Finally, a quiet moment where I can sit down and write. I find that I have not posted for a while, yet I have been receiving e-mails with questions, and the number of daily readers has been doing well without my efforts. You see between work, a course on green building techniques for home inspectors, and the birth of my third child, I had no time to deliver the posts that I wanted to create for this site. However, I think that I achieved some sort of success for myself if the blog can continue going well without assistance.

During the course, a new home inspector was asking about marketing techniques, and I gave him a bit of advice about marketing his business on the internet. I made a quick comment about blogging, but there really was not enough time to detail my thoughts. We home inspectors face a situation which may not be dissimilar to other careers, so this may apply to others. We have suffered more than some other real estate professionals, because our service is seen as optional. Buyers and sellers would rather save the money now than pay for an inspection. Most consumers will go with the recommendations of their Realtors, which means the consumer never does search for us. Yet there are consumers who see our profession as indispensable. We have to market to all of these groups.

Will the internet be the answer to our marketing issues? The answer is a double edged sword. My business is local, but my website is global. A reader in Russia will more than likely not use my service. Only readers in the greater Houston area are truly my target. To have a successful website though, you need both. While I was not working on this blog, I continued to receive e-mails from around this country (and one from outside this land) with questions about problems that people faced in their homes or other people wanting to find work in a specific niche of the home inspection business. If they have a website, they may link to me, or they may create a link to my site in a comment on someone else’s blog. This helps establish me as an authority, particularly with the search engines. If the search engine’s robots see these links, they may direct others to my site on their results page. If my site is easier to find, local internet users may find this site more rapidly, leading to increased business.

What about keywords? Every week I receive inquiries about the best keywords for home inspectors. It is easy to say that I should pick words or phrases that relate to “home inspector” or “home inspection” along with “Houston”, so I could have “Houston home inspector” or “home inspections in Houston”, but those terms have hardly brought me clients. The internet is filled with people looking for information, and the keyword which may bring them to you may be a surprise. I have obtained more work from the keywords “stucco”, “EIFS”, “foreclosure”, “winterization”, and “flooding” along with phrases that include those terms than any variation involving my actual profession. This is the beauty of the blog format. I can write about items that I find on my inspections or general concerns about homes. If I include my location in the post, I can make contact with my target audience for my business. I can do a series of posts on that topic, working to optimize the selected keyword. If you want to know more about keywords, I think that you should read this twelve part guide to keywords written by Stoney deGeyter. I am always reading his posts on Search Engine Guide.

Do I need to post often to build up the readership? I remember the advice of writing three posts a week to really obtain an audience. Now I read that writing three posts a day is needed for some sites, but this is not really necessary. Are you trying to place your blog in the top one hundred list from Technorati? You are a small business that is focused on a specific geographic location, so having one of the most read blogs should not be your goal. What you need is a few posts that will always generate readership. Finding a topic can be hit or miss. Focus on your customer. Think about their concerns. The keywords that I mentioned above are some concerns that my clients have. You could apply this to any small business though. A florist could write about various flower arranging techniques; or a baker could describe how to get the best possible bread from a home oven. Being generous with your information is important. A home cook will realize that maybe they cannot get the bread exactly right, or they may just want to taste the one from the baker, so they go to his store to buy a loaf. A home buyer realizes that there is more to looking at stucco, so they hire a specialist (me). Build these anchor posts, and the internet traffic keeps coming, whether you are writing or not. The most popular formats for these posts are the “how-to” or the list (“top ten”). To create these anchor posts, I like to write down what is happening to my client at different stages of the real estate transaction. For each stage, I write down ten things that could be happening to them or that they could be thinking about. I try to find a topic there that will let me connect with them. If you are new to blogging, I think that the best primer I have come across recently was written by Bill Slawski. You should really read his advice to a new blogger.

What happens if you do not like to write? You are out of luck. Alright bad joke. Marketing is communication, and an aspect of your job now is opening up a dialog with the consumer. I am just now reading The Cluetrain Manifesto again. If you are new to creating a business blog or website, this book will give you the basis to understanding how communication works on the internet. You are looking to start a conversation with your potential clients. Blog formats offer a better environment for this talk. A reader can comment, or they may send an e-mail. I have seen experts on internet marketing state that you should turn the comments off till you build up your readership, but this tactic turns me off as a user. I do not go back to such blogs. Let’s get back to the question though. I think it is better that you write your own material, but there are other options. You can hire a ghost writer. I did this for some people. This can be an expense. For example, I charged $50 for an article over 500 words. Now, what if you need ten articles? Maybe some ghost writing is not bad, but I think you have to work on your own to have good information on your site. The other option is a guest blogger. I have written for many other sites, and I have only one requirement: they have to allow a link back to my site. Having some experts write posts for you can be great (as well as free), but I am still advocating that you need to have some of your own words on the site. You are your own best promoter.

