June 14, 2025 • 29 mins
As Estimating and Purchasing Manager at O’Brien Brothers since July 2019, Brandon manages subcontractor and vendor relationships, project budgets, and database systems. With extensive experience in custom home building and building sciences, his expertise in construction management and architectural drafting shines through in projects across New England, including Connecticut, Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and South-Shore Boston.
A LEED AP BD+C certified professional, Brandon is passionate about green building and environmental preservation, integrating these values into his work. Outside the office, he and his wife, Jessica, enjoy camping, hiking, and rock climbing in the mountains.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience. Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
A LEED AP BD+C certified professional, Brandon is passionate about green building and environmental preservation, integrating these values into his work. Outside the office, he and his wife, Jessica, enjoy camping, hiking, and rock climbing in the mountains.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience. Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to another week of the trash Talking
and Giving Back podcast with Myers Waste and Recycle.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I am joined by my co host Joe Sinagra.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
He is the operations manager over at Myers Containers. I've
been there a couple of times recently, and I tell
you what he makes that place go. You walk into
his office, Joe, and you've just got like stuff, but
you like you know what and what is where, and
how to keep the lights on and the door's open
and everybody's trash collected.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
I get criticize a little bit because my organization sometimes
isn't what it should be.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
But I know where everything is. So that's the important thing.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Hey, that's all that matters. So don't let people judge
you for the way that you operate.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
What's it.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
My job is to judge people, not the other white round.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
On today's podcast, we have Brandon Seckel, who's an estimator
from O'Brien Brothers. We'll talk to him in a few minutes,
but first, Joe and I usually like to kind of
catch up on the week chit chat. Sometimes Joe's got
a nice little like moral or ethics question to throw
at me.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Well, and I do because this time the season, it's
you know, high school graduation, college graduation, wedding season, you know,
all that stuff, which is all fun and of course
I'm a glass half empty guye naturally, so you know,
you're getting these invitations for graduation parties and announcement stuff
like that, and I get it, you know, and you know,
(01:38):
a wedding invitation with the registry year registered at bed
Bath and Beyond, and Okay, that's all fine and good,
but the graduation high school and college invitations with the
QR code to Venmo just really like rubs me the
wrong way.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I mean, because you know that money's not like getting
spent on anything like besides food and maybe.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Some adult beverage.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
It Like, I no, I agree that I was never
a big fan of weddings when people did, like the
honey fun thing either, because it's like, we'll just give
you cash if you want cash, like, but I'd rather
I'm a gift giver who loves to give gifts, especially
when I think it's.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Something they're really going to like or know it's.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Something that they really need, and so like, yeah, graduating
from high school, you're off to college, Like, there's a
lot of things that you just.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Kind of need.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
So I mean maybe if they at least said the
Venmo was like, oh, because they really want, you know,
a flat screen TV for their dorm or a mini fridge, right,
so for some of the bigger ticket items.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But it's to me, it's just tacky.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I mind, giving, of course, we got invited to a
cup of graduate high school graduation, so of course you're
gonna give them cash because it's friend of a friend
and yeah, so you give them cash. And I have
no problem with that. I just think the Venmo's a
little tacky also, Aaron, I know where from different places,
but you know, like alcohol for high school graduation, maybe
maybe that's happening roll in southern Connecticut.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
But I don't mean for the party. I mean once
they get to college.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Oh okay, it's a crow.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But there's not. I mean, I did live in the
movie Zianna for a long time, so there's basically alcohol
at everything.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You go to there.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But you know, it's what I'm also not a fan
of with the Venmo things is when people go to
like bachelorette parties or I've seen people on Facebook like
it's my birthday, Venmo, Like, no, just if I just
thought I would like to do that, Like I've done
that before, like a couple of my girlfriends. It's like
her husband's birthday, and I know that they're like going
out to dinner or to grab drinks, and so I'll
like send them, like, you know, ten bucks, like oh,
(03:41):
beers on me kind of deal. Someone actually did that
for me recently, Like, but I didn't say, Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's my birthday and we're going out send me some money.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
I when I'm bored, I came on the back of
my windshield and.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
I drive down eighty nine and just say, hey, you
know Venmo Joe for you know, I'm getting married this weekend,
and it's a good way to make a few bucks.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Have you been you made someone? Well?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
On, speaking of did we sell the table and chairs?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
We have not sold the table and chairs yet.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
All right, everybody, it's still on Facebook Marketplace.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
I just want to know if someone from the podcast
here's about the table and chairs, this can be a
short for this week. Ben Joe has a table and
chairs on Facebook Marketplace. If you're listening to the podcast
and you want to buy it, he will give it
to you for a half off. Just mentioned the podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
It sounds great.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
I love it. Okay, Now it's a good time to
bring Brandon in. Here's to hoping that when Brandon got
married he did.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Not have a honey fund or a Venmo account, because
we all will have already offended our guests before we
have even welcomed him into the show.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Brandon, be honest with us.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I feel like you're probably around my I'm gonna go
closer to my age than Joe's age.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So, like, honey fund was maybe.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
A thing when you were getting married, And did we
do a hashtag?
Speaker 4 (05:02):
We did? It was it was very specific. It was
just my last name in celebration, celebration, So.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, I think we might have had a hashtag, but
now it mattered so.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Much and now I can't even remember what it was.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right. Figured out time, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, I'll figure it out by the end of this.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, Glad we didn't offend you and that you did
not have a honey fund or seek finances from people.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
On Venmo anytime recently. Go ahead, Joe wants to say something.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I can see it. No, no, no, nothing, nothing, I'm.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Good, okay, Okay, Brandon works as an estimator at O'Brien
Brothers in Vermont. For someone who may not know what
any of that means, give me kind of the short
the short story on O'Brien Brothers and what an estimator means.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
What's your day to daylight?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Sure, so O'Brien Brothers. We we are a company that
operates in two divisions, where a real estate developer and
a property management firm. We own various properties in the Burlington,
South Burlington, Shelburne, Colchester area, and we also develop a
few single family housing developments. The larger of those projects
(06:19):
is happening right now in South Burlington. We have a
couple other developments in permitting process right now in nearby towns,
but the project we're working on in South Burlington right
now is about one hundred and fifty five single family
homes across thirty acres. We build twenty five to thirty
homes each year. They range from single family houses from
(06:43):
two thousand square feet up to five thousand square feet
in size, and we also have about forty forty five
different town homes that we are building on site. Currently,
we're about sixty homes into the one hundred and fifty
five home build out. There's some extra space on site
(07:04):
for future commercial usage. The development is built on family
owned land that the family has owned for near one
hundred years. It's an old Long Vermont family, tons of
tons of cousins and aunts and uncles in the area.
