Second Use, a building materials reclamation and salvage business started in 1994, is well known and popular in Seattle, Washington. The company primarily salvages reusable building materials and sells them to the general public in their retail store. Its products include cabinets, doors, windows, lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, lumber, furniture, tools and even decor items. Second Use also provides services such as building salvage (it is a licensed general contractor), light repair and rewiring, and educational workshops.
I love the stories of the materials
Amanda Harryman
Second Use outreach coordinator
“You’ll see brand-new Anderson windows next to used vinyl windows and old wood-sash windows,” said Amanda Harryman, Second Use’s outreach coordinator, on the range of their materials.
Between their helpful in-store staff, their website full of resources for any size and type of project, and their active social media presence, they interact wonderfully with their customers. They mainly bring in customers from within a 30-mile radius of Seattle. But their online connections with people have even attracted new customers from out of state.
“I love the stories of the materials,” Harryman said. Their expanding network has also expanded the amount of incoming material, and the locations that they can service.
But the Second Use staff soon realized that they could better serve their customers (who now come from a wide area of Western Washington). By analyzing their existing customer base and assessing markets in nearby population centers, Second Use saw potential in reaching the Tacoma market with a second retail location.
Second Use found a suitable building in Tacoma, Washington to open its second location. But to do so would require additional funding. To assist in acquisition and redevelopment of the new location, Grow America provided Second Use with two loans through the Grow America Fund (GAF), and the City of Tacoma added a third through its Economic Development Administration (EDA) funds.
It’s easy to see why both organizations were eager to support this business. According to the Second Use website, “We salvage materials and their stories, from the community, to the community. Our goal is to make salvage and reuse intuitive, accessible and fun.”
In total, the expansion project (including purchase of the new location and its improvements) would cost $2,230,000. Using funding from the first GAF loan of $1,435,000, Second Use purchased the new retail location. After a one-month interest only period, this acquisition loan has a term and amortization period of 25 years with an interest rate of 4.5%. Well located within Tacoma, the new building has easy access to all local freeways and the downtown area, and is located in an up and coming neighborhood Tacoma is focused on redeveloping.
GAF’s second loan to Second Use provided $310,000, utilized to fund improvements on the building. As a company that is solely focused on the salvage and reuse of building materials, fixtures, and other items, they were uniquely prepared for the project. This loan has a three-month interest only period and also has a term and amortization period of 25 years with an interest rate of 4.5%.
Finally, the City of Tacoma provided a $300,000 EDA loan with a term and amortization period of 25 years and a fixed interest rate at 75% of prime (2.63%).
The Tacoma and Seattle locations handle materials for projects of all sizes. Their business model is focused on environmental stewardship, and they practice what they preach. The company’s vision is to reuse instead of dispose, as all their materials come from the local community and are repurposed in the local community.
“[It’s] a personalized experience that builds on our mission to keep usable materials out of the landfill and to make salvaged products intuitive, accessible and fun,” said Sheena Hewett, Second Use’s in-house designer and salvage specialist, on their overall mission.
Thanks to the opening of their second site, Second Use diverts over 3,000 tons of community-sourced used building materials from landfills each year throughout Seattle and Tacoma.
They’ve even partnered with Habitat for Humanity, a relationship that began in 1997. As the Second Use website states, “We work hard to stretch the material resources in our community. We both help people exercise and strengthen their skills in home building and/or renovation.” Together, the organizations service King County (where Seattle is the county seat), as well as Pierce County (where Tacoma is the county seat). Through donated and salvaged materials, Second Use is able to sell and use what they collect to generate funds for Habitat for Humanity, and support their own operations as well. By 2020, they had raised $4 million in funds raised for Habitat from material donations made through Second Use.
Now Second Use can better serve their customers and expand their community throughout Western Washington State, supporting people and the surrounding environment in the process.
From the ground