Since blogging is a form of social networking, should you expand out to such sites on the internet? Facebook and Twitter have been getting a lot of attention in the news. Large corporations are using these sites and others like them to promote and defend their brands. It may seem natural for a small business to follow suit, but there have been studies showing that users of these sites do not look for local businesses in this social sphere of the internet. Taking the conversation beyond the bounds of your blog is important though. You have to pick where you socialize on the web to be effective. Take my business; I need to connect with Realtors to encourage them to suggest me. Sites like LinkedIn or Plaxo are good for that, but then it is easier to make a connection on a site like ActiveRain. My focus now is more on the consumer. To convince people that a good home inspection can be invaluable to them, I can participate in sites like Trulia or Zillow, as well as on my own blog. I can find other blogs to leave comments on too. However, you should think beyond the confines of your immediate profession. In my case, most home buyers are also interested in financial matters. If you survey financial sites, like Yahoo!Finance, or the field of financial advice blogs, you will find discussions about home ownership. You can take this idea for other small businesses as well. Going back to our florist and baker, we can see that they may want to hang out in a common niche on the web, gardening sites. Many home cooks like to grow their own herbs (which can be included in a bread), and many people want to grow their own flowers for arrangements. The basic idea is to participate in the conversations out there which somehow relate to your field.

How should I develop the site, and do I need professional help for that? Look around this site and you are going to find a collection of programs that may be good for a real estate site, but are not really needed to make this a good business blog. I have been fascinated with the open source movement since the mid 90′s. When I was trying to show some Realtors what they could do with their sites, I decided to add on such features as a forum, a store, and a way to list homes, but I have not spent time promoting those aspects of this site. I wanted to see how to install them, and how I could work with them. I am just having a bit of fun. Depending on your business, you may find such aspects of site development useful. I would go to sourceforge.net to see if they may have a program that can help you and your customers create a community on your site. Installing these programs is not so hard when you have some basic knowledge of the internet. Hiring a professional can be a good option though. I have seen internet marketing experts offer evaluations of your site with a roadmap of what to do to improve it for as little as $100. Spending some money on a search engine marketer may be the best move you could make to have your site noticed. If I am remembering correctly, I believe that the figure was approximately $1300 spent by bloggers on their sites is the average amount according to Technorati’s State of the Blogoshpere report for this year. This would include all of the different types of blogs. You may find that you need only $500 worth of help.

Well, this post is becoming too long, but I hope that it may serve as a good introduction into creating a small business website. (So Josh, if you are reading this, it was for you). You have to coordinate your efforts on the web with what you are doing offline. Go to networking meetings, and hand out your business card, which has your website listed on it. My card has several sites listed on the back. Not all of my own, but sites where I have written posts. It helps to show my authority. Good luck in your own efforts.

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After having written a post about using REITs as a tool for real estate investors to discover which kinds of properties to invest in. I had a person ask me which REITs had lower leverage (based on the comment to that post). Since you can purchase a REIT that specializes in one type of property, is there a sector that is generally lower in leverage than others. Maybe, but I find that you can discover firms that are run properly, whether they are buying office buildings, hospitals, or hotels. To help you pick a REIT, I thought that I would go over some guidelines that I use.

Firstly, I am not a financial advisor nor some stock guru (I am a home inspector); I am only explaining my method, so you can build upon it to find your own REITs. I will not explain the terminology in this post, because there are better sites for those definitions. I think that Mr. Bogle’s advice of investing in index funds is best for a little investors, but I also think that REITs can be a great introduction into real estate investing for those who do not want to deal with owning an actual piece of property. Here we go.

Where can you go to find a stock? Since I have a brokerage account, I use the research tools available to me on that site; however, there are many free stock screening tools to be found on the internet. (Type in that phrase into your favorite search engine to find a list). In the past, I have used the one provided by Kiplinger’s which I really liked. Today, I checked what would come up in a search, and I found one from Zack’s Investing site that was really good. Take some time to learn how to set up your search, and maybe try a few different ones to see what they come up with on a list.