And the cool thing about this neighborhood that we're developing
(07:25):
in South Burlington, which we call Hillside East, is that
we are one carbon free and eighty percent renewable energy
on site. We don't use any natural gas, we don't
use any fossil fuels at all. We use air source
heat pumps for all of our cooling and heating. We
have tons of solar panels on site, rooftop panels, and
(07:49):
we have Tesla battery power walls in the basements of
all of our homes so that we can store energy
on site. It was built with a micro grid philosophy
so that if there were a severe weather event and
the area would typically lose power, this neighborhood can typically
(08:10):
sustain itself for about three or four days without electricity
from the grid, using the batteries on site and the
renewables on site. A big part of our permit, our
active fifty permit because we're a developer in South Burlington,
is that all of our construction waste needs to be
recycled properly, which essentially means nothing ends up in the landfill.
(08:34):
But it's not so simple as that. Different things need
to be collected, sorted, and recycled in different ways. Cardboard
is collected separately, s Fhalse, shingles, dry wall, plastics, metals.
Joe can probably speak to that a little bit better,
but Myers handles all of that for us, which makes
my job much easier. I can focus on things like
(08:56):
budgets and schedule rather than where's this clean would go
to end up when it gets all the way. So
Myers is one of our better, bigger partners on site
and we've had a lot of success working with them
so far.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Yeah, you know, and it's a good segue because we
try we work with so many contractors and our goal
is to take all that burden off of the contractors
so they can kind of just you know.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Set it and forget it basically.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
And we're really proud to be working with O'Brien on
all the projects, but this one in particular, because we
are recycling upwards of ninety nine percent of all waste
that's coming off that job site is being reused, which
is great. Brandon, maybe talk a little bit more. You know,
I've toured your property a little bit. I'm always impressed
(09:46):
by not just the layout, because there are a lot
of other projects in Vermont that are going green and
really limiting the use of the environment. But you guys,
I feel like I have taken it to another level
with the amount limited the amount of impervious service for
storm order runoff. So you know, although the properties might
(10:07):
be you know, you have this land, but a lot
of these projects end up having massive parking lots and
you really don't. So maybe talk a little bit about
how it's not as simple as just blueprints of building
a townhouse. It's everything that goes into the roads and
the parking driveways and stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yep. Everything is pretty meticulously reviewed, especially with the review
board in South Burlington. They don't let us get off
with much. And that extends to larger parking areas are
actually going to be previous services rather than impervious services.
And you know, all of the landscaping and stormwater has
(10:45):
been meticulously engineered and designed and there's tons of open space,
and we're well within walking distance to well over fifteen
different diverse uses. But each individual home also is going
to be certified through the Department of Energy zero energy
Ready Home and through Energy Star certification, So across the board,
(11:07):
we're really trying to address, you know, an eco friendly,
responsible neighborhood build out.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Know, I feel like if there's a place, you know,
you live where people really really value.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
That, it is Vermont, Right.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Vermontors love sen they love for cycling, they love you know,
turning something that was one.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Thing into other things, and.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I think they try to really extend that into every
aspect of their life. And so now if they have
the opportunity, they're moving and they can purchase.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Or rent or live in an O'Brien you know, Brothers built.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Building, you guys have kind of, you know, done a
lot of that stuff for them to help them feel
really good and proud of where they're living.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Definitely is the marketing pitch as well.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Oh look at.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That is that I'm gonna say. Is that something that
you guys have found, you know that people are really
impressed by it. And I feel like it's you know,
and I don't know, and I know there's an affordability
aspect and everything like that, but like often right, doing
things the right way and the best way isn't always
the most inexpensive way, and so I'm sure for you
guys there's a balance between.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It's been a little bit of an obstacle. So we
do seem to attract the clientele that you know, endorses
that type of construction and wants to be responsible and
wants to be green. The utility costs in a calendar
year are a little bit higher with the air source
(12:34):
heat pumps the electric systems than they would be with
the natural gas systems that we used to work with,
but again, weeding out the fossil fuel, you end up
with a carbon free operational energy. So again the clientele
specific to what we're doing doesn't seem to mine the
(12:54):
added cost in a calendar year because it's not too substantial.
It's not like the utility build doubles or anything. And
we've been making some more energy improvements. We use these
new smart electric panels called SPAN panels, which basically allows
you to control your home's electric usage from an app
(13:16):
on your phone or a smart device and in a
peak demand scenario, you would be able to reduce the
rate of your electric car charger, or if you lost
power and you were running on just battery usage, you
would be able to toggle off different heating devices or
(13:37):
your oven or your dryer or whatever you needed to
do to reduce the energy demand on your home. But
it also allows people to monitor their energy usage, and
so anyone who's of the mind to use less energy,
reduce their demand, be greener. They can monitor exactly how
they're doing in that field.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
It's like low power mode on your phone exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And also, sorry, John, I know what you're trying.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Event just to piggyback, and then Joe has another question
for you. But to me, it's like you think about it,
and I feel like one of the first places you
notice this price difference with doing the right thing or
doing the healthier thing. It's like when you go grocery
shopping and it's like I could buy the bananas, you
could buy the organic bananas, and you people, I think
kind of understand that there's a reason that the organic
(14:23):
ones are more expensive because of reading that went into
and maybe not banana app but whatever where you know
where it grew the ground and so it's just it's
a similar concept and maybe yes, your utility bell might
be going up a little bit, but the impact you're
making in other areas is kind of justifying or balancing.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
That out completely. Agree.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Now, some of the views, some of the best views
in Chicken County are at the farm up at your property.
