Last weekend, I was hanging out on the porch of
preservationist Bob Yapp’s 1859 mansion in Hannibal, Missouri which he has
meticulously restored into the Belvedere Inn Bed and Breakfast. Bob and I were
sharing a number of war stories about the preservation business and he told me
a great story about his father. His father was a weekend warrior who worked on
his 1907 Craftsman style home. One day he said to young Bob, “We don’t own this
home.” Bob became alarmed that the family was moving so his father clarified
his statement. “Yes, we bought this home, but we are stewards of this house.
Being a good steward means every time we fix something we must do good work
that lasts so the next family can enjoy it as much as we have.” That
interaction had a life changing impact on young Yapp and made me think about
how few people in the construction business truly embrace the role of being a good
steward.
Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible
planning and management of all resources. It can be applied to many practices
like the environment, business, economics, government, theology, etc. This
principle, essentially, is the guiding force to do what’s right for the long
term. Most often that involves short-term sacrifices. Unfortunately, the
American culture has become more driven by immediate satisfaction. We devour
fast food, demand a rising stock market, have instant access to information,
pop pills for quick remedies, and require prompt returns on real estate
transactions. I am concerned that our obsession for immediacy is making us
become poor stewards of our resources.
The neglect of the concept of stewardship is rampant in the
construction industry. Most developers are in the business to earn a quick
profit for their shareholders. They are not in the business of promoting the
general welfare of the community. So it makes sense from their perspective that
a city block needs to be razed to make way for the new office complex. The positive
ROI they generate in a 20-year period far surpasses what could be generated
from the existing structures. But where does this leave the community over the
next 100 years? Many a city in the US has been carved up by misguided
development that just doesn’t make sense over multiple generations. The Best
Buy and Kohl’s stores will be long forgotten when the shells of their
non-distinct buildings clutter the landscape.
We are also seeing a significant increase in the tearing
down of established neighborhoods because the value of their land has increased
to the point that it is desirable for constructing a modern McMansion. This
movement called “mansionization” has resulted in an estimated 32,000 homes
being leveled across the country in 2014 so an owner can have 4 bedrooms and
3.5 bathrooms like one finds in suburban America. This clear-cutting of the
vintage housing stock is obliterating the character of many a community. My old
neighborhood where I lived in the mid 80’s in Dallas is totally unrecognizable
today because of this phenomenon.
This isn’t to say there hasn’t been redevelopment of
existing structures. Historic tax incentives and a rising appeal of classic
architecture has sparked an interest in the restoration of historic buildings
for use as loft apartments, offices, hotels, and specialty retail stores.
Unfortunately, in an effort to achieve a quick ROI on this work, the
construction team resorts to substandard materials and processes to reduce the
cost of the restoration. Other projects are driven by unrealistic energy
efficiency expectations, the naive desire to eliminate maintenance, or the
achievement of LEED points. For example, the 75-year-old windows on these
projects are often replaced with a system that has a useful life of 20 years.
Instead of restoring an existing window that was designed to last for 100’s of
years, they swap them with disposable replacements. Bob Yapp’s father would not
be impressed.
The key to combating these disturbing trends is to embrace
the concept of stewardship. When one understands how briefly we all occupy this
land and accepts a responsibility to leave it in a better condition,
stewardship will become second nature. I hope that someday this manner of
living will become mainstream rather than an ethos shared by a radical
minority.
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