To Promote Propane, Builder Takes His Clients Home

When his residential clients are unsure about using propane appliances in their new homes because they are unfamiliar with propane or are concerned about safety, builder Ron Scarpa has a unique way of putting their minds at ease. Scarpa, president of Barefoot Brothers Construction (Winter Park, Fla.), takes his clients to his personal home, which includes many propane appliances.

The home has Rinnai propane tankless water heaters, a six-burner commercial-style GE Monogram propane range in the kitchen, a propane fireplace, and a propane clothes dryer. Working with Sams Gas (Orlando, Fla.), he converted an old sugar kettle into a propane fire pit.

Scarpa grew up around his family’s restaurant business, and he has also built several restaurants, so he is an advocate of gas cooking. If you ask him how he got into using propane, he says he has always strived to use natural resources as his building materials.

“I believe as a contractor it’s part of my responsibility.” Scarpa, who started Barefoot Brothers in 2004, added, “I feel like it’s a big chunk of my responsibility to be as resourceful as possible and not to waste, whether it’s building materials or natural resources.” He doesn’t promote himself as an energy-efficient builder, but he feels operating in an environmentally friendly manner is the right thing to do. He has looked at propane and other forms of clean energy.

Seeing his home with various propane appliances helps his clients to envision their own home using propane. Scarpa encourages them to use gas over electricity for cooking, heating, hot water, fireplaces, and barbecues. “If you can design your home with propane or gas in mind, you’re not lugging around tanks. You have everything built in and everything is monitored. That’s the way to do it.”

By inviting clients to his home, he is able to show them the kitchen with its professional-quality propane-fueled cooktop. They can see the propane clothes dryer, which he explains runs no differently than any other gas dryer.

Going into his back yard, clients see the propane fire pit. Scarpa points out that it’s an antique cast iron sugar kettle filled with lava rocks. “When we were pouring the patio, we put piping underneath the slab…so all the gas lines are concealed. There is an outer and inner ring, and it’s really for ambience, but if it’s a little chilly out it’s nice for heating too. We use it a lot. The kids want to cook marshmallows on it, but I don’t let them. It’s really decorative.”