In today's ‘green conscious' society, not only is there a moral obligation not to destroy and discard, but to recycle and reuse.

The eco-friendly ‘unbuild' has now become an option to the traditional ‘tear-down' of Austin real estate. According to a Wall Street Journal article, an unbuilt house can be carefully disassembled, piece by piece, and the parts used for a new house and/or donated for reuse elsewhere. Whatever is donated can be deducted from income tax.

‘Unbuilding' an Austin home may be the right thing to do for many reasons, but saving time and money is not top of the list. It will take longer to ‘unbuild', but at least a couple of weeks and may end up being more expensive in the long run, even after any tax deductions. But, other benefits are the reuse of materials such as beautiful aged brick from fireplaces, stone foundations, custom woodwork, decorative tile or antique fixtures and working appliances.

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