SAN RAFAEL, CA - Green builders of all sizes may soon get a one-stop shop for all their building needs when San Rafael-based NewHome opens the first of nine planned full-service showrooms in April. The company plans to take home improvement powerhouses Home Depot and Lowe's head on, according CEO Rich Rifkin. He says the company just spent eight months rebranding itself as a green building retailer and service provider. For more than four years, NewHome was a "conventional" business, he says.
"This is a true collaboration between corporate-minded big business and the green professionals," Rifkin says. "Never before has that been possible. We did it because the market changed."
NewEarth plans to follow the Apple model of hybrid retail with online and in-store retail sales of about 20,000 "eco-friendly" products. Customers from individual homeowners to developers of multi-unit and commercial properties will also find a full suite of services available, including mortgage brokerage, contracting and project management, along with advice and referrals. It's a corner of the market Rifkin says other home improvement retailers have missed.
"We're trying to replace Home Depot and Lowe's," Rifkin says. "We staff our stores with green building professionals to assist the contractor and consumer with making an intelligent purchase."
San Francisco-based Green Key Real Estate is one company that will offer services and advice in NewHome's first showroom. Green Key agents will be on hand to provide shoppers with the type of advice about the green real estate market they would get in one of the brokerage's own offices, says Green Key CEO Chris Bartle.
NewHome reported revenues of $1.45 million in 2007 with a 13 percent profit, according to its Web site. Rifkin says he expects the new business model to yield $20 million per store each year in sales and $20 million per store per year in services for the company.
Source: SustainableIndustries.com