I mean it's just second to none. You know, you
said you got about sixty properties. Told, what are you
seeing as far as the graphics that people are moving in?
Are they predominantly premonors or they're out of staters? Are
they younger, older? You know, what do you think as
(15:07):
people are coming in?
Speaker 4 (15:08):
So our neighborhood was intentionally designed to appeal to all
demographics and eight so of the one hundred and fifty
five homes, eight of the units on site are actually
low income affordable homes which are being certified through Efficiency
Vermunts two point zero low Income program in addition to
Energy Star and Department of Energy like all the other homes,
(15:32):
So those are our affordable homes. We also have, you know,
some standard sized twenty twenty five hundred square foot single
family and town homes, and then we have some rather
larger homes in the five thousand square foot area that
those are on the east side of Old Farm Road
looking at the Green Mountains, those killer views that you're referencing,
(15:56):
And honestly, so far through the first two years of
the project, we've almost struck a perfectly even balance between
the three different models. We only recently started building homes
on the east side of Old Farm Road. The first
phase of this project was forty five homes on the
immediate west side of Old Farm Road, which look out
towards the Adirondacks across Lake Champlain at the Adrondacks. And
(16:19):
now we've started the homes on the east side of
Old Farm Road, which look at the Green Mountain range,
clear shots of Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's almost literally a perfect balance between single families town
homes and the larger luxury style homes that we're selling.
From twenty twenty, we pigged it back this project off
a former project. So from twenty twenty through last year,
forty of our buyers we're from out of state, at
(16:54):
twenty five homes a year. So whatever that map checks
out too, Yeah, that's great, Oh, go ahead. When we
were building, of course on the tail end of COVID
there we had a lot of designs calling for work
from home spaces, home offices, homeschooling areas. That sort of
need has gone away. I don't know that as many
people are working remote or working from home as much,
(17:14):
but it seems to be that the out of state
buyers have the ability to work remotely, you know, or
are moving here for tech work in the area.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So I just I love that the new developments, like
you're mentioning, like it's not just it's not like cookie cutter,
a bunch of the same looking.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Thing, right, Like I love that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And I live I mean, I live in a townhouse,
right And I live in an area in Williston where
there's a lot of different developments And the other day
I was like driving through one of them, and I
was like, you know what, I love that, Like all
of these houses are like different colors, right or and
then there's there's town homes, and then there's an apartment,
and then there's homes, and I just I feel like
it makes me feel less like I'm living in I
remember like sim City, that computer game when you're younger,
(18:00):
you feel less like I'm living in something like that
and more like right, like growth is a thing. And
I know a lot of people get upset because Vermont
has so much open land and they want it to
stay that way, But there are people moving to our state,
and so, you know, I think the fact that you
guys build and build the way that Vermontters can appreciate
is great.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And then I was going somewhere, and now I forgot
where it was.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Well, I want to say, because I mentioned the review
board in South Burlington and the permitting process in South Arlington,
and as long and frustrating as that process can be,
sometimes to their credit, one of their big requirements is
that every house cannot look the same. It cannot look
like a cookie cutter house. They meticulously review all of
(18:44):
our architectural prints and they tell us, you know, from
your street facade, this looks too basic or need we
need more architectural feature here. And then when we go
to build the homes, they tell us you can't have
two homes that look exactly the same next to each other,
or the same color three times in a row. And
it's a big part of what they're driving as well,
that they want the variety. They want to see a
nice mixed town rather than. I live in a town
(19:06):
home too in Heinsburg, and it is every single town
home is the same, all twenty four units exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, and I'm sure for you guys you have your plan,
but you can't just be like, oh, here, we're just
doing the.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Same things you have.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
No, we can't. We're built on a big ledge site
and we actually crushed stone on site, which saves a
lot of carbon off gassing because we're not trucking in
a bunch of crush stone. We're crushing stone on site
and keeping in here. But building on ledges is an
obstacle in itself, so we can only fit certain size
houses in certain areas based on the layout.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
So I've been working with a Brian Brothers for you know,
twenty plus years. I started working with Dan and Leo,
the brothers of a Brian Brothers and then the second
generation cousins. You guys have always been on the cutting edge,
and it shows with this project.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Where do you see the future as far as.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
You know, ten years ago, you guys planning out, you know,
kind of the carbon neutral, very green project, so testlo
power walls, things like that, so you know, as you're
moving into you talk about your Shelburn project down the road,
where do you see sort of the new trends or
where where are things going?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
And so one big thing we've been discussing recently in
terms of that increased utility bill from the air source
heat pumps is trying out geothermal heating systems heating and
cooling systems, which uses a similar technology as the heat pumps,
but you're not using electric condensers. You're basically drilling pipe
(20:40):
down in forty feet into the earth and using the
warmth and cooling of the soil beneath you to heat
and cool your house. And the energy costs on that
operating costs to the occupant are much less than they
would be with an all electric air source heat pump system.
So that's something we've been discussing doing in Shelburn, something
(21:05):
we may even try to do here in South Burlington.
