Pals find their niche with green building supplies

Most high school friends conspire to snag dates and throw parties. Ori Sivan and Joe Silver went into business together.

After years of plotting, the Skokie natives and Niles North alums, both 31, founded Greenmaker Supply in 2005.

Sivan and Silver claim to have the youngest and fastest-growing green building company in the country and sell environmentally friendly building products to homeowners, developers, design professionals and architects.

These include formaldehyde-free cabinetry, natural bamboo flooring, zero VOC interior paints, permeable pavers and tankless water heaters.

Though the 5,000-square-foot store is located on Chicago's Northwest Side, Sivan and Silver get much of their business from the Northwest suburbs.

"Green is not just an urban phenomenon," insists Sivan, who cites plans to open a suburban store in the next two years.

Sivan said the company works with developers across Cook, Lake, DuPage and McHenry counties.

However, they also have "loads of homeowners driving in from the suburbs who are concerned about the health of their families. They want to have as little toxins in their homes as possible."

Greenmaker Supply's Web site, www.greenmakersupply.com, serves to educate consumers about aspects of the green movement with pages devoted to "The Seven Seeds of Sustainability."

It's a resource on choosing products that are energy intelligent, waterwise, promote healthy interiors, are recycled, renewable, are produced locally and designed for the environment.

As the green movement is becoming more mainstream, so are Greenmaker Supply's prices.

"One thing that is really exciting for us, that we're really proud of -- is in the last few years we've been able to bring down the price of our products across the board by 50 percent," Silver said.

Basic home improvement necessities like paint, wood stains and sealants, are now offered at prices that compete with Home Depot and Menards.

"We estimate that 50 to 70 percent of the products in our store are competitive with the big dogs," Silver said. "The artisan craft products, the luxury items, those are still expensive."