Frequently Asked Questions

1. What motivates the people who work and volunteer for Buffalo ReUSE to do the hard work that they do? Is there any faith initiative?

Each of us has a slightly different/personal motivation, but across the board--it is the desire to create jobs and be responsible stewards of the community and the environment within the City of Buffalo. We want to create the kind of neighborhood that has a high quality of life and we want to create the neighborhood that is sustainable. I think a lot of people might consider that old-fashioned or simple, but the fact is the population of Buffalo has declined and the neighborhood we operate in has been neglected. A lot of the neglect is the result of racism and poverty. We are not rooted in any specific faith. We welcome folks that value civic responsibility and hard work no matter what church they attend.

2.  Is Buffalo ReUSE ever employed by the city? How does the organization come to be in charge of a house that needs to be demolished? Is there a legal side of the issue that Buffalo ReUSE has to deal with in order to have permission to take down a building?

We have not been employed by the City yet; they haven't contracted us for any work. The City is the largest property owner in Buffalo, period. They are also, in turn, the largest owner of vacant properties. There are council members who are very supportive of green demolition and grassroots organizations, but it becomes difficult when those supporters are not the council member of the district our building/operations are done in. Currently, all of the houses we've demolished were owned privately. Individuals and other developers have hired us to demolish their structures - ranging from smaller buildings like barns and garages to larger houses. They make a contract with us and we obtain a demolition permit just like all the other demo contractors do. We do not enter houses that we have not been given permission to salvage or demo. There is something called "salvage rights" which property owners or other demolition contractors give us before the house is demolished. That allows us to go in and reclaim tubs, windows, fixtures, flooring, sinks, doors, architectural materials etc.

3. What is the average salary of the dozen or so employed persons at Buffalo ReUSE?

The average hourly pay rate is $10 an hour. We employ folks part-time/hourly and others have a salary which means they work a minimum of 40hrs a week--but our 3 salaried workers wear many hats and work way more than 40. Michael never stops working--he even works while he's eating and sleeping (if he sleeps). We are also lucky enough to engage Americorps Members who serve with us for 6mos to a 1yr.

4.  How often do you perform green demolitions, and do you take on more than one demolition at a time?

It really depends, but we average one demo every 2-3 weeks. This summer we really thought we'd have a list of contracts to fulfill, but no one was looking to spend such a large amount of money with the current state of the economy. People chose to wait; now we have a list of people that want us to give them an estimate and we were lucky enough to be chosen by Kaleida to demolish some houses where they will be building a nursing home facility. The contract work usually is heavier in the summer than in the winter, but we also have the used building materials to sell and sales at the store have been increasing ever since we opened. The most we've ever sold in a week is 9K, but the average is closer to 5K. As more people learn about our company, we're hopeful sales will continue. Without the sales, we could not survive.

Currently, we do not have enough people power or equipment/vehicles to handle more than one demo at a time; however, we do run a Salvage Crew and a Green Demo Crew simultaneously. It does require a lot of coordination because we're a demolition company that operates a retail store AND an extensive community outreach program.

5.  How much does it cost to take down one vacant house?

The average two-story house costs between 12-16K to demolish--whether that's regular demolition or the method we use. The difference is the property owner gets a tax deduction for donating the materials we salvage and recycle. They usually get about 8K back from the government. There is no tax break for other demolition and all the materials end up in the landfill. We are able to divert almost 50% of the structure depending on it's size or other factors (like fire or water damage from a hole in the roof etc). The cost of demolition is based on: equipment rental, cost of throwing material in the landfill, asbestos surveying and abatement, sewing cuts and labor. Every ton of debris that goes to the landfill in Buffalo costs only $25, and that is very cheap compared to other cities in NY and the east coast (that is why traditional demolition is still so popular, it is quicker and cheaper). In NYC, it costs $110 a ton so contractors make sure to separate and divert materials. An average 2 story double will yield 45 tons of rubble. In Buffalo it costs $1,125.00 to use the landfill and bury a house, but in NYC, it's $4,950 just to use the landfill.

