Page 275 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

SUSTAINABLE BROKERAGE 253

A sustainable brokerage business should spread the word as fast as it can—even to
the extent of undermining its own very temporary competitive advantage. Peter Forbes,
head of the Center for Whole Communities, notes: “I am concerned that we are ‘saving’
thousands of very beautiful and important miles of Maine coastline that will very
likely end up under water because of global climate change.” 19
Forbes’ point applies well beyond the Maine coast: Why have this specialized
knowledge and experience of building green if there’s literally no place to put that knowl-
edge into action? As a seventy-year-old company, we like to think we have managed
to stay in business by doing the right thing. By doing the right thing, we—all of us—
will manage to stay in business. Survival itself is a sufficient differentiator.

The Business Case for

Sustainable Brokerage

Let’s return once again to our fictionalized company, Green, Inc., to which we now
add a small brokerage division of five brokers and an executive office manager. The
manager has a salaried position, while the brokers work solely on commission—a
standard split whereby 60 percent of gross commissions goes to the broker and 40 per-

OT
10
4 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TOTALS
ALS
300,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
3,000,000
300,000
300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 3,000,000
300,000
3,000,000
300,000
300,000
300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 3,000,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
(60,000)
(60,000)
(60,000)
(60,000)
(60,000)
(600,000)
(60,000)
(60,000)
(60,000) (60,000) (60,000) (60,000) (60,000) (60,000) (60,000) (600,000)
(50,000)
(50,000)
(50,000)
(50,000)
(50,000) (50,000) (50,000) (50,000) (50,000) (50,000) (50,000) (500,000)
(50,000)
(500,000)
(50,000)
(50,000)
(20,000)
(20,000) (20,000) (20,000) (20,000) (20,000) (20,000) (20,000) (200,000)
(20,000)
(20,000)
(200,000)
(20,000)
(20,000)
(20,000)
(20,000)
(1,300,000)
(130,000)
(130,000)
(130,000) (130,000) (130,000) (130,000) (130,000) (130,000) (130,000) (1,300,000)
(130,000)
(130,000)
(130,000)
(130,000)
(130,000)
170,000
170,000
170,000
170,000
170,000 170,000 170,000 170,000 170,000 170,000 170,000
170,000
170,000
170,000
0.386
0.564
0.467
0.621
0.683 0.621 0.564 0.513 0.467 0.424 0.386
0.683
0.513
0.424
95,961
72,097
79,306
87,237
65,542
105,557
12
16,1
116,112 105,557 95,961 87,237 79,306 72,097 65,542