It's still in the works a bit. But another thing
we focused on is a big push in the green
building world right now is embodied carbon. So not necessarily
how much carbon your home is producing during operation, but
how much gets frontloaded into it during construction, from everything
(21:28):
to driving big trucks to the job site to the
extruded foam insallation you're using, and what off gases when
you mix those chemicals, and you can reduce your embodied
carbon by using some alternative products. For example, there's something
called timber HP, which is a wood fiber insulation product
(21:48):
that is made from sawdusts and wood scraps already at
the lumberyard, you know, already part of the plant just
being reused and recycled for installation that basically have zero
off gassing our global warm potential compared to the extruded
foam and phone board products and as such, so different
things like that.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I see electric garbage trucks or trash trucks in our future.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Joe, Oh no, you know you talk your kid about that,
but we rarely are going that direction where they want
electric trash trucks and natural gas trucks and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
So I think in our lifetime we'll say it perfect.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So and I was gonna kick it.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
You point out you're so much younger than I, so
maybe in your lifetime.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I was going to kick it back over to you, though, Joe,
because we've talked about you know, myers does take all
of the waste away and avoid it going into the landfill.
For for someone who is not incredibly savvy in this world,
why is it important that the landfills don't get full
of things that can go elsewhere? And like how much
or like how much?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Like I guess I don't know how you can even
give us an idea.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Of it, but like how much trash are we talking
about that both regularly like getting taken away and has
to find a place to go.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah, so we can actually tell pretty close to it
because in order for O'Brien brothers to get the certification
they're looking for, we have to prove to both the
state and the FEDS how much waste is being produced
on the job site and how much of that waste
is being recycled and of recycled what are we doing
with it? So you know the first part your question.
(23:26):
You know, we only have one landfill and it's in Coventry,
So you take everything wonderful that Brian Brothers is doing
in South Burlington. If we had to truck that waste
all the way the Coventry, just think about the fossil
fuel as we're burning, the impact on our roads, on
our bridges. So by keeping it here in Chitten County
and repurposing it into things like cart pass you know,
(23:49):
from the shingles that are being done and sheet rock
that we turn into fertilizer. It just makes it so
much more environmentally friendly and more sustainable. You know, with
only one Landfilm Vermont, we're going to eventually be full.
And once we're full, that means either we got to
create a new land Film Vermont, which probably will ever happen,
(24:10):
or we got to truck that waste out of state,
which we really don't want to do either. You know,
Brian Brothers, they're producing upwards of twenty tons a month
of waste that would normally have gone to the landfill
that's now being turned back into new product, you know,
be it the wood scrap woods being turned into press
board for you know, furniture, and you know, leftover sheet
(24:34):
rock is being turned into quickie dry clean up oil
spills and things of that sort. So you know, it's
not I think it's one of the things that the
ol'brien's done so well that it's easy to be green
when it only impacts you. But the challenge is to
do that full circle of environmental friendliness, and that's what
(24:54):
they're doing at that project by bringing the product in
the right way, but more importantly, bringing the product out
the right way.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
It's like it's a little out of say, out of
mind for the average person like me, who even just
to learn, Like you know, I'm like, oh cool, they
byers is taking it away and then I don't know,
they're not putting in the landfill, but they're doing what
they're supposed to. And then but someone somewhere is taking
it and then being like, oh no, this is going
to be the cart path at the golf course, and
oh this is you know, like you know, there's all
the different cogs in the wheel that make this all work.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It's a group effort, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Brandon, before we let you go, is there anything we
did not ask you about that you would like to add.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Your notes? I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I could tell you have notes and I love it.
Sood we got everything.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I don't have anything else.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Well, how more importantly, if somebody is interested to buy
one of these projects or want to look at it,
how how do people you know, we're averaging about seven
thousand downloads a week, so maybe one of those buyers
we sell a property off the podcast or not.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You can take us to lunch or.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Something and Joel Joel throwing a table and chairs own Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Heard about that table and chairs. You can check out
our website hill Cybermont dot com. O'Brien brothers. We've been
in business for sixty years, family owned company, still operating
with the family intent, but Hillside is our current project.
We'll be building us from now for the next three
or four years, and then look for us in other
Chittenden County towns.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Wonderful, love it.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Thank you so much for taking the time to join
us on the podcast, Brandon, and don't forget it for
everyone watching to like, share.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And subscribe, but Brandon, you especially, We're going to go
look for your name on it.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I will, I will, oh, Joe, I felt, I felt
a little bad. I was going to save it for
this part where I thought it was really nice that
he took the time to make notes of the things
he wanted to make sure we talked about on the podcast,
but I ended up that's me classic Aaron. I just
called him out, Hey, you can handle it well, far
more prepared than I am usually, so you know, but
that's far more prepared in life.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
I mean maybe that's why you know we had I
had my son before my one year anniversary.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Well, there still could be Oh yeah, no, no before
your one year anniversary. So oh that means you just
got right to work, not before the wedding, before the anniversary.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
No, No, we were married. We were married.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Yes, we were married in October and our son was
born in August. But to my point that I don't
plan very well, we didn't plan it very well, you know,
so you know why not?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Fair? Fair?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Oh I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Anything else you want to add here before we go,
I already picked on you about the table and chairs
still available on Facebook marketplace if anyone is interested.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
No, I appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
I mean, you know, we at different times, so we
didn't have a chance to wish you a happy bllated
birthday eron, but happy belated birthday another year around the
sun as they.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Say, that's right, Are you a lobster guy?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I am? I am not. I'm more of a couple
of times a year a person got it.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
That was my I didn't want to go out to dinner,
and I was like, I'm happy to just have lobster.
My dad's a big like has the pot and the
burner and does it like that. But my father in law,
he is the let's just call the grocery store.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
They'll steam it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
They'll even crack it for us guy, for the same
price as if you that's a fun fact.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Did you know that they.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Will say price seven ninety nine over the weekend at
one of the grocery stores a pound for the lobster.
They will like, steam it and crack it for you.
