We've covered several ventures that help potential homebuyers proclaim their interest in homes that aren't on the market. Turns out that this is a two-way street: homeowners can now do the same, thanks to Dutch start-up Moviq.
By registering their property on Moviq, owners can get a feel for the market without actually deciding to sell. Or, using Moviq's sexier terminology, they can flirt with potential buyers. To do so, they first need to claim their property: after sending in their address and personal details, Moviq checks whether the property is actually listed in their name, and then sends them an activation code. Owners can then list their property, add a description and upload photos that will heighten their appeal. 'Flirt homes' are listed alongside properties that are on the market, and potential buyers can make an informal offer without any further obligations.
The Intention Economy usually focuses on buyers notifying the market of their intent to buy, letting sellers compete for their purchase. Turning this upside down and having owners test the waters before committing to a sales process is definitely an interesting twist. One to try out in other markets? Moviq is also a good example of banks moving beyond traditional marketing to reach out to consumers: the website is owned and operated by Rabobank. Besides its flirty side, Moviq also offers a variety of tools to cover all aspects of buying, selling, moving and decorating. (Related: ING Bank helps clients buy homes that aren't for sale.)
Website: www.moviq.nl
Contact: www.moviq.nl/contact
Spotted by: Paulien van der Heiden
Not long ago we wrote about permaculture and Australian Permablitz's volunteer-based implementation of the concept in urban gardens around Melbourne. Now one of our spotters has come across the first for-profit example we've seen.
Launched earlier this year, San Francisco-based My Farm calls itself a decentralized urban farm that grows vegetables in backyard gardens throughout the city. For anywhere between USD 600 and USD 1,000—depending on size—the company will install an organic vegetable garden in a customer's back yard. My Farm will first test the ground for toxins and other soil-composition issues, and gardens can be as small as 4-by-4-feet or so large as to completely transform the back yard. Customers can also choose whether to produce just enough for their own family or whether to become owner-members producing enough for My Farm to sell as well. Either way, once the garden's in, My Farm will maintain it using organic and permaculture techniques including drip irrigation and a compost pile; the company's employees do most of the work by hand and travel by bicycle whenever possible. Maintenance costs are USD 20 to USD 35 per week, with discounts for owner-members. Then, of course, in addition to maintaining, My Farm will also harvest produce at its peak, leaving a basket of fresh veggies on the consumer's doorstep when they're done. For members, that basket includes some of the abundance produced by other backyard gardens as well, resulting in even more diversity. Finally, for those without their own gardens, My Farm's produce is still available for delivery: a full basket, suitable for a small family, costs USD 35 per week, while a small box for one is USD 25.
A like contender called Your Backyard Farmer reportedly operates on a similar model in Portland, Ore., according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and with food prices increasing the way they are, it's a safe bet that more are on the way. After all, rather than face another week of plastic (and expensive) grocery-store tomatoes from across the planet, who wouldn't invest a little extra cash to get their own garden producing the real thing?
Website www.myfarmsf.com
Contact: www.myfarmsf.com/contact.html
Spotted by: Stacy Jo McDermott
Over the years, we've covered various businesses for women tackling home improvement and building. From tools and steel-toe shoes to women-only construction crews, the 'do-it-herself' market continues to expand. Our latest spotting? A home improvement magazine for women that has just been launched by Karwei, one of the Netherlands' largest DIY retail chains.
Their new quarterly, Ziezo, is targeted both to women who are considering a first small project, like painting a bench, to their more experienced sisters who are ready to remodel a bathroom or insulate an attic. The free print magazine, which can also be read online, aims to be both instructional and inspirational. Besides plenty of practical, hands-on advice and step-by-step instructions, Ziezo includes articles on interior design that probably wouldn't have made it to the pages of a home improvement publication for male readers.
Like Home Depot, which offers Do-It-Herself Workshops, Karwei is smart to tap into market that's (still) underserved. Since DIY retailers in many parts of the world are suffering from a distressed housing market, attracting female shoppers is an opportunity they can't afford to miss. As for retailers in strong, growing markets—now’s the time to get in on the ground floor.
Website: www.karwei.nl/ziezo
Spotted by: RK
A few weeks ago we wrote about Keetsa's eco-mattress in a box, and since then one of our spotters came across another eco-bedding line from UK-based Sleep Limited.
