text: A Construction Company Charting the Path for Social Change - Positive Impact Podcast
  Construction and social change rarely walk hand in hand. To be honest, when I think of construction sometimes the first images coming to the forefront show bulldozers tearing down wetlands or other nature preserves.
  That's not always the case (and in most cases a gross representation of reality), yet you can't deny the impact of the images Hollywood sears in your mind.
  Which is why the fact the luxury home construction company Prime Five Homes is championing both social and environmental issues continues to awe and inspire me.
  To start, they have aggressively implemented top of the line environmental standards in luxury homes. Since the consumer market, particularly in high-end homes, hasn't voted for environmental measures with their wallet, all of the sustainable costs can't be passed on to the homebuyer. They need to be integrated directly into the home without raising the price tag too much.
  Co-founder and CEO Mayer Dahan is working to blaze a trail in the construction industry, thus proving the effectiveness of implementing these sustainable measures. With time he believes others will follow. Eventually these measures will become standard.
  Through this process, he also realized the need for homeowners to be championing of environmental efforts without altering their daily habits too much. It's an interesting concept that the consumer is neither ready to pay for nor alter their habits for to promote sustainable environmental measures.
  To be fair, habits are the hardest to alter. I'm currently working to make minor changes to promote an environmental benefit. It's not easy. Someday we will get there though.
  Some of these measures that Mayer is building into these homes:
  Recapping, we have an ambitious and innovative construction company CEO trying to standardize sustainable building practices. It's quite the impact.
  Where things completely steer from the normal and into the progressive is the creation of the Dream Builders Project. This is a charity for charity nonprofit that is completely funded by Prime Five Homes. Two components make this one of the more unique nonprofits you will encounter.
  One: Because Prime Five Homes covers their annual operating budget, they do not need to raise outside capital to cover day to day costs of the organization. All funds raised go directly to the causes they support.
  Two: Dream Builders Project's mission is to promote the work of meaningful nonprofits that are either undercapitalized or not receiving adequate promotion. This gives the nonprofit the ability to go where it's most needed, addressing the issues most prevalent to the causes they want to support.
  Having worked a fair amount of time in nonprofits, that is a luxury. Can you imagine the power of a nonprofit if they didn't have to worry about covering basic costs and were able to focus on the most pressing issues, completely pivoting if necessary?
  Let's just say it's blowing my mind.
  Here's a quick run down of some of they issues they've been able to focus their efforts on:
  So now we have a company that is spearheading environmentally designed homes funding social causes in the Los Angeles area. While I am sure that there is another similar model out there, I have yet to find it. In short, the results are inspiring.
  Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Mayer to hear the vision and motivation behind this new way of doing business. This is episode four of the Positive Impact Podcast. Listen in to hear about corporate karma and other mantras that keep Mayer addicted to doing good in the community.