So that's what I had. He even bought an extra one,
so I got to have lobster into the week as well.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
It was perfect, well, very nice. Alex is a wonderful husband.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yeah, the father in law of Carol.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
But alex is, but alex is, you know, he doesn't
like the lobster, but the father.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
In law does. So that's why it's our thing.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
There you go, all right?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Well that routes up another week of the trash talking
and giving back podcast things. Again to Brandon from O'Brien
Brothers for joining us check out their homes super VERMONTI
I love it.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I love this podcast, Shoe.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
I love chatting with you and learning new things every
single week, and I look forward to future weeks. You
can all do the same by liking and subscribing because like,
it's busy, so you'll just get an alert, Hey Aaron
and Joe got something new for you, and then you
could listen. It's sound wonderful, all right, have a great
week everyone,
Hey, everybody, Welcome to another week of the trash Talking
and Giving Back podcast with Myers Waste and Recycle.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I am joined by my co host Joe Sinagra.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
He is the operations manager over at Myers Containers. I've
been there a couple of times recently, and I tell
you what he makes that place go. You walk into
his office, Joe, and you've just got like stuff, but
you like you know what and what is where, and
how to keep the lights on and the door's open
and everybody's trash collected.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:43):
I get criticize a little bit because my organization sometimes
isn't what it should be.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
But I know where everything is. So that's the important thing.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Hey, that's all that matters. So don't let people judge
you for the way that you operate.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
What's it.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
My job is to judge people, not the other white round.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
On today's podcast, we have Brandon Seckel, who's an estimator
from O'Brien Brothers. We'll talk to him in a few minutes,
but first, Joe and I usually like to kind of
catch up on the week chit chat. Sometimes Joe's got
a nice little like moral or ethics question to throw
at me.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Well, and I do because this time the season, it's
you know, high school graduation, college graduation, wedding season, you know,
all that stuff, which is all fun and of course
I'm a glass half empty guye naturally, so you know,
you're getting these invitations for graduation parties and announcement stuff
like that, and I get it, you know, and you know,
(01:38):
a wedding invitation with the registry year registered at bed
Bath and Beyond, and Okay, that's all fine and good,
but the graduation high school and college invitations with the
QR code to Venmo just really like rubs me the
wrong way.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I mean, because you know that money's not like getting
spent on anything like besides food and maybe.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Some adult beverage.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
It Like, I no, I agree that I was never
a big fan of weddings when people did, like the
honey fun thing either, because it's like, we'll just give
you cash if you want cash, like, but I'd rather
I'm a gift giver who loves to give gifts, especially
when I think it's.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Something they're really going to like or know it's.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Something that they really need, and so like, yeah, graduating
from high school, you're off to college, Like, there's a
lot of things that you just.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Kind of need.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
So I mean maybe if they at least said the
Venmo was like, oh, because they really want, you know,
a flat screen TV for their dorm or a mini fridge, right,
so for some of the bigger ticket items.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But it's to me, it's just tacky.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I mind, giving, of course, we got invited to a
cup of graduate high school graduation, so of course you're
gonna give them cash because it's friend of a friend
and yeah, so you give them cash. And I have
no problem with that. I just think the Venmo's a
little tacky also, Aaron, I know where from different places,
but you know, like alcohol for high school graduation, maybe
maybe that's happening roll in southern Connecticut.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
But I don't mean for the party. I mean once
they get to college.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Oh okay, it's a crow.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But there's not. I mean, I did live in the
movie Zianna for a long time, so there's basically alcohol
at everything.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You go to there.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But you know, it's what I'm also not a fan
of with the Venmo things is when people go to
like bachelorette parties or I've seen people on Facebook like
it's my birthday, Venmo, Like, no, just if I just
thought I would like to do that, Like I've done
that before, like a couple of my girlfriends. It's like
her husband's birthday, and I know that they're like going
out to dinner or to grab drinks, and so I'll
like send them, like, you know, ten bucks, like oh,
(03:41):
beers on me kind of deal. Someone actually did that
for me recently, Like, but I didn't say, Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's my birthday and we're going out send me some money.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
I when I'm bored, I came on the back of
my windshield and.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
I drive down eighty nine and just say, hey, you
know Venmo Joe for you know, I'm getting married this weekend,
and it's a good way to make a few bucks.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Have you been you made someone? Well?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
On, speaking of did we sell the table and chairs?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
We have not sold the table and chairs yet.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
All right, everybody, it's still on Facebook Marketplace.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
I just want to know if someone from the podcast
here's about the table and chairs, this can be a
short for this week. Ben Joe has a table and
chairs on Facebook Marketplace. If you're listening to the podcast
and you want to buy it, he will give it
to you for a half off. Just mentioned the podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
It sounds great.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
I love it. Okay, Now it's a good time to
bring Brandon in. Here's to hoping that when Brandon got
married he did.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Not have a honey fund or a Venmo account, because
we all will have already offended our guests before we
have even welcomed him into the show.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Brandon, be honest with us.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I feel like you're probably around my I'm gonna go
closer to my age than Joe's age.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So, like, honey fund was maybe.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
A thing when you were getting married, And did we
do a hashtag?
Speaker 4 (05:02):
We did? It was it was very specific. It was
just my last name in celebration, celebration, So.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, I think we might have had a hashtag, but
now it mattered so.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Much and now I can't even remember what it was.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right. Figured out time, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, I'll figure it out by the end of this.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, Glad we didn't offend you and that you did
not have a honey fund or seek finances from people.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
On Venmo anytime recently. Go ahead, Joe wants to say something.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I can see it. No, no, no, nothing, nothing, I'm.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Good, okay, Okay, Brandon works as an estimator at O'Brien
Brothers in Vermont. For someone who may not know what
any of that means, give me kind of the short
the short story on O'Brien Brothers and what an estimator means.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
What's your day to daylight?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Sure, so O'Brien Brothers. We we are a company that
operates in two divisions, where a real estate developer and
a property management firm. We own various properties in the Burlington,
South Burlington, Shelburne, Colchester area, and we also develop a
few single family housing developments. The larger of those projects
(06:19):
is happening right now in South Burlington. We have a
couple other developments in permitting process right now in nearby towns,
but the project we're working on in South Burlington right
now is about one hundred and fifty five single family
homes across thirty acres. We build twenty five to thirty
homes each year. They range from single family houses from
(06:43):
two thousand square feet up to five thousand square feet
in size, and we also have about forty forty five
different town homes that we are building on site. Currently,
we're about sixty homes into the one hundred and fifty
five home build out. There's some extra space on site
(07:04):
for future commercial usage. The development is built on family
owned land that the family has owned for near one
hundred years. It's an old Long Vermont family, tons of
tons of cousins and aunts and uncles in the area.