What should I be looking for in a REIT? To find my parameters, I looked at a set of metrics which made sense to me, and wrote down those numbers for twenty different companies, which I then averaged out. Here is the metrics list:

P/E (price to earnings) ratio: average = 24.03 I made my range 20 to 28 I felt that this range showed that there was not too much unqualified belief in the stock’s performance, nor a feeling of bad performance by other investors.

Debt over Equity: average = 2.18 to play it safe, I decided to look for firms that had a number lower than 2.18 (most REITs take on debt to buy real estate, but you do not want them to be overburdened by it).

Yield %: average = 3.72 I decide to look for yields greater than 3.5% (what can I say, I like dividends, but all REITs have to pay out there profits)

ROE (return on equity): average = 11.69 I decided on a range from 8 to 15

ROA (return on assets): average = 4.09 I decided on a range from 2 to 6

P/B (price to book) ratio: I chose a range of 1,21% to 6%, because I associate that figure with more value stocks.

I also focused on smaller firms (under $10billion), because I thought that they had room to grow, and I chose only one firm to represent a sector of REITS, beacause I was not looking to buy a great many stocks. I looked at the fluctuations in price over time (anything that was swinging wildly up and down was out); I also looked at the stock price history (there had to be a good steady climb over ten years). A note on the ROE and ROA: I felt that if management was going too far below the average, they were not doing a good job. If they were too far above average, they may easily loose control of the situation like a bubble popping. That is why I came up with a range that I was comfortable with. Lastly, I investigated news articles about the firm. If I felt that something was amiss, or not to my personal liking, I scratched their name of the list.

Do these criteria guarantee me success? No; stocks will always carry a degree of risk, but I think that these factors help me choose firms that are doing a good job. I once worked as a senior manager where I could make a good deal of money in bonuses if I met certain financial numbers. I frequently saw managers fudging numbers in the belief that they could make it up the next quarter, so they could obtain that bonus which they needed to pay off bills. I one time discovered $10,000 in unpaid invoices for a small retail location that were hidden to make that spot appear more profitable. It took me three months, but I made the location profitable through wise planning. I came away from the experience realizing that many managers feel that it is easier to fudge than to spend the time to work. Considering the current financial crisis, I think that I cannot always trust financial numbers, but I think that these ranges play it fairly safe; however, you have to judge for yourself when picking stocks.

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I did not want to look at the rapid collapse of my stock portfolio. Each day last week brought more bad news, and I am not sure that I could take any action which will benefit me dramatically. Sipping my first cup of coffee this morning, I braved the currents to look at my portfolio. I wanted to laugh. I was trying to see if any stock had held its own. One of my REITs did. Glancing at other REITs in my portfolio, I saw that this was not the case with the others. The idea dawned on me that these REITs could provide a useful tool for a real estate investor who was analyzing properties.

REITs are “real estate investment trusts”, and they are the easiest way for many of us to become real estate investors. Most of us think of buying a property when considering this type of investment, and over the long run, I believe that ownership of land and building would produce a better return than a REIT, but I feel that these stocks are good for helping me round out my investments. The interesting thing about REITs is that you can find firms which specialize in one type of real estate. One could deal with medical properties, while another deals with commercial office space, and so on.

How could REITs become a useful tool for the real estate investor who wants to own their property? These stocks could show you the trend in what is considered a good property to buy. In my case, the REIT which held its own specialized in health care properties. The population is getting older and various type of facilities need to be in place to meet this need: retirement communities; medical office complexes; and hospitals for example. Investors who work together may be able to buy into such a facility, or even an investor who has the funds alone. However, I am thinking along the lines of smaller real estate investors, so you may consider networking strategies to work with other investors to purchase a building that would specialize in doctors’ offices.

There are other opportunities for analysis though. The house that you just purchased as an investment could be sold or rented. Looking at REITs that specialize in apartment buildings will show you that it is better to rent now than sell. Taking a broader view, you may have sold some homes, so you have some cash, you may wish to consider stepping up to buy an office building instead of a home to rent (the current values of REITs would suggest not to take this action).

When planning out your strategy, glancing at the trend in REITs could be a way to make a decision about your next step.

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Last year saw a focus on using the term “green” in marketing, and there has been a rise of businesses offering services which appeal to this idea. The idea of a “green” home is much older though. I can remember a few years ago when the concept of green home was really taking off in the main stream media. Straw bale construction was considered way out there at the time, and few home inspectors knew about the building codes for this type of construction (or cared for that matter). Now more people are aware of this building style.

