There would be two final projects, immutably
altering the trajectory of DeChesere’s career
and, in the process, his retirement plans.
in the process, his retirement plans.
While he waited on the study center,
DeChesere was faced with the prospect of
relocating his aging parents, now in their
late 90s, into an independent living facil-ity.
He pondered what to do with their
three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot
1980s tract home, buried at the end
of a cul-de-sac in a suburban Wilmington
neighborhood, sandwiched between South
College and Masonboro Loop roads.
As it was, the house likely would have sat
on the market in a languishing real estate
economy. He considered a renovation and
assembled a core green team composed of
diagnostic, design and construction profes-sionals
and hired dozens of subcontractors,
most of whom are members of the Cape
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WBM january 2011
Fear Green Business Alliance, to help.
DeChesere says hiring a green design team
is like hiring a doctor.
“I’d rather pay a doctor to keep me
healthy than pay for the repercussions of
not being healthy,” DeChesere says.
With Bill Christopher, general contrac-tor,
of ILM Design Build; Skye Dunning,
energy rater, of Building Design Specialists;
Joshua Curry