Sleep Limited's line of eco sleep products features pure, unbleached cotton and 100 percent recycled polyester fiberfill made largely from recycled drink bottles. Included in the line is the Eco Duvet, priced from GBP 30.80; an Eco Mattress Topper, priced from GBP 25.40; and Eco Pillows priced at GBP 22 per pair. All are soft, hypo-allergenic and machine washable, and all come packaged in an unbleached cotton bag emblazoned with an image of the Earth. Shipping is available only within the UK, and is free of charge for orders of GBP 65 or over, GBP 5.95 otherwise.
In today's eco-iconic world, in which out-greening your competitors is increasingly the name of the game, we can't help but notice that Sleep Limited's products are made from cotton that's merely unbleached, not organic. Nevertheless, with a growing number of consumers eager to be green—and especially to show the world that they are—there's room for many shades of the colour. Make it easy for consumers to be green—or at least, feel green—and they'll reward you with some cold, hard green of their own!
Website: www.ecobedding.co.uk
Contact: info@sleeplimited.co.uk
Spotted by: Graeme A.
Vacant, run-down buildings are usually viewed as a community liability, with quick demolition seen as the only solution. A more eco-minded approach, however, is deconstruction, which allows for the salvage of the building's still-usable pieces. Buffalo ReUse is a New York-based non-profit organization that specializes in just that, providing deconstruction services, community education, jobs and a store for salvaged parts.
Established in 2006, Buffalo ReUse is a fully licensed and insured contractor with a full-time crew that can completely remove residential structures, barns and garages. Through deconstruction—in which buildings are carefully taken apart rather than demolished in one blow—building materials including lumber, fixtures and architectural detail can be saved. These are then sold through Buffalo ReUse's ReSource store, which just opened last week as a local source for building materials and household items, DIY ideas, green education and community outreach. Proceeds from the sale of those items then get put back into the community, as Buffalo ReUse collaborates with block clubs and community associations to develop new neighbourhood assets. The organization offers myriad volunteer opportunities for such projects as community tree-planting, mural painting or other forms of neighbourhood revitalization, as well as paid work for local people. Ultimately, it hopes to use deconstruction as a springboard for job training and leadership development, providing men and women between 18 and 24 years old with a way to build related skills, interests and even small businesses.
Buffalo ReUse was recently selected by The Financial Times and the Urban Land Institute as one of 20 finalists for the 2008 FT ULI Sustainable Cities Award based on nominations received from around the world. New York State assemblyman Sam Hoyt, one of those who nominated the group, explains: “Buffalo ReUse should serve as a model for other communities to reduce waste dumped in our landfills, to employ young adults from our inner city, and to work with community members to make neighbourhoods greener."
The lesson for eco and social entrepreneurs around the world: look no further than the abandoned buildings around you for a wealth of opportunity!
Website: www.buffaloreuse.org
Contact: info@buffaloreuse.org
Spotted by: Andrea Kleinfelder
Incorporating green design principles into new or existing homes is increasingly de rigueur among the growing masses of eco-minded consumers, but figuring out the logistics isn't always straightforward. Working on the belief that green design should be available to all, FreeGreen is a new site that offers free, downloadable green house plans.
Free Green's team of engineers and designers works with industry-leading product manufacturers to create home designs that incorporate different combinations of products, materials and vendors. It also provides 3-D images, energy simulations and written descriptions to help consumers find the right fit for their lifestyle. Two models are currently available on the site, with more coming soon. The first, called the Healthy Family model, combines comfortable contemporary living with superior indoor air quality and low energy bills. With functional options such as mudrooms, homework nooks and home offices, Healthy Family homes are intended for young, three- to five-person families in cold to mixed climates. The modern Suburban Loft, on the other hand, features open floor plans and high ceiling loft spaces. Intended for first-time buyers or downsizing baby boomers, the Suburban Loft plan is designed to perform efficiently even in cold northern climates. Coming soon is the Smart Box, which FreeGreen aims to make a 1,200 to 1,400 sq. ft. home that can be built for less than USD 100 per square foot.
