Green and Virtual Office: Designer Plumbing Outlet
October 19, 2008 by Julie
Filed under Moms Living Green
DesignerPlumbingOutlet.com is an online retailer who sells plumbing fixtures, fittings and accessories. I recently met with CEO Eric Strand.
Julie- How is your company green?
Eric- We recently joined the WaterSense program sponsored by the EPA and added an “eco friendly” search to our website so our customers can make “greener” choices when purchasing faucets, showerheads and toilets. We are giving them the information to choose water-saving products for their home remodeling projects.
Julie-Is being green important to you?
Eric- Yes, because I feel that we all have a responsibility to be good stewards to what was given to us.
Julie- What event convinced you of the importance of green and what have you implemented towards this?
Eric- Higher energy costs are a huge concern. In my personal life and business, I try to be as efficient with resources as possible. We minimize printing by using PDF files and services like Efax.com. We also, highlight Green and Eco friendly products on our site. We are the first major plumbing e-tailer to be accepted into the program.
Julie- Tell me more about being virtual.
Eric- The high cost of maintaining an office and having everyone commute up to an hour to get to and from work seemed pointless and wasteful. We had some employees that worked from home and I made a decision to sub-let our office and go 100% virtual.
We currently have ten employees; two in Louisiana, two in Florida, and seven in Virginia. Six of our employees are stay-at-home moms who are effectively juggling the demands of childcare and work. Some of the positions they work are: Web Editor, Operations Manager, Team Leader, and Customer Service & Sales Representatives. I feel the company gains time and efficiency by working directly from home. Everyone saves money on gas and many of them save on daycare. From an environmental standpoint, this way of doing business keeps cars off the road contributing a lower carbon footprint, plus with everything being handled online, the company is mostly paperless.
Julie- Sounds like a company to be proud of! Thanks, Eric!
According to WaterSense, the average American household uses about 100,000 gallons of water in a year, and 11,000 gallons of that are unnecessarily wasted each year due to inefficient toilets and faucets. If every inefficient toilet in the United States was replaced by a WaterSense labeled model, it would save 640 billion gallons of water.
