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When Dave Edwards left his career in biochemistry to start a sustainable building company, he thought the pitch would be easy. Build better homes. Use non-toxic materials. Reduce energy costs. Who wouldn't want that?
Turns out: a lot of people.
"For the first 15 years, I built a company that did what I wanted - but didn't do what the clients wanted," Dave told us. "We were aligned… but not the way I was presenting it."
Dave is the President and CEO of Earth Bound Homes, a Bay Area firm specializing in high-performance, non-toxic residential construction. He's also the host of a popular YouTube channel dedicated to exposing the shortcuts production builders take - and educating homeowners on what to look for instead.
In this conversation, Dave shares what finally clicked for him: sustainability doesn't sell itself. You have to meet people where they are.
What changed Dave's approach wasn't a conference or a certification. It was sales training.
"It taught me that in order to reach the people who can make the biggest impact, we have to learn how to listen - to ask questions - and to connect what we believe is right with what people actually care about."
In the Bay Area, where six-figure incomes qualify as "low income," pitching lower utility bills doesn't land. But health? Air quality? Protection from wildfire smoke and toxic materials? That resonates.
Dave points to the Palisades and Altadena fires as a case in point. The destruction wasn't just from flames - it was from the materials in the homes themselves. Families miles from the fire zone couldn't return because of toxic residue.
"We've got to use natural materials that aren't filled with those compounds," he says. "It just takes more thinking."
If sustainable building makes so much sense, why aren't the big production builders doing it?
Dave doesn't mince words:
"Those companies are designed to maximize shareholder value - and the way they do that is by producing the cheapest possible house they can sell for the highest possible return."
He describes inspecting homes where insulation is three inches thick instead of twelve, where broken trusses pass inspection, where single-coat stucco reveals chicken wire underneath. The economics simply don't reward quality - they reward speed.
"We're incentivized to build something that lasts," Dave says. "They're incentivized to build fast, cheap, and pretty."
Dave's advice for anyone navigating a market full of shortcuts? Don't trust the people selling you something.
"Get a third-party, unaffiliated inspector. Because people lie. And they have no problem lying."
He also champions greater transparency across the industry, specifically the Declare Label program from the Living Future Institute, which discloses every chemical in a building product down to 100 parts per billion. "Why wouldn't you trust the company that tells you exactly what's in their products?"
It's a lesson that extends well beyond home construction. Whether you're evaluating carbon credits, sustainability claims, or vendor partnerships, the principle holds: transparency is the floor, not the ceiling.
Dave's story is a masterclass in something sustainability professionals wrestle with constantly: how do you get people to care about the right things, especially when they're not already bought in?
The answer isn't to talk louder. It's to listen better.
Watch the full episode to hear Dave on why "fancy" and "sustainable" aren't mutually exclusive, what the EPA got wrong in 1978, and why the best $2,000 you'll ever spend is on a really good home inspector.
