Why is there even a debate?
by Hans Eich

Hi,

I don’t quite understand why there is a debate in the first place. It’s not that Vinyl is getting any healthier buy discussing it. I think we are talking about health for people and the environment here.

This is not like a decision weather you want to eat baguette or croissants? No, this is like giving you the choice weather you want to eat a plastic loaf or a real bread.

Mike (Guertin), your link to the Vinyl Siding Institute is dead, but even without seeing it I can certainly assume that it was an argument pro vinyl siding. It’s obvious. Follow the money. They are not called the “healthy siding institute”. And this is where a lot of companies get it wrong. Why does the “Vinyl Siding Institute” not call themselves “The Institute for Healthy Siding”? They would not act as a lobby to all the siding companies that they get paid by anymore.

A company that made this very clear to me is the carpet manufacturer (I think they are called Shaw Floors). They realized that they are not selling a product but rather providing the service of warm cushy flooring. Putting it this way, they realized that they need to care about the air quality of the home that they are providing with their “carpet service” (they do take the carpet back after useage, so that it almost is like a service).

I think it’s time to rethink what we do. Are we just selling siding, or are we providing the service of keeping a house from rotting away, safe and warm?

Think about it.