos of conservation and healthful living that's driving sales in the booming organic foods movement.

Maloney has invested her life in the business at a time when the movement is moving from the fringes to the mainstream, she said.

"Sometimes when people think of green building they think of a yurt in the middle of Colorado, but that's not what it means," she said.

Maloney was a behind-the-scenes research scientist when she and her husband moved to Minneapolis three years ago. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in genetics, then worked in Chicago, Boulder, Colo., and, finally, Chaska.

She has a self-professed "passion for the environment," and one day, inspiration struck. She drove home from work and bounded into the house, spouting plans for a building-supplies business.

"This is what we're going to do!" she remembers telling her husband, Tim.

It was easy to find green building materials in Boulder, where she and Tim lived before moving back to Minneapolis. Not so here. "People knew there were safer, more environmentally friendly, nontoxic materials out there, but it was difficult to get hold of them."

She quit her job, trading a steady paycheck for late nights on her computer to learn everything she could about green building. A few months later she opened a virtual storefront, www.naturalbuilthome.com, listing some of the best items she had found.

To some degree, Maloney is ahead of her time.

The U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit group, says it knows of 25 homes in the country that adhere to its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles. None is in Minnesota. It's easier to find a LEED home under construction, with 800 listed nationally, including eight in Minnesota, according to the building council.

Why go green? A recycled aluminum sink seems like a good way to preserve natural resources, but there are health reasons that drive people to Maloney's store as well. Studies of indoor air quality have shown that some homes develop high levels of volatile organic compounds, a class of harmful chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency considers potentially cancer causing.

Pesticides, household cleaning products, air fresheners, fresh paint and paint thinners all contribute to the toxic brew, and Maloney carries non toxic versions of these things. The problem may be worse here than in other developed countries. The U.S. market, for example, allows the sale of some products banned in other countries, such as birch and poplar plywood treated with formaldehyde, a 'probable human carcinogen,' according to the E.P.A.

A store of her own

The products sold on the Natural Built Home website were unusual enough that it was hard to sell them without a storefront, and Maloney knew she would eventually need a physical location. Customers want to touch and feel the products, she said.

A friend who lectures at the Carlson School of Management asked his class to vet Maloney's business plan. They studied demographic information to find the best site for a storefront. Some students looked at whether customers would pay more for green materials, and found evidence of a steadily rising demand, said lecturer Seth Warner.

"It's not a tidal wave, but it's a movement toward doing these things," he said.

Maloney opened at 4020 Minnehaha Av. S. this past April 22, Earth Day.

Most Natural Built Home customers want to use materials from the store for remodeling projects: updating a kitchen countertop or a basement floor with something re-used or original. Some customers have chemical sensitivities, and many want to create a healthful environment for their children. Maloney occasionally holds a class called Greenbuilding 101 to introduce people to the concept.

With just three employees but visions of a much larger company, she says she's glad she quit her job to pursue the business.

"I really believe in a business that's built on a sustainable platform. We felt it was the right thing to be doing."

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329