10 Questions for . . . Steve Feldman, President of Green Demolitions

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Senior Editor Daniel DiClerico talks to Steve Feldman (shown below), founder of Green Demolitions, a nonprofit organization that recycles and then sells appliances and materials from kitchens, raising money for a 12-step-program charity. Feldman discusses the origin of the operation and the many people it benefits.

Where did you get the idea for Green Demolitions?
I was fund-raising in Greenwich, Connecticut, in March 2001. One of my donors lived next door to Farah Pahlavi, the last empress of Iran. She had lived for 10 years in a beautiful 10,000-square-foot estate. I'd seen the home from the street in the past, but on this day a sign in the driveway said a demolition was in progress. I walked up the driveway and the house was a pile of rubble and brick. I stood there staring at the pile and thought to myself, Why not start a demolition donation program for the outreach projects I was fund-raising? I started talking to contractors and real-estate agents in the area, and they thought the idea had merit.

How does the process work?
A prospective donor contacts our office, where one of our coordinators gets the details of the job--what items are available, what condition they're in, etc. We'll often request pictures to get a sense of how much time would be required for the removal. We can't accept all donations. As an entrepreneurial charity, we have to operate like a business, meaning there has to be a resale value to the items or we won't make a profit. If we accept the project, an inspector visits the site, takes more photos, and fills out a detailed report. Then we issue a donation agreement, order the insurance, and send in a crew for the dismantling. Most jobs are done in a day. The items are inventoried and we leave behind a hand-written receipt, which is followed up with a typed receipt indicating the fair-market value of all contributions so that donors can claim the proper deduction.

What do people gain by donating their kitchens?
The biggest financial gain is definitely the deduction—we've sold a single kitchen for as much as $36,000. But another big incentive is the savings in labor costs. Our crew handles all the dismantling, and if they don't have the knowledge and skills required, we'll bring in a specialty crew. We did a Park Avenue apartment in New York City recently where I hired a marble specialist to remove the antique fireplaces. "Restoration removal" we call it. A third benefit for donors is reduced disposal cost. Each Dumpster on a job costs $600 or $700, even more in cities.

Besides homeowners, where else do the donations come from?
We also have retail donors, for example kitchen companies that have in-store displays of discontinued inventory. Another source is wholesale distributors. I recently worked out an arrangement with the exclusive American distributor of a major European appliance line. We'll be receiving a truckload of top-quality discontinued or display models. Donations also come straight from manufacturers, whether returns, discontinued models, or overstock. We're also the national charity of the National Kitchen & Bath Association's annual trade show, the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show. At the end of every show, exhibitors can load their wares straight from the floor onto our Green Demolition trucks. The companies save a bundle on warehouse space and disposal cost. I've heard of entire exhibits getting demolished and thrown in the Dumpster, product and all. Green Demolition is a cheaper way to go and keeps the product out of landfills.

Essential information: Learn how to properly dispose of household items when you're remodeling and read about Home Depot's new recycling program for compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

Who buys the donated goods?
It's a very special crowd. Certainly do-it-yourselfers are a large part of our clientele. It's also architects and kitchen designers who have gotten a taste for the lifestyle they serve and want it for themselves. It's hard to go back to laminate countertops after designing granite kitchens! But at Green Demolitions, you can have a $100,000 kitchen for $25,000, $15,000, even $10,000, depending on the retrofit. Then there's the green customer base, people who are committed to the idea of using recycled products and materials. Lastly you have the bargain hunters who refuse to pay retail for anything. We recently sold a $20,000 hand-painted sink and faucet set for $2,900. These people are using Green Demolitions to make serious equity improvements to their homes.

How many stores do you have?
We have three locations. Our largest store is in Norwalk, Connecticut, with 11,000 square feet. We also have a store in Bethel, New York, with 5,000 square feet, including a luxury appliance outlet. The store in Holmsdale, Pennsylvania, has 5,200 square feet.

Can homeowners beyond the New York metro area participate?
Absolutely. When you're talking about a kitchen that might be worth $80,000 that you pick up for $10,000, the cost of shipping is minimal, even if you have to hire a professional mover. A couple years ago, somebody from Washington state had seen a $15,000 European range on our site. They were able to get it for $5,000, so they made the arrangement to truck it out west. Another time, three women from Kentucky drove up in a U-Haul truck, toured all three stores, and eventually filled the truck. Unfortunately, remote shoppers can't click and buy off our website--the average shelf life of a kitchen is one to seven days, so we could never keep up. But the site is good for getting a general idea about what's available.

You mentioned retrofitting. Is it hard making an old kitchen fit a new space?
Obviously the kitchen you see on our site or in our store won't be designed for your space. But kitchens are basically modular, so it's mostly a matter of reconfiguring the cabinets, like the custom units that found a new home in a country-style kitchen (shown above). I've heard a lot of contractors say, "I can make anything fit." Homeowners also get creative. If they have a cabinet left over, they might turn it into a bathroom vanity or use it for additional storage in the pantry or garage. You can also go piecemeal. If we have a beautiful, showcase kitchen, we probably won't sell something integral, like the base cabinets. But a lot of times you can buy just the island or just the range.

Are there issues with aftermarket appliances that you warn shoppers about?
It's like buying something off the Internet, or at auction or a flea market. It's the buyer's risk. So if someone wants a guarantee, we can't provide it. We do inspect items—if it's a refrigerator we'll plug it in and see if turns cools down. But we sell everything as is. That said, there are a lot of repair people out there, and we never sell items for more than 50 percent of their original value. So even if you're out the cost of the repair, you're still way ahead.

What happens to the proceeds?
Proceeds from Green Demolitions—$1,008,571 in 2007—fund the outreach program for All Addicts Anonymous, a 12-step program that's adapted to all addictions, including drugs, alcohol, depression, and food addiction. The publishing arm of All Addicts Anonymous, 24 Communications, is also funded by the proceeds.