Business View Magazine
3
Construction
Octob r – Business View
39
executive included more than 10 years as a carpenter
for a customer home builder in Utica. He ultimately
eschewed the upstate New York winters for the more
temperate Southeast, and took advantage of a building
boom in Georgia’s largest city.
“I got smart one day, on a day when it was about 8
below zero,” he said, “I decided to pack up my truck
and head south.”
He worked with various builders on a number of
projects for his first year in the new surroundings,
then made the leap and opened Oneida Builders in
1997. Business grew from both repeat customers and
referrals, and he’s since established a presence as the
“Green Guru” thanks to a stint as a television host
and some additional radio work focused on home
remodeling and sustainable building practices.
And, as electricity prices have soared, his additional
expertise has paid off handsomely.
“Some customers have air conditioning running
for nine months of the year and heat running three
months out of the year, but no idea about how much
energy they’re using,” he said. “Some have no interest
in embracing the efficiencies which come from green
practices, but I’ll ask them, ‘If I take my drill and drive
five pinholes in your gas tank, would you spend the
$2,000 to repair it?’ Most will say, ‘Of course,’ because
they’re concerned about wasting gas.
“I tell them it shouldn’t be any different when it comes
to energy being wasted, they might have 50 percent of
their air leaking air through ducts. So I try to educate
them on solutions to overcome these problems, and
I never recommend a green practice that I haven’t
already done in my own house.”
He’s working with national green products
manufacturers to promote greater awareness of
construction and remodeling practices that enhance
greater sustainability. The improvements he endorses
Rocco Sinisgalli was a man with plan.
As far back as the second grade.
