Building Sustainably: An Inside Look at Home Deconstruction

Have you ever wondered where Habitat ReStore building supplies come from? While most of the building supplies at the ReStore are donated, they’re not our most common community drop-off donation.

Most building supplies we carry are donated by contractors and supply houses, and picked up by our team of acquisition specialists.

“One of the ways we get a lot of building materials specifically is through deconstruction,” said Acquisitions Manager Eric Moe. “Through that, somebody is donating the materials that make up a house.”

The intent is to salvage as much of the material as possible with two goals in mind: reselling to fundraise for our mission and giving shoppers the opportunity to provide a second life to materials through their own home projects.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, deconstruction has many benefits, including preservation of resources through reuse, increase in employment opportunities through the recycling industry and decrease of landfill waste.

Homestead Building Company, Raleigh-based luxury custom home builder, recently partnered with CSL Contracting to deconstruct a home and donate the materials to Triangle ReStores.

“Homestead has been involved with Habitat for Humanity through the years of its existence,” said Homestead Building Company President Dean Sackett. “I knew this was how we could also support them, so we’ve flexed our process time to allow this to happen.”

Homestead also partners with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County through the Home Builders Blitz, an annual event that brings local for-profit builders together to take homes from frame to finish in one week.

Triangle ReStores carry a variety of building supplies at select locations, including lumber, cabinetry, doors, windows, flooring, shutters, tile, hardware, lighting and more.

“There’s a lot of great collaboration going on between Habitat, the deconstruction company and the homeowner. We can see how important this type of project is for their continued operation,” said Ryan Burkes, director of sales at Homestead Building Company.

CSL Contracting, the company providing the manual deconstruction labor, has been a partner of Triangle ReStores for more than a decade, coordinating and scheduling pickup of materials from deconstruction sites frequently.

Building material donations go directly to Raleigh, Durham and Clayton, the three largest Triangle ReStores. Without this kind of variety, our shopper base would be much smaller. Building material donations help us reach fundraising goals and bring more people into the ReStore.

“If you’re considering tearing a house down, renovating a house or remodeling a room like a kitchen or a bathroom, consider us for donation for those items when you’re done removing them,” Eric said.

Are you or your business interested in learning more about scheduling a building materials donation?

Contact Acquisitions Specialists Eric or Noah at 919-744-2416 or acquisitions@trianglerestores.org and they will be in touch as soon as possible.