And the cool thing about this neighborhood that we're developing
(07:25):
in South Burlington, which we call Hillside East, is that
we are one carbon free and eighty percent renewable energy
on site. We don't use any natural gas, we don't
use any fossil fuels at all. We use air source
heat pumps for all of our cooling and heating. We
have tons of solar panels on site, rooftop panels, and
(07:49):
we have Tesla battery power walls in the basements of
all of our homes so that we can store energy
on site. It was built with a micro grid philosophy
so that if there were a severe weather event and
the area would typically lose power, this neighborhood can typically
(08:10):
sustain itself for about three or four days without electricity
from the grid, using the batteries on site and the
renewables on site. A big part of our permit, our
active fifty permit because we're a developer in South Burlington,
is that all of our construction waste needs to be
recycled properly, which essentially means nothing ends up in the landfill.
(08:34):
But it's not so simple as that. Different things need
to be collected, sorted, and recycled in different ways. Cardboard
is collected separately, s Fhalse, shingles, dry wall, plastics, metals.
Joe can probably speak to that a little bit better,
but Myers handles all of that for us, which makes
my job much easier. I can focus on things like
(08:56):
budgets and schedule rather than where's this clean would go
to end up when it gets all the way. So
Myers is one of our better, bigger partners on site
and we've had a lot of success working with them
so far.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Yeah, you know, and it's a good segue because we
try we work with so many contractors and our goal
is to take all that burden off of the contractors
so they can kind of just you know.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Set it and forget it basically.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
And we're really proud to be working with O'Brien on
all the projects, but this one in particular, because we
are recycling upwards of ninety nine percent of all waste
that's coming off that job site is being reused, which
is great. Brandon, maybe talk a little bit more. You know,
I've toured your property a little bit. I'm always impressed
(09:46):
by not just the layout, because there are a lot
of other projects in Vermont that are going green and
really limiting the use of the environment. But you guys,
I feel like I have taken it to another level
with the amount limited the amount of impervious service for
storm order runoff. So you know, although the properties might
(10:07):
be you know, you have this land, but a lot
of these projects end up having massive parking lots and
you really don't. So maybe talk a little bit about
how it's not as simple as just blueprints of building
a townhouse. It's everything that goes into the roads and
the parking driveways and stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yep. Everything is pretty meticulously reviewed, especially with the review
board in South Burlington. They don't let us get off
with much. And that extends to larger parking areas are
actually going to be previous services rather than impervious services.
And you know, all of the landscaping and stormwater has
(10:45):
been meticulously engineered and designed and there's tons of open space,
and we're well within walking distance to well over fifteen
different diverse uses. But each individual home also is going
to be certified through the Department of Energy zero energy
Ready Home and through Energy Star certification, So across the board,
(11:07):
we're really trying to address, you know, an eco friendly,
responsible neighborhood build out.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Know, I feel like if there's a place, you know,
you live where people really really value.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
That, it is Vermont, Right.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Vermontors love sen they love for cycling, they love you know,
turning something that was one.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Thing into other things, and.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I think they try to really extend that into every
aspect of their life. And so now if they have
the opportunity, they're moving and they can purchase.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Or rent or live in an O'Brien you know, Brothers built.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Building, you guys have kind of, you know, done a
lot of that stuff for them to help them feel
really good and proud of where they're living.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Definitely is the marketing pitch as well.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Oh look at.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That is that I'm gonna say. Is that something that
you guys have found, you know that people are really
impressed by it. And I feel like it's you know,
and I don't know, and I know there's an affordability
aspect and everything like that, but like often right, doing
things the right way and the best way isn't always
the most inexpensive way, and so I'm sure for you
guys there's a balance between.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It's been a little bit of an obstacle. So we
do seem to attract the clientele that you know, endorses
that type of construction and wants to be responsible and
wants to be green. The utility costs in a calendar
year are a little bit higher with the air source
(12:34):
heat pumps the electric systems than they would be with
the natural gas systems that we used to work with,
but again, weeding out the fossil fuel, you end up
with a carbon free operational energy. So again the clientele
specific to what we're doing doesn't seem to mine the
(12:54):
added cost in a calendar year because it's not too substantial.
It's not like the utility build doubles or anything. And
we've been making some more energy improvements. We use these
new smart electric panels called SPAN panels, which basically allows
you to control your home's electric usage from an app
(13:16):
on your phone or a smart device and in a
peak demand scenario, you would be able to reduce the
rate of your electric car charger, or if you lost
power and you were running on just battery usage, you
would be able to toggle off different heating devices or
(13:37):
your oven or your dryer or whatever you needed to
do to reduce the energy demand on your home. But
it also allows people to monitor their energy usage, and
so anyone who's of the mind to use less energy,
reduce their demand, be greener. They can monitor exactly how
they're doing in that field.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
It's like low power mode on your phone exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And also, sorry, John, I know what you're trying.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Event just to piggyback, and then Joe has another question
for you. But to me, it's like you think about it,
and I feel like one of the first places you
notice this price difference with doing the right thing or
doing the healthier thing. It's like when you go grocery
shopping and it's like I could buy the bananas, you
could buy the organic bananas, and you people, I think
kind of understand that there's a reason that the organic
(14:23):
ones are more expensive because of reading that went into
and maybe not banana app but whatever where you know
where it grew the ground and so it's just it's
a similar concept and maybe yes, your utility bell might
be going up a little bit, but the impact you're
making in other areas is kind of justifying or balancing.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
That out completely. Agree.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Now, some of the views, some of the best views
in Chicken County are at the farm up at your property.
