Recycled content, renewable resources, reduced off-gassing and durability are also considered when deciding what green products to procure. When asked about their buyers, however, builders underestimate the demand. Asked about their buyer s willingness to pay for green, builders said that less than half would pay extra. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that 89 percent of the buyers said they would be willing to pay more. This is very significant since 95 percent of builders claimed that the greatest constraint in using green products was cost.
Builders also underestimate buyer s interest in specific green products.
In the context of this survey these answers indicate that home builders are almost exactly five years behind their customers in their prediction of consumer interest in green building. Yet even in five years builders will still be slightly behind where buyers are today. Ago Environmental issues are affecting the development community today, however. Eighty-one percent said that their environmental goals had changed in the last five years. Eighty-six percent of the builder respondents said that paying attention to environmental issues has assisted them in securing project approvals from local planning commissions.