Consumers who download FreeGreen's plans get not just the very detailed plan set, but also an energy report specific to the town or city they select and a welcome packet with additional information, tools and resources. FreeGreen's team can also modify or customize any of its plans. Launched just a few weeks ago, FreeGreen relies on paid placement from product manufacturers, but it takes pains to be transparent about the products it displays, offering users ratings from established third-party green certification programs such as LEED and NAHB and research performance data through its own energy modelling reports.
With the clean, eco-friendly look of FreeGreen's designs, there's no doubt they'll fit nicely into what our sister site trendwatching.com would call the new, eco-iconic world of consumers eager to flaunt their greenness. Besides the obvious advertising opportunity for green product manufacturers, the next logical step is to focus on implementation. Builders around the globe: Who will be first to align with FreeGreen as your town's local green building expert...?
Website: www.freegreen.com
Contact: info@freegreen.com
Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann
Plenty of companies sell log cabin kits. But Argos seems to be the first major retailer to market an attractive and affordable model that reportedly can be built in two days by just two people. The British retailer's basic five-room cabin, measuring roughly 32x17 feet or 8x5 meters, costs GBP 10,999. An upgraded model, with amenities such as laminate floors with in-floor heating, costs GBP 13,099. Both models are suitable for year-round living and are made by Finnish forestry company Finnforest using wood from sustainable forests.
Argos' cabins open up several new-business opportunities. For starters, there's likely a much larger market for ready-to-move-in cabins than for cabins that must first be put together, however easy their assembly might be. Thus, one option would be to buy the kits, assemble them and then resell the homes. The cabins' low price coupled with their short assembly time would make the potential profit margin a lot greater than would be the case with conventionally built homes that require weeks to build. And the second opportunity: buy a dozen or so cabins and create a turnkey resort. That's what another low-cost home manufacturer Bamboo Living suggests. The Hawaii-based company's kit homes are manufactured in Vietnam out of fast-growing eco-friendly bamboo and shipped worldwide. Bamboo Living has already spearheaded resorts in Bali, Belize, the Cook Islands, Hawaii and Vietnam. (IKEA's fast-selling BoKlok prefabs, on the other hand, aren't DIY—the homes are assembled by local builders.)
Two things to remember before launching into any venture involving prefab dwellings. First, check local building codes carefully, as kit homes employ non-traditional construction methods. Likewise, be sure to factor in the kinds of costs associated with any building project, such as site surveys, utility hook-ups and permitting.
Website: www.argos.co.uk
Contact: www.argos.co.uk/static/StaticDisplay/includeName/ContactUs.htm
Spotted by: Maria Dahl Jørgensen
Whereas many mattresses today include polyurethane, formaldehyde and other materials with questionable effects on the environment and human health, Keetsa is an eco-bedding company that takes a thoroughly green approach to mattresses and other sleep products.
Keetsa mattresses are built with sustainable components including recycled steel, scrap memory foam bits, bamboo fabrics and unbleached natural cotton, while odor control and anti-bacterial properties are delivered using EPA-approved technologies based on silver and green tea. Since different Keetsa mattress styles use varying degrees of such sustainable components, the company uses a composite score called the Keetsa Quotient to summarize the overall greenness of each one. So far, so good, but maybe not entirely unique (other companies, like Greek Coco-Mat, also tout the benefits of sleep on natural materials.)
What we liked about Keetsa is that, going beyond their component materials, they've also developed a way to compress their large mattresses so they fit into convenient wheeled boxes (made from recycled cardboard, of course). Not only does that make them maneuverable by one person, but it also reduces transportation expenses and the products' resulting carbon footprint, and gives consumers savings of between 50 and 75 percent, Keetsa says. Which makes for a very integrated eco-approach. Once the customer unpacks the mattress at home, it will resume its full, normal shape within one to three days.
Keetsa's mattress prices begin at USD 385, and shipping is free. Pillows, protectors, foundations and mattress toppers are available as well, both through the company's two California showrooms and at a few select retailers nationwide. Keetsa is hoping to sign up more retailers soon; one to bring to eco-conscious consumers near you? (Related: Eco-friendly pack and move solution.)
Website: www.keetsa.com
Contact: joe@keetsa.com
Spotted by: Frank Marquardt
