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Green homes test market

Dustin Block
dustin.block@dailyreporter.com

Pragmatic Construction LLC received a clear, if crude, message when it started planning for two ultra-sustainable homes in Milwaukee’s Riverwest Neighborhood.

The words “Die yuppie scum” were scrawled across the project sign on the vacant lots at 702 and 708 E. Hadley St. That sign is gone and replaced with a new sign that has a spray-painted anarchy symbol over a picture of one of the future homes.

Nikolai Usack, a principal with Pragmatic, laughed off the vandalism, partly because he said he relates to the message.

“When we were younger, we were in that camp,” he said. “Now we’re on the receiving end.”

But Usack took it a step further. The anarchy symbol on Pragmatic’s sign reflects the message the company is trying to impress upon a housing industry reluctant to take on truly sustainable building practices.

“We’re trying to bring anarchy to regular construction,” Usack said, “so it’s appropriate.”

Anarchy, as practiced by Pragmatic, is building two homes that will have monthly utility bills less than $30 combined. They will have steel roofs that last 50 years, sustainable siding requiring no maintenance, triple-pane glass windows and highly insulated walls. They’ll boast reclaimed doors, fixtures and hardwood floors, and use less than two 30-yard Dumpsters for all of the waste from building both homes.

But the real rebellious move may simply be building two new homes on spec in a Milwaukee neighborhood during the worst housing economy in 30 years. The 1,100-square-foot houses — their small size is part of their sustainable design — are listed at $219,000 and $229,000.

“Crap, man, for that kind of money, I’d like a little more room,” said Spike Bandy, a longtime resident of the Riverwest neighborhood. “God bless whoever goes in there, hope they’re happy, hope they’re good neighbors.

I wouldn’t go in there, though.”

That’s the unknown: Will the homes sell?

Usack said there’s a strong market for green homes, and Pragmatic’s two homes in Riverwest will be among the two greenest in the state. They’re on track to being among the first to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating for homes, Usack said.

He called the homes “math” houses. Both are tuned to capture or repel sunlight depending on the season.

“We mathed the heck out of the building,” said Usack, a finance and philosophy major who jumped to construction full-time when he joined Pragmatic.

One home is a slanted block shape with large overhangs and a steel roof. The other is a more traditional shape, but it has the same steel roof and siding.

Pragmatic, which designed both houses, tried to make the homes blend in with neighboring buildings, Usack said.

“It doesn’t look like a hut in the woods,” he said.

Bandy said the designs will stand out but look OK in the neighborhood. He said he was disappointed to see the developers replace a five-unit apartment building — where he lived for a number of years — with two expensive houses. Some people, Bandy said, see the homes as gentrifying an area with a long history of supporting alternative lifestyles.

“In their mind, they’re looking to do the right thing,” he said about Pragmatic. “I don’t hold it against them.

My only thing is that it’s small and it’s going to support two families, and it’s definitely not in the affordable range for most people.

“But you can’t fault somebody for having a vision and the wherewithal for putting it together.”

Usack said Pragmatic expects interest to pick up on as the homes take form. One person nearly closed on one of the homes but got caught up in the recession and had to back out, he said.

“There’s a niche market for really green homes,” Usack said. “People are definitely interested.”

As for vandals who may strike this summer, he said, Pragmatic has a secret weapon. Rubbing his finger over the anarchy symbol, a small section of paint disappears from the sign.

“It’s a graffiti-proof sign,” he said. “We’ll have it cleaned off once the homes are up for sale.”

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