Most of the focus has been on green home construction, but not on converting existing homes to a green one. Of course we are all aware of certain steps that we can take to reduce our environmental footprint and reduce energy. CFLs are quite common (I see them in home inspections all of the time), but I am not really seeing contractors who specialize in converting a home to a green one. Many were predicting that this would be a real growth industry starting at this time. Considering that Realtors are being trained to point out green features, and there are new designations for Realtors to show off their environmental credentials. Maybe this green remodeling industry is sure to follow soon.

Before this industry goes into full swing, there are means for a homeowner to start converting a home on their own. This is going beyond what is typically mentioned as do it yourself projects like the light bulb conversion. What we need is a plan to follow which will make our homes meet a higher standard, but we also need to consider ways to emulate green techniques when our homes were not designed with that idea in mind.

With this series of posts, I hope to indulge in a little fantasy in thinking about how these green conversions could take place, and I want to look at how these conversions can take place now with products which are readily available. With this post, I want to set myself the goal of writing a post a day on this topic/series.

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Green is in. I am sitting in my car between home inspection jobs when I see a dry cleaner advertising in large letters “WE’RE GREEN”. I am not exactly sure how they justify this claim, but it has become an important marketing gambit. I am waiting for the tanning salon next to it to make such a statement. I can see it now; sand in the parking lot behind the building. The client walks in to be handed a beach towel while being directed to the sand pit. Green concerns are infecting the building industry too. A recent trip to a bookstore found me staring at several shelves of books on green construction techniques. The store only stocked a few books on this subject last year.

I decided to see if I could set some criteria for a book which could help homeowners convert their home to fit this green trend. One of my home inspections on Saturday showed that this desire is alive in Houston. The owner had taken several steps to improve their home’s efficiency, though it still had more steps to take. I wanted to find a book that would explain the principles behind what makes a house green in an easy to understand manner by someone who is an established expert in the field. I also wanted the book to detail how an existing home could be converted wisely. This last point proved daunting. All of the books were calling for major renovations or more often new construction. I did not realize that I was asking so much.

When perusing the shelves, I found Green from the Ground Up by David Johnston and Scott Gibson. Johnston is the expert with the experience while Gibson provides the clear writing for understanding. The book details new construction techniques in a way which is great for builders (and home inspectors) as well as the public at large. I probably drifted to the book since it is published by Taunton Press which has so many good reference material for the home building industry. The format of the book reminds me a bit of a magazine, which is not my favorite reading, but the boxes provide greater details of the material at those points. In part, the book is an argument to homeowners and builders why green building makes sense and is necessary.

The best part of the book is that it looks at many options and details of what will be needed to create a green home. I appreciated the fact that the authors were forthright about the pros and cons of the different materials and problems you could face. I did find that by reading the book that I could gain ideas of how to convert an existing home to a green vision, but this is not the purpose of the work.

If you wish to gain an understanding of what a green home is, and the current state of green building, this book is a great introduction for the professional and lay reader. When planning a house, this book should be read before you start making any plans, so you can understand how to proceed. Building green needs to begin when you first think of having a green home. Well, I still need to search for a good book on taking simple steps to a green conversion of my home, but I do plan to begin a series of posts on this topic starting tomorrow.

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I had made a promise with myself to be open about my efforts in developing and marketing this site. One reason is that part of my audience are other real estate professionals who have subscribed to my blog to find information that could help them, but also to pull the curtain back to reveal the wizard at his machine. I have detailed some of my tasks, but I wanted to have one post which goes over everything.

For now, I think that the elements are in place for a destination point for people interested in real estate (especially for real estate in Houston). The effort now is to have these elements become active to help the community here. What use is a forum with no one who adds to it? Or a listing service which has no homes listed? I was surprised by how easy it was to create these aspects of the site. Really, anyone could jump into the game of offering such services to the consumer, but you have to hold the content on your site to draw them in. I think that I have done pretty well with that fact, but I am reviewing posts to see how I can improve their use to the visitors here.

My big effort on this site is marketing. I do not expect most internet users to be my clients. I actually expect that most will not, but for this site to grow in its mission to help the consumer, I need to bring consumers in to provide their own voice, hence marketing. Leading up to and just after Hurricane Ike, I discovered a huge jump in the number of visitors here. In part, I could not engage these visitors well, because I had no power, and no access to the internet. Once power was restored, my first concern was to give out any information that I had which could help my fellow residents of this city. A light bulb went off, when I was examining my internet marketing campaigns. I should not advertise my service, but rather advertise the information which could help the people that I was trying to reach with these posts.

