Builder Profile

Paradime Construction, Inc
Stanley J. O'Brien Jr. - President and CEO
803-600-1795 (o)

Paradime Construction, Inc - Certified Green Builder of Distinctive Custom Homes.

Paradime Construction, Inc. is in business to design and build custom homes for clients who enjoy personal attention in every aspect of the home building process, while giving them a quality home at a reasonable value. Paradime Construction, Inc. is a green home builder.



Certified Green Builder
The Green Building Council of Greater Columbia (GBCGC) was formed in response to Home Builder Association of Greater Columbia (HBAGC) member and consumer demand for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes.

The goals of the Green Building Council are to educate building professionals to the practice of green, or sustainable, building; promote market-driven construction of green residences and developments; inform consumers of green building products and services; and, to administer the Build Green Greater Columbia program, in partnership with the Green Building Initiative (GBI), that will be used to verify that a home is indeed built to proper green standards. “We' re essentially re-thinking the way that homes are built,” said council Chairman Mark Bostic of Square One Design Service, “We are exploring methods to make homes more environmentally-friendly, longer lasting, and less expensive to operate and maintain through the applied science of building technology.”

What makes a Certified Green Builder different?
Certified Green Builders are educated on the practices of green construction through special seminars and regular council meetings. Educational events feature local, regional and national speakers on a variety of topics including lot and plan design, energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, resource management, homeowner education and global impact.

These seven topics are the foundation of the Build Green Greater Columbia program, which is based on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Model Green Home Guidelines. The program consists of a point system for each of the seven areas that builders must meet in order to build what is verified as a green home. The program was created after years of research and input from a committee of home builders, building scientists, and other experts in sustainable housing from around the country. The program is further modified to meet the needs of our specific climate area.

What makes a home 'green'?
A home is considered 'green' when environmental factors are considered during every phase of building a home including the design, construction and operation. There are 7 distinct categories in which a builder must earn points, in order to build a certified green home. Those 7 categories are:

1. Lot Design, Preparation & Development
From the ground up, Meridian thinks green. Saving trees and positioning the home to maximize the use of solar power for cooling and heating are examples of resource efficient lot design, preparation and development.

2. Resource Efficiency
Building a home can be quite costly, but selecting the right materials from the beginning will save you lots more money in the long run. Engineered wood is often a favorite of green builders as over 50% of the log is actually turned into usable building material. On-site waste is another concern in this category. Having a construction waste management plan and using as many recycling facilities as possible both lowers cost and reduces the burden on land-fills.

3. Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is an extremely important category for green builders since energy is consumed year after year and has a great impact on the environment in every building stage from the construction of materials to the consumption of energy by homeowners. Correct window selections, duct sealing and proper placement of air and vapor barriers from foundation to attic are just some of the things that can make a home more energy efficient - by at least 20%.

4. Water Efficiency
By using more efficient water delivery systems indoors and native, drought-resistant landscaping choices outdoors, a green home can save roughly 20 gallons of water each day!

5. Indoor Environmental Quality
Research has shown that indoor air quality is the second most important factor, next to energy efficiency, for green home buyers and builders. Filtration allows builders to control contaminants, dilute and capture them.

6. Operation, Maintenance & Homeowner Education
By providing homeowners with a manual that explains proper operation and maintenance procedures, offers alternatives to toxic cleaning substances and lawn and garden chemicals, and points out water-saving practices, a green builder can help assure that the green home that was so carefully built will also be operated in an environmentally responsible manner.

7. Global Impact
There are some issues related to home building and land development that do not fit neatly into the context of the previously listed categories. For these items that are a by-product of home construction, global impact has been added. One example of an issue having global impact is the selection of paints that contain relatively low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The release of VOCs from wet paint helps form ground-level ozone pollution. Therefore, the use of low no-VOC paints falls under the global impact principle because the environmental impact of using paints with relatively high VOC levels is greater on the global scale than it is on the indoor environment.

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