One of the biggest problems we've had with this project is convincing tradespeople that certain "eco" products are better than what they normally use.

Two examples.

Paint

Our builder had previously had a "bad experience" with an eco paint, and so brandished all eco paints with the same tar. We were planning to go with BioPaints for our internal wall paints after a friend having really good experiences with them. We had already decided that while Bauwerk lime based paints sounded fantastic, that they were just too different to convince our builder to use. Our builder still baulked at the idea, as Solver was his usual paint, and we ended up going with the low-VOC Solver Enviroguard paints.

Even then our builder didn't like their coverage and finish compared with their normal range. I, on the other hand, was quite happy with the finish (where the paint was decently applied), and the lack of smell was fantastic.

But using an eco product against a tradespersons advice allows them the upper hand. If the finish isn't great: well, of course it was the product not the application. We painted our doors ourselves, with a very good finish (if I do say so myself!). The next day the builder had placed all the doors upright touching each other (we had separated them all with polystyrene). When they took them to install, quite a few spots of paint pulled off almost all the doors. But was it because of him stacking them together still wet? No, apparently not, apparently it was the paint's fault - it "lacked guts".

Cork floor sealer

We ummed and ahhed about whether to use an eco sealer for the floors. It was going to cost an extra $1000 to do so (for an extra coat and the eco sealers themselves). The cork guy wouldn't guarantee the finish and said that it won't last (having never used the product before as a reference, mind you). But we decided that if we went to the trouble of having low VOC paints, we should go the whole hog and use low VOC floor finishes too.

So, we used the Bio Floor Varnish from Bio Paints. It looks ok to my untrained eye, except for the cork installer's sanding marks in the corners (but of course he could blame the product if he wanted to).

 

So, how can we use eco products when mainstream tradespeople can so easily blame them for everything that might go wrong?

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