I mean it's just second to none. You know, you
said you got about sixty properties. Told, what are you
seeing as far as the graphics that people are moving in?
Are they predominantly premonors or they're out of staters? Are
they younger, older? You know, what do you think as
(15:07):
people are coming in?
Speaker 4 (15:08):
So our neighborhood was intentionally designed to appeal to all
demographics and eight so of the one hundred and fifty
five homes, eight of the units on site are actually
low income affordable homes which are being certified through Efficiency
Vermunts two point zero low Income program in addition to
Energy Star and Department of Energy like all the other homes,
(15:32):
So those are our affordable homes. We also have, you know,
some standard sized twenty twenty five hundred square foot single
family and town homes, and then we have some rather
larger homes in the five thousand square foot area that
those are on the east side of Old Farm Road
looking at the Green Mountains, those killer views that you're referencing,
(15:56):
And honestly, so far through the first two years of
the project, we've almost struck a perfectly even balance between
the three different models. We only recently started building homes
on the east side of Old Farm Road. The first
phase of this project was forty five homes on the
immediate west side of Old Farm Road, which look out
towards the Adirondacks across Lake Champlain at the Adrondacks. And
(16:19):
now we've started the homes on the east side of
Old Farm Road, which look at the Green Mountain range,
clear shots of Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's almost literally a perfect balance between single families town
homes and the larger luxury style homes that we're selling.
From twenty twenty, we pigged it back this project off
a former project. So from twenty twenty through last year,
forty of our buyers we're from out of state, at
(16:54):
twenty five homes a year. So whatever that map checks
out too, Yeah, that's great, Oh, go ahead. When we
were building, of course on the tail end of COVID
there we had a lot of designs calling for work
from home spaces, home offices, homeschooling areas. That sort of
need has gone away. I don't know that as many
people are working remote or working from home as much,
(17:14):
but it seems to be that the out of state
buyers have the ability to work remotely, you know, or
are moving here for tech work in the area.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So I just I love that the new developments, like
you're mentioning, like it's not just it's not like cookie cutter,
a bunch of the same looking.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Thing, right, Like I love that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And I live I mean, I live in a townhouse,
right And I live in an area in Williston where
there's a lot of different developments And the other day
I was like driving through one of them, and I
was like, you know what, I love that, Like all
of these houses are like different colors, right or and
then there's there's town homes, and then there's an apartment,
and then there's homes, and I just I feel like
it makes me feel less like I'm living in I
remember like sim City, that computer game when you're younger,
(18:00):
you feel less like I'm living in something like that
and more like right, like growth is a thing. And
I know a lot of people get upset because Vermont
has so much open land and they want it to
stay that way, But there are people moving to our state,
and so, you know, I think the fact that you
guys build and build the way that Vermontters can appreciate
is great.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And then I was going somewhere, and now I forgot
where it was.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Well, I want to say, because I mentioned the review
board in South Burlington and the permitting process in South Arlington,
and as long and frustrating as that process can be,
sometimes to their credit, one of their big requirements is
that every house cannot look the same. It cannot look
like a cookie cutter house. They meticulously review all of
(18:44):
our architectural prints and they tell us, you know, from
your street facade, this looks too basic or need we
need more architectural feature here. And then when we go
to build the homes, they tell us you can't have
two homes that look exactly the same next to each other,
or the same color three times in a row. And
it's a big part of what they're driving as well,
that they want the variety. They want to see a
nice mixed town rather than. I live in a town
(19:06):
home too in Heinsburg, and it is every single town
home is the same, all twenty four units exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, and I'm sure for you guys you have your plan,
but you can't just be like, oh, here, we're just
doing the.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Same things you have.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
No, we can't. We're built on a big ledge site
and we actually crushed stone on site, which saves a
lot of carbon off gassing because we're not trucking in
a bunch of crush stone. We're crushing stone on site
and keeping in here. But building on ledges is an
obstacle in itself, so we can only fit certain size
houses in certain areas based on the layout.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
So I've been working with a Brian Brothers for you know,
twenty plus years. I started working with Dan and Leo,
the brothers of a Brian Brothers and then the second
generation cousins. You guys have always been on the cutting edge,
and it shows with this project.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Where do you see the future as far as.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
You know, ten years ago, you guys planning out, you know,
kind of the carbon neutral, very green project, so testlo
power walls, things like that, so you know, as you're
moving into you talk about your Shelburn project down the road,
where do you see sort of the new trends or
where where are things going?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
And so one big thing we've been discussing recently in
terms of that increased utility bill from the air source
heat pumps is trying out geothermal heating systems heating and
cooling systems, which uses a similar technology as the heat pumps,
but you're not using electric condensers. You're basically drilling pipe
(20:40):
down in forty feet into the earth and using the
warmth and cooling of the soil beneath you to heat
and cool your house. And the energy costs on that
operating costs to the occupant are much less than they
would be with an all electric air source heat pump system.
So that's something we've been discussing doing in Shelburn, something
(21:05):
we may even try to do here in South Burlington.
It's still in the works a bit. But another thing
we focused on is a big push in the green
building world right now is embodied carbon. So not necessarily
how much carbon your home is producing during operation, but
how much gets frontloaded into it during construction, from everything
(21:28):
to driving big trucks to the job site to the
extruded foam insallation you're using, and what off gases when
you mix those chemicals, and you can reduce your embodied
carbon by using some alternative products. For example, there's something
called timber HP, which is a wood fiber insulation product
(21:48):
that is made from sawdusts and wood scraps already at
the lumberyard, you know, already part of the plant just
being reused and recycled for installation that basically have zero
off gassing our global warm potential compared to the extruded
foam and phone board products and as such, so different
things like that.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I see electric garbage trucks or trash trucks in our future.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Joe, Oh no, you know you talk your kid about that,
but we rarely are going that direction where they want
electric trash trucks and natural gas trucks and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
So I think in our lifetime we'll say it perfect.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So and I was gonna kick it.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
You point out you're so much younger than I, so
maybe in your lifetime.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I was going to kick it back over to you, though, Joe,
because we've talked about you know, myers does take all
of the waste away and avoid it going into the landfill.
