Your contractor is about to insulate your house, but you actually want to change insulation material. Preferably without too much delay and without too many extra costs.

You’ve read our e-book on biobased insulation and done some online research, and now you’re incredibly enthusiastic: you want to insulate your house this way too.

You strike up a conversation with the contractor, explaining why you’d prefer biobased insulation in your home instead of the synthetic or mineral insulation materials he proposed.

But as you’re talking, you can already tell from his skeptical look that he’s not keen on the idea. You primarily see the benefits for your health and the environment. He mainly sees the risks and the costs.

I hear this regularly from people who want biobased insulation but can't get their contractor enthusiastic. They tried to convince their contractor and came home disappointed.

I know how it feels: years ago, at the start of my insulation company, I was pitching biobased insulation to interested parties. But often, I couldn't convince them to actually choose it.

It’s not your fault: gaining support for biobased insulation is one of the trickiest, yet crucial, things.

In the end, it worked out for me, and I know how to get contractors enthusiastic about biobased insulation.

And you can succeed too. But you need to know how to approach it.

In this article, I’ll give you tips on what you can do to get your contractor enthusiastic, and I’ll also tell you what you absolutely shouldn't do.

But first: how is it that you’re so enthusiastic, and your contractor isn't?

Gaining support for biobased insulation is one of the trickiest, yet crucial, things.

Why your contractor reacts less enthusiastically than you hoped

There are several reasons why your contractor might be resistant.

He assumed you would go for insulation material familiar to him

Your contractor is used to working with synthetic and/or mineral insulation materials. Now, you suddenly come up with a different insulation material.

For him, it’s like you’re coming up with a whole new plan again. The contractor has already started the preparatory work and is about to order the synthetic or mineral insulation materials.

Your contractor has already indicated that he has no experience with biobased insulation and is still unsure if he wants to work with it.

The reason the contractor is less enthusiastic than you: he only sees additional difficulties, risks, extra costs, delays, and colleagues who can’t yet work with it.

Still, you indicated that you would like to explore your plan for biobased insulation in your home.

Here they come again with changes, you're really too late for that, and it will cost you extra money, he thinks.

This causes confusion and resistance.

He doesn't have the same context as you

The second reason is that your contractor doesn't have the same context for the story behind biobased insulation as you do.

In my Ecological Insulation Buyer's Guide, the story is carefully constructed. I try to let my readers come to the conclusion themselves that biobased insulation is a good alternative to conventional and more polluting insulation materials.

You don't have the time and experience to convince your contractor that biobased insulation is good for you and the planet. And you haven't spoken to dozens of resistant contractors to learn how best to approach such a conversation.

So you keep it short and say, “I want biobased insulation.” Your contractor immediately becomes resistant because he doesn't know the bigger story.

He has too little information

Thirdly, uncertainty plays a significant role. Your contractor doesn't know exactly what applying biobased insulation entails and what it costs. Your enthusiasm makes your contractor wary. He only thinks of extra costs and delays.

He will probably want to cover risks and hedge against additional work that he cannot properly estimate due to his inexperience with biobased insulation material.

Without the right context, it's difficult to convince your contractor to use biobased insulation.

You haven't spoken to dozens of resistant contractors to learn how best to approach such a conversation.

Tips to get your contractor enthusiastic

Don't try to convince your contractor. Let him figure it out at his own pace, instead of it feeling “forced.” What then? Let others do the work.

Send him the e-book

One option is to send your contractor the e-book -Ecological Insulation Buyer's Guide-. Tell him you've read the e-book and/or some online articles and that you've become enthusiastic about biobased insulation. Then, state that you'd like him to read it too and that you'd like to discuss it with him afterward.

So, don't say: “this is a good book,” and certainly don't try to sell it. Let your contractor come to a conclusion himself.

Show and let him feel some samples

Another option is to show your contractor the biobased insulation materials and let him feel them. We know from experience that it’s important for contractors to get their hands on the biobased insulation material themselves to feel it. Often, they find it very pleasant to the touch because it doesn't itch, unlike glass wool.

Let them smell it too.

We regularly hear employees of contracting companies make sheep sounds when we let them feel sheep's wool. Or they joke that they regularly “pull” cellulose insulation

“out of their washing machine”.

And you can't blame them. They don't know it and are somewhat skeptical.

But as soon as they hear that applying biobased insulation mats isn't much different from glass wool mats, they become curious.

And there are also applications with hempcrete blocks where the building technique is very similar to stacking sand-lime brick blocks.

And then there's biobased blown-in insulation. Where metal-stud frames can be installed and then biobased insulation can be blown in between them, in a fraction of the time. Without having to cut and place all that glass wool yourself.

>We know from experience that it’s important for contractors to get their hands on the biobased insulation material themselves to feel it.

Discuss with Isoleerbewust together with your contractor

If you can't get your contractor to read the e-book, or enthusiastic after feeling and smelling the biobased insulation, or if you suspect that a one-on-one conversation works best? Then you can schedule a customized consultation together with your contractor to see if biobased insulation is suitable for your contractor and your home.

Let others do the work

The first step towards a contractor who is willing to consider biobased insulation is an employee who believes in it.

But no matter how enthusiastic you are yourself: it is important that you do not try to convince your contractor. He must discover it for himself.