6.  What is the relationship between Buffalo ReUSE and the city mayor, Byron Brown? How has his plan to demolish 5,000 homes in 5 years impacted Buffalo ReUSE?

We do not have a good or bad relationship with the Mayor. He is aware of us and our programs. The mayor is under a lot of pressure from the public to eliminate blight and crime--especially around schools. We agree with eliminating blight; however, we believe there is an alternative to indiscriminate demolition. We believe those condemned properties hold materials that other low income property owners would put to good use in rehabbing vacant houses or maintaining occupied housing.

We think funding from the 300 Million dollar RESTORE NY grant can and should be provided to grassroots organizations trying to revitalize neighborhoods and that funding would help create jobs and make Buffalo a place people want to live and raise families and build community. The funds should not be strictly for demolition.

7.  What is the vision for Buffalo ReUSE say 5 or 10 years down the road?

There is a large vision for Buffalo ReUse. The goal we are moving toward is funding for our ReBEL Corps Program which would train at-risk young adults in a multitude of meaningful green collar jobs and help them earn their GED or other employment opportunities. We hope the ReSource will become a destination and a HUB for environmental education and sustainable practices for green residential and green commercial buildings. We want to transform all of the vacant lots in our target area (Best to E. Utica, Main to Jefferson) into gardens, parks, safe pass-thrus, greenhouses, and other spaces that benefit and beautify the neighborhood. We want to continue to plant trees, hold workshops, empower groups and individuals, and promote environmental stewardship. And if demolition is necessary, we want green demolition to become the only option.

8.  What kinds of opportunities do you have for volunteers?

There are many volunteer opportunities for groups, individuals, offices, youth, adults, everyone! This past summer, most of our volunteers worked in our green spaces. Our community gardens really got growing in the spring, so we had volunteers help us with planting, painting garden signs, harvesting, and building raised beds, arbors, fences, and other garden structures. The store always needs help with organizing, pricing, and cleaning inventory, and volunteers can also denail lumber and process doors. We have a need for photographers, graphic designers and even scientist-types. If you prefer working in an office, we have had volunteers assist with research, marketing and PR efforts, and maintaining and updating databases. We are also in the process of rehabbing a house to be a community space, so volunteers can participate in our home-repair workshops and activities such as reglazing windows, drywalling, tiling the bathroom floor, painting walls, or insulating the attic. Volunteers can go along on salvage runs, and occasionally they are needed to help with deconstructions. We ask that volunteers be "ready for anything" because you may be working outside with us--even if it's snowing. If you have a specific skill or area of interest, we will figure out a way to plug everyone in.

9.  How many volunteers do you currently have?

We have a variety of volunteers, who may not be active for every project. We mobilized almost 600 volunteers in 2009 and they gave at least one hour of their time helping us. We have people or groups who show up for one volunteer event, and some Super Volunteers who consistently donate their time. During the school year we get lots of college students too, but then they tend not to return. This summer alone, we had over 230 volunteers, and they served over 2,000 hours.

10.  Does Buffalo ReUse also build and/or rehab houses?

Not yet. We would like to perform ReHab Ready projects and also Green ReHabs during the brutal winter months, but for now we just focus on green demolition and landfill diversion. We are a busy organization that likes to dream really big.

11.  How was Buffalo ReUse founded?

In a coffee shop. The Founder, Michael Gainer, is originally from Erie, Pennsylvania. Michael moved to Buffalo in 2006. He loved the city, but he quickly became aware of 2 large and complex problems: housing vacancy and a large at-risk population of young adults. Michael and a group of community activists wanted to address these issues, and that is how Buffalo ReUse was born.

The current state of the city is that the population continues to decline; a city that once had over 350 thousand people now has less than 270 thousand. This leaves a glut of empty houses that cannot be maintained. The decline in population is largely due to a lack of jobs and industry which results in poverty. Buffalo ReUse directly addresses those problems by creating jobs through deconstruction and re-purposing used building materials.