Being in the real estate industry this year means that I have no budget left for marketing, so paying for ads which are not encouraging people to use my home inspection service (no immediate return on investment), but just to read my blog for free advice may appear dumb. Well, maybe it was. The benefits from such a move are in the long term, and I would rather take a long term view for this site and my business at this time. That means building a community here. My current ad is focused on encouraging people to list their homes for sale on this site. I hope it will work. I really need to find a way to tie this into an effective offline campaign.

One tool which has surprised me in its ability to aid me in my marketing efforts is Google Analytics. I did not have much use for this, since I was quite happy with the analytics programs available to me. What I found though is that Google’s service offered me a quick way to access information in the way that I wanted it. It is not completely what I want, but two factors have really assisted me: being able to use this program to analyze my AdWords campaign; and being able to drill down the data for a particular day. The better understanding that I have of macro and micro data makes for better efforts to find ways to serve the visitor here, which in turn leads to improved marketing. I think any website owner should spend sometime examining how visitors interact with their sites if they are looking to draw visitors into them.

I still have to flesh out my marketing plan, and there is another piece to the puzzle to add here (pdf files- ebooks to help the consumer). I have decided to refashion my static site into a blog about “Life in Houston”. Again, it will not help my business directly, but these websites are becoming more of a great hobby than anything else, and it will eventually spread my home inspection business name around town, or I could focus on business consulting.

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My adventure continues with open source programs to enhance a website. Possibilities abound when a person has a bit of will to turn a site into something more. I realize that as a home inspector writing about the inspection industry is not going to drive readers my way, but I am part of a larger industry, which is of interest to many. When I started playing with these ideas, I thought that a Realtor could take them on when developing their site, but seeing that I was not finding anyone to rise to that attempt, I believed that I should enter that arena.

Creating a survey with the open source program Limesurvey was fairly easy. My expertise lies in other areas, so I did have some missteps. I encounter blocks to my progress when using some open source software. Sometimes the steps needed do not seem intuitive, and I do not find the help that I need promptly. This did cause head scratching, but with a little determination the steps fell into place. When building my survey, I found that after the initial step there was no arrow pointing me clearly to the next part of the process; however, looking at the notes on the page caused me to go fill in the missing information required for the survey.

It really was not so hard to create a professional looking form with Limesurvey. There are other programs out there, and they seemed fine for certain tasks. I chose this program because it allowed me some options like form length, answer type (fill in, radio buttons, etc.), and style. It also compiles the data in an easy to read fashion, which I am sure other programs will do as well. Overall, my experience was a good one. It took me about an hour to create a forty question survey.

Questioning our visitors can lead to interesting data. In my case, I want to probe further into data which has already been obtained by a local Realtor Association to understand more aspects of the real estate process. It is a nice way to set yourself up as an authority, when you can present the results.

Here is the link to my draft survey if you wish to take a look: take the survey.

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This past month I have had a few calls where I was being asked to explain reports produced by other home inspectors. One report was produced by a very experienced inspector, while the others were from a newer inspectors. It was interesting to see similarities between the reports which led to confusion, which is why I was asked to explain them. These reports were attempting to provide valuable information for their clients, while leaving sellers confused. Here is where the problem areas:

Photographs: Most people respond better to visual inputs rather than written ones, and inspectors use photos in their reports to show the problem. In all of the reports, there were references to fuzzy photos, claiming that the picture demonstrated a problem, but the seller had no idea what was being shown. There were also situations were a Picture A was shown and then a picture B was placed next to it to show a result. In one case, an exterior shot of Wall X was pictured, then there was an interior shot of Wall Z on the opposite side of the building. The problem on Wall X had nothing to do with Wall Z, but the explanation indicated that it did.

Phrasing: in the situation above with the Walls X and Z, there was a link though. The problem shown in picture A can cause an issue like the one shown in picture B. These reports were quite long, but I noticed that imprecise explanations were to be found throughout them. Basically, what the inspector was saying was correct, just not quite in the way he was saying it though. Along these lines is the idea of clarity. Inspectors should walk a roof, unless hazardous conditions exist. In one report, the inspector states he simply walked around the home without binoculars. He then makes pronouncements about the roof, but he adds that he is not sure, since the roof was inaccessible. I have walked the roof in question, so I knew that it was accessible. The terminology he used hinted that there was an issue with the roof (since it was inaccessible), not the fact that he chose to avoid walking the roof.