For for someone who is not incredibly savvy in this world,
why is it important that the landfills don't get full
of things that can go elsewhere? And like how much
or like how much?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Like I guess I don't know how you can even
give us an idea.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Of it, but like how much trash are we talking
about that both regularly like getting taken away and has
to find a place to go.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah, so we can actually tell pretty close to it
because in order for O'Brien brothers to get the certification
they're looking for, we have to prove to both the
state and the FEDS how much waste is being produced
on the job site and how much of that waste
is being recycled and of recycled what are we doing
with it? So you know the first part your question.
(23:26):
You know, we only have one landfill and it's in Coventry,
So you take everything wonderful that Brian Brothers is doing
in South Burlington. If we had to truck that waste
all the way the Coventry, just think about the fossil
fuel as we're burning, the impact on our roads, on
our bridges. So by keeping it here in Chitten County
and repurposing it into things like cart pass you know,
(23:49):
from the shingles that are being done and sheet rock
that we turn into fertilizer. It just makes it so
much more environmentally friendly and more sustainable. You know, with
only one Landfilm Vermont, we're going to eventually be full.
And once we're full, that means either we got to
create a new land Film Vermont, which probably will ever happen,
(24:10):
or we got to truck that waste out of state,
which we really don't want to do either. You know,
Brian Brothers, they're producing upwards of twenty tons a month
of waste that would normally have gone to the landfill
that's now being turned back into new product, you know,
be it the wood scrap woods being turned into press
board for you know, furniture, and you know, leftover sheet
(24:34):
rock is being turned into quickie dry clean up oil
spills and things of that sort. So you know, it's
not I think it's one of the things that the
ol'brien's done so well that it's easy to be green
when it only impacts you. But the challenge is to
do that full circle of environmental friendliness, and that's what
(24:54):
they're doing at that project by bringing the product in
the right way, but more importantly, bringing the product out
the right way.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
It's like it's a little out of say, out of
mind for the average person like me, who even just
to learn, Like you know, I'm like, oh cool, they
byers is taking it away and then I don't know,
they're not putting in the landfill, but they're doing what
they're supposed to. And then but someone somewhere is taking
it and then being like, oh no, this is going
to be the cart path at the golf course, and
oh this is you know, like you know, there's all
the different cogs in the wheel that make this all work.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It's a group effort, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Brandon, before we let you go, is there anything we
did not ask you about that you would like to add.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Your notes? I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I could tell you have notes and I love it.
Sood we got everything.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I don't have anything else.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Well, how more importantly, if somebody is interested to buy
one of these projects or want to look at it,
how how do people you know, we're averaging about seven
thousand downloads a week, so maybe one of those buyers
we sell a property off the podcast or not.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You can take us to lunch or.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Something and Joel Joel throwing a table and chairs own Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Heard about that table and chairs. You can check out
our website hill Cybermont dot com. O'Brien brothers. We've been
in business for sixty years, family owned company, still operating
with the family intent, but Hillside is our current project.
We'll be building us from now for the next three
or four years, and then look for us in other
Chittenden County towns.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Wonderful, love it.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Thank you so much for taking the time to join
us on the podcast, Brandon, and don't forget it for
everyone watching to like, share.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And subscribe, but Brandon, you especially, We're going to go
look for your name on it.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I will, I will, oh, Joe, I felt, I felt
a little bad. I was going to save it for
this part where I thought it was really nice that
he took the time to make notes of the things
he wanted to make sure we talked about on the podcast,
but I ended up that's me classic Aaron. I just
called him out, Hey, you can handle it well, far
more prepared than I am usually, so you know, but
that's far more prepared in life.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
I mean maybe that's why you know we had I
had my son before my one year anniversary.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Well, there still could be Oh yeah, no, no before
your one year anniversary. So oh that means you just
got right to work, not before the wedding, before the anniversary.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
No, No, we were married. We were married.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Yes, we were married in October and our son was
born in August. But to my point that I don't
plan very well, we didn't plan it very well, you know,
so you know why not?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Fair? Fair?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Oh I love it.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Anything else you want to add here before we go,
I already picked on you about the table and chairs
still available on Facebook marketplace if anyone is interested.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
No, I appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
I mean, you know, we at different times, so we
didn't have a chance to wish you a happy bllated
birthday eron, but happy belated birthday another year around the
sun as they.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Say, that's right, Are you a lobster guy?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I am? I am not. I'm more of a couple
of times a year a person got it.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
That was my I didn't want to go out to dinner,
and I was like, I'm happy to just have lobster.
My dad's a big like has the pot and the
burner and does it like that. But my father in law,
he is the let's just call the grocery store.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
They'll steam it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
They'll even crack it for us guy, for the same
price as if you that's a fun fact.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Did you know that they.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Will say price seven ninety nine over the weekend at
one of the grocery stores a pound for the lobster.
They will like, steam it and crack it for you.
So that's what I had. He even bought an extra one,
so I got to have lobster into the week as well.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
It was perfect, well, very nice. Alex is a wonderful husband.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yeah, the father in law of Carol.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
But alex is, but alex is, you know, he doesn't
like the lobster, but the father.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
In law does. So that's why it's our thing.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
There you go, all right?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Well that routes up another week of the trash talking
and giving back podcast things. Again to Brandon from O'Brien
Brothers for joining us check out their homes super VERMONTI
I love it.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I love this podcast, Shoe.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
I love chatting with you and learning new things every
single week, and I look forward to future weeks. You
can all do the same by liking and subscribing because like,
it's busy, so you'll just get an alert, Hey Aaron
and Joe got something new for you, and then you
could listen. It's sound wonderful, all right, have a great
week everyone,
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