November 11, 2008 Non-Profit helps homeowners save money, and the environment Play video

(Beth Shelburne, NECN) - This 4,000 square foot home in Western Massachusetts is a dream house for Leon King and his wife Jackie.

"We're building a new home from scratch, right from the ground up and we're doing it with mostly recovered materials."

The couple has been working on the house for four years and counting.

"It's going to take a long time and you gotta have a very patient wife."

Leon is a retired plumber - Jackie used to work as a nurse and teacher. They want to save as much money as possible on the project.

John Grossman is the couple's secret weapon. He's manager of a non profit Springfield Massachusetts company called "The Re-Store home improvement center".

Re-store takes donated building material from contractors, retailers, and homeowners in exchange for a tax benefit.

"Instead of that stuff being crunched up and thrown into a landfill which is sort of a negative issue it becomes available for re-use."

Ten to fifteen percent of their material comes from de-constructions they do themselves.

" We take buildings apart by hand and we'll recover and recycle over 90 percent of the structure." "It's just amazing to see a house go from a complete structure to a shell to product."

Once they have the materials they sell them at their Springfield store for a fraction of the original cost.

"The breadth of product that we have really can satisfy almost any customer. So if somebody has a bare

The majority of what they have falls into three major categories. 20 percent of their inventory is thermo pane windows - this used one costs 55 dollars.

" We have every flavor of door here at the store. This one just came in with a mate. Very beautiful door happens to have never been painted which is a beautiful find here at the store." John says new this would cost a thousand dollars or more - they're selling it for 45.

Cabinets are the last major category.

This ten-year-old Neff contemporary kitchen is a true gem.

" We're looking at a cabinet set here that we deconstructed from an apartment at the Four Seasons in Boston." " This is something that new would probably be like a 50-thousand dollar cabinet set."

Re-store is selling it with stainless steel counters and some appliances including pull out refrigerator drawers for 7-thousand dollars.

The remaining 40-percent can be almost anything - from giant slabs of granite for 10 dollars a square foot - to Jacuzzi tubs they sell for a couple hundred dollars.

“It's really the kind of thing that is a luxury item that people are sort of surprised to find at a salvage store like this."

What makes re-store work for someone like Leon is that he's patient and visits often to get the best stuff.

"It doesn't stay there very long. You've got to get it when it comes in. You've got to be there pretty frequently."

This dining room light fixture cost Leon 200 dollars - the fringed entry light just 12.

This is Leon’s kitchen. The oak cabinets from re-store cost 12-hundred dollars. He also got the window, and the floor from re-store. The floor is the same tile used in Dunkin Donuts.

The master bathroom is full of re-store bought items - from the 3 thousand dollar Koehler shower he got for 600 dollars to the European faucets that cost 70 dollars each.

" Everything was in this room brand new in the boxes at a fraction of what you'd normally pay because the color is different from the color they're making this year."

Although he can't say when his dream house will be done - Leon estimates "Re-Store" has already saved them 50-thousand dollars.

" Oh I saved a lot of money. I couldn't have done this without Re-store."