139. Creating Circularity in Construction with Marianna Sparks of Property Pro's

Our guest today is Marianna Sparks, founder of Property Pro's, a property stewardship company with a mission to foster sustainability in the building industry. Marianna speaks to us today about the difference between demolition and deconstruction. We explore the staggering amounts of waste created by construction demolition every day, and how careful deconstruction offers a sustainable alternative to reuse megatons of building materials.

Driven by a desire to facilitate positive change, Marianna is constantly expanding her knowledge of environmental initiatives such as Circularity and Climate Justice. She leverages this knowledge to implement strategies for greater impact in creating more sustainability in a highly wasteful sector of our economy. Her role at Property Pro’s is multi-faceted with valuation, innovation, collaboration, research, participation in trade organizations, problem solving, content and report creation, education, and customer relations at the forefront.

Topics Discussed 

• Zigbone Farm Retreat, Sabillasville, MD
• Second Chance in Baltimore
• Community Forklift in DC
• An overview of the reuse industry
• Property Pros is an appraisal company that appraises architectural reuse materials
• An average 2,000 square foot house will create about 20 tons of materials that will end up in the landfill
• Demolition vs deconstruction
• Property Pros also does consulting to help people learn about the possibilities for these materials
• Since deconstruction and material reuse is not part of the usual process, it can be difficult to find contractors that are open to the possibilities
• How the value of materials might help offset the costs of deconstruction
• Why isn’t the reuse industry more mainstream? 
• Some cities are implementing incentives such as expedited permitting and increasing landfill fees to encourage homeowners to explore the possibilities of deconstruction’
• Build Reuse–an organization that advocates for the reuse industry
• Marianna’s background, how she was raised with the idea of reuse and was inspired while living abroad in the military
• New ideas and innovations in the reuse industry
• The typical Property Pros client and how the process works
• Lifecycle Building Center in Atlanta
• Celebrities often donate their materials
• Reclaimed lumber can often have a lot of value
• Reusing concrete
• One problem in the industry is availability of materials when people need them/flexibility is necessary
• Reuse is the ultimate in sustainability

Connect with Marianna:

• Website: gotopropertypros and www.artisangardencompany.com
• Instagram: @artisangardenco and @gotopropertypros

This Episode is Sponsored by Pinetree Garden Seeds!

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Original music by John Kingsley. Our technical partner for this series is CitizenRacecar, Post-Production by Alex Brouwer and José Miguel Baez, Coordinated by Gabriela Montequin and Mary Ball. The Good Dirt is a part of the Connectd Podcasts Network.

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