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The goals of the TRI two-day workshop are to promote community awareness of deconstruction and building-materials salvage and in the process to: 1) divert reusable building materials from landfills, and 2) generate jobs within the host community. We hope that as workshop participants (usually local businesspeople) interact, fresh ideas will emerge concerning how to establish deconstruction as a sensible alternative to demolition.

In January, 2010, I briefly mentioned the new TRP Kitchen Deconstruction and Removal Program currently being launched, first in the San Francisco Bay Area and then throughout all TRP regions.

We are targeting kitchen designers and remodelers and homeowners. For the same cost as traditional smash-and-discard demolition, TRP will remove kitchen cabinets and appliances, leave the project in broom-clean condition and provide a tax-deductible receipt for the donated reusable items.

Thanks to support and encouragement from local governments, contractors, community colleges, and TRP regional managers, The ReUse Institute has scheduled several sessions of the TRI 2-Day Deconstruction Workshop this year in cities throughout the U.S. If you are a contractor interested in diversifying, a homeowner wanting to remodel, a used building-materials retailer looking for more and better materials, or simply an interested professional or preservationist, this course is for you.

Contrary to popular belief, economic turndowns can produce significant benefits. From a business standpoint (and nonprofit organizations like TRP are businesses), recessions accomplish at least two things. First, leaders are forced to focus on core competencies and eliminate less important activities.