We’re in a new and exciting time in the building industry

Environmental concerns like clear-cutting our forests mesh tightly with economic concerns like energy consumption, time constraints, and building quality. As a building materials supplier specializing in sales and consulting of structural insulated panel building systems, Alternative Building Concepts is proud to be on the forefront of this movement.

Owner & Founder, Gary Pugh

Our owner, Gary Pugh, has decades of promoting green and sustainable building practices. He has been actively (we’d say enthusiastically) promoting the use of Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) since building the first SIP home in Sonoma County, California in 1988. With decades of construction experience, he has designed projects with and installed SIPs from several manufacturers.

Gary brings a broad range of talents to the industry. Both experience and concern for quality have aided his ability to quickly recognize problems in the field, and find working solutions for all involved. This has earned him a vast network of contractors, architects, and suppliers in Northern California.

We're on the cutting edge of Green building

Gary remains actively involved in the forefront of environmental building by serving on the founding Board of the Redwood Empire Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, and as the Director of Green Building for S.E.E. Green, a California-based Green Business non-profit group. Not one to rest on his laurels, he most recently served on the Santa Rosa Green Building Development Team to establish recently adopted Green Building Guidelines for the City. Foremost, we think, is Gary’s work on the Design Committee for Sonoma County’s Habitat for Humanity, indicative of just a really nice guy trying to do good in the world.

Not one to be left in the dust, Gary continues his education at various university classes and conferences, and by teaching seminars on SIPs. In 2002, he became a Fellow for the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy. Most recently, he’s completed the Certified Green Building Professional course offered by the National Association of Remodeling Industry. Gary wholeheartedly recommends this course, which was developed conjointly with the Alameda County Waste Management Authority.

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