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In October 2010 when Steve Maria, president, Gibraltar Land- scape & Construction, LLC of Wauwatosa, Wis., completed the installation of five green roofs on the Silver City Townhomes in Milwaukee - his first green roof project - he hoped it was the start of adding green roofs as a specialty in his business. Since then, he has installed a dozen green roofs, including a recent project at Sage on Jackson, another sustainable multi-family housing devel- opment in Milwaukee. He also has contracts for ongoing mainte- nance of five green roofs. The single-family residential green roof she just finished design- ing for a client's home in Newport Beach, Calif., was also the first for Cherie Ciotti-Roco, president, Terra Prima, Inc., a landscape design and construction company based in Corona Del Mar. Her company will install it once the plants that are presently grow- ing in modular trays are ready. And once installed, Terra Prima is contracted to maintain it. Like Maria, Ciotti-Roco is seeking more green roof work. Do green roofs present a business opportunity for landscape contractors? The market is growing. Green Roof for Healthy Cities, Toronto, Ont., is the not-for- profit industry association that promotes green roofs and green walls in North America. According to their annual survey, the North American green roof industry grew by 14 percent in 2013, sustaining the double- digit annual growth the industry has enjoyed over the past decade. The 950 new green roof installations reported in 2013 totaled more than 6.4 million square feet. How common is it for landscape contractors to be the install- ers on green roof projects? Angie Durhman, M.S., GRP, says that about half of all projects are awarded to landscapers. Durhman, who owns AD Greenroof, LLC, a green roof consulting firm in Top: Gibraltar Landscape & Construction, LLC of Wauwatosa, Wis., completed the installation of five green roofs on the Silver City Townhomes in Milwaukee. Each one was 2,315 square feet in area. Pre-vegetated mats with only 1.25 inches of growing medium from Xero Flor Green Roof System were used along with two layers of lightweight, 1/4-inch water retention/filter fleece. Gibraltar Landscape has installed more than a dozen green roofs, and reports that the profit margin on them has been as good as or better than the margins on their other services. Credit: Xero Flor AmeriCA Above: At the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful headquarters, Rooftop Green Works, a landscaping company specializing in the installation and maintenance of green roofs and green walls, installed a 3-inch-deep system from Omni Ecosystems that features ultra-lightweight Infinity growing media, which is only 15 pounds per square foot fully saturated but retains as much stormwater as traditional growing media in a 5-inch-deep profile. Its high-efficiency irrigation system uses a Rainbird ESP-me 12-station irrigation controller with a wireless rain sensor, Netafim 17mm techline blank tubing, Hunter triospray microsprayers on ΒΌ-inch by 12-inch risers from Agrifim. For the last three years, the landscape company has received about 80 percent of their revenue from green roofs. Credit: omni eCosystems 22 LC DBM Green Roofs Your Pocket? P k t ? Put Green in r e e Can David Aquilina, Strategic Storyteller (Continued on page 24)