Stating the unknown: with the roof problem above, the inspector states that there may be a problem, but he is unsure. He then quotes an estimate to have the possible problem repaired. This leads to the idea that there really is a problem in many minds. In fact, I saw in all of these reports comments on possible causes, and then possible repairs. Home inspectors should not be repair men, and we are not there long enough to make a determination on every possible cause of each problem. In one case, the inspector stated since there was a problem with the unit, that he felt an entirely new unit was needed based upon its size. I did my own quick calculation, and relied on my own knowledge of how units should be sized from my talks with A/C technicians, to find that the unit was sized perfectly. The unit was relatively new, and I found that it had been installed by a reputable firm, so I think it was the sized properly. This made the sellers question everything that inspector wrote.

Quoting prices of repairs: this seems to be a growing trend, but I find it to mislead our clients. On the reports which had quotes, I found that the seller could have many of the repairs completed at about ten percent of the price stated. Buyers use these estimates claiming that they want these costs to be reduced from the asking price, while sellers see that the repairs can be made for far less. This places sellers and buyers at an impasse, which the Realtors have to resolve.

Home inspectors also seem to want to cover themselves too much in their reports, which is leading to the issues mentioned above. We are there to find the concerns as well as to help our clients understand their home. By writing simply, and doing the job we were meant to do, we can best serve our clients.

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It was a beautiful home; the type that newlyweds would love. Tile floors in the kitchen and dining room, with wood floors throughout the rest of the home. The doors had been updated, and the mechanical systems were kept up to date. The home inspection went well; however, there are always little things that people forget.

While inspecting various homes recently, I noticed that we like to make the house look good, but we forget some small repairs. Our eyes are drawn to appearance. If it looks good, then things must be good. We do not often think of repairs that could save us money. For example, I saw an attic door which would not fully close. The cool air drifted up through the crack to cool the attic, causing the A/C to work harder. An adjustment was needed to fix this waste.

Here is a list of common home inspection noted repairs that could save your home from further repairs:

Caulking roof nails or other fasteners: when the exposed nail head rusts, water can start leaking in. These fasteners will be found on shingles, vents/flashing, and dish supports.

Caulking expansion joints or wall joints were two siding materials join: rain does not only travel straight down. If you have a brick wall which then turns into a wall covered with wood plank siding, there will be a joint, which needs to be caulked.

Ground level coming up to the siding of the house: garden beds or grading for yards brings the earth in contact with the siding. This gives insects cover to come into the home. Water can flow into the house, or just seep into the siding, causing damage.

Having the exterior A/C unit sitting three inches above ground:the compressor/condenser unit needs to be above the ground to prevent water from sitting in the unit, rusting out the parts or causing other damage.

Pruning trees and bushes so that they do not rub against the house: I have a tree branch take off a section of roof. I have seen branches of a bush damage a conduit tube on a home. These plants seem harmless, but they can injure the building during a storm.

These are simple repairs which will prevent larger issues. Water penetrating into the home can cause rot, which leads to weakening of the framing. All of these are fairly easy to do, and they are not expensive, but they can save you money over the long run.

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I am skeptical about all of the green claims. I walk through the grocery stores to see cleaners with green claims. At the home improvement center, you will find the same. Going past the building section in the bookstore shows how popular the trend has become. When considering these claims, I consider the situation which led Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to investigate Forum Trading.

There we had a company selling $20 capacitors for $200 or more with the claim that they could reduce your electric bills by using less electricity. The device did not meet its promises. This morning I read an article in the Canadian Press about a green driveway. When they mentioned that this was a driveway of grass, but that the grass was not damaged since the car’s weight was handled by a plastic grid, I had my doubts.

After coming back from some home inspections today, I started checking into possible manufacturers for this product. I was thinking that it would some type of grid like a web. The product reminded me of pavers scene in some gardens, particularly in Europe. It turned out to be a good look. This firm specializing in soil retention had a good site to see what the product was like.

It has unique appearance, which may not be appreciated by some. I think it may not fly with civic clubs or homeowner’s associations, but it is a green product. The advantage to such a driveway is that it allows water to soak into the ground, instead of running into the street to help with flooding. The drive also lasts longer than the normal slab version. Guessing, I would say such a drive could last around ninety years, while a slab would last fifty years.

I would not mind replacing my slab with a plastic grid like this one, but I would like to check further into the product to verify its green claims. It just makes sense, since so many people are now jumping on the green bandwagon. Plant a short leafed grass (maybe something in the mondo grass family), and I would not even have to mow it.

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