Not only is our population declining, but Buffalo is the third poorest city in the country. It also has a 54% drop-out rate for high school students. These are serious issues that need to be addressed, and green demolition can be a vehicle to strengthen our neighborhoods, train young people, and create communities that welcome people back to the inner-city.

12.  Can you define deconstruction? What are the benefits? How does deconstruction fit into the green building movement?

Deconstruction, or "green demolition" is the process of taking down a building in the opposite way it was assembled. We use hybrid deconstruction which means People, as well as, a 10Klb. all-terrain forklift, to complement human labor. First, we go in and perform a salvage--removing materials like tubs, doors, sinks, cabinets, flooring toilets and architectural pieces. Then, imagine dismantling a house of cards. We cut up the house into panels and lower them to the ground using a telescopic forklift. Hybrid deconstruction has proven to be a more efficient, cost-effective, and is far superior to traditional deconstruction. The method was invented by David Bennink.

The focus of our demolition, and what separates our operation from the others doing work in the City of Buffalo, is our emphasis on ReUse and Recycling. We can effectively reclaim up to 50% of the tonnage of a house that would have otherwise been discarded. The benefits include diverting material from the already-overflowing landfills, salvaging architectural detail, antique items, and good quality building material that you can't find in houses or stores today (and that make Buffalo known for its historic buildings), and providing low-income homeowners with low-cost high quality items that they can use to take care of their own homes. It is less wasteful of our natural resources to reuse than to ship trees or materials across an ocean. For all these reasons it fits into the green building movement.

13. What are your biggest challenges right now at Buffalo Reuse?

Funding, publicity and obtaining materials. Its always a financial struggle to be competitive, especially when you're just starting a business. The issue of funding also results in us being short staffed; everyone wears several hats and works very long hours every week. And since we're still so new, we're trying to figure out the easiest ways to do everything - from marketing efforts to organizing volunteer days to spending our time most productively. However, if we can get used materials in the store--the materials will sell and generate revenue consistently.

14. What are some interesting things you've found in your demolitions?

Every house has vinyl records. We've also found bones, maple syrup, yearbooks, an antique gas light, a 6-pack of the glass bottles of Pepsi. A pantry full of vintage food. One house had 400 pairs of women's shoes, seriously. We also found a German mail-order-bride catalog.

15. Do you see many organizations like yours popping up across America?

There are organizations similar to us in the country, in that they have one or more components like us. Every successful organization tries to find a niche. The best source to find your local reuse store to visit The Building Materials Reuse Association. There are some out there and as green demo and salvage becomes more popular, I can assure you more will pop up. There are two operations in Pittsburgh - Construction Junction - and The Manchester Craftsmans Guild that combined, equal the kind of organization we aspire to be one day. Sustainable South Bronx does not perform much deconstruction but they have an extensive green collar job-training program which we believe would work in Buffalo. SSBX does a lot of urban greening and policy and advocacy. New Heights Construction in Washington State now offers green demolition, and there's a place similar to ours in Portland, Oregon though I don't know the name. The Loading Dock in Baltimore is a really cool non-profit building materials center too. Detroit has a great "Greening Detroit" program, involving tons of community gardens and urban farms, some even connected to local food banks. So everywhere there are programs like Buffalo ReUse, working to improve their city in a multitude of "green" ways.

16. Can you describe the folks you've seen shopping at Buffalo Reuse?

Everyone from artists to property owners to collectors. The majority of people shopping at Buffalo ReUse include landlords and property owners from our neighborhood. Our community is predominantly African American and there's a large percentage of low-income/fixed-income folks that shop with us. We also get middle to high-income individuals who living in older houses who are looking for objects with specific historic details like glass doorknobs or oak wood (things that are rare today but are in many old houses). We also get contractors who come to us for cheaper lumber, foundation stone, brick, etc. We get a variety of folks in our store, most of them homeowners and people who like a little DIY project or two.