Green building in Back of the Yards
Back of the Yards is New City's workers' cottages (1880-1910) submarket. Back of the Yards sits immediately adjacent to the former Union Stockyards (active 1865-1971) — essentially all parcels carry Illinois EPA Brownfield Agreement restrictions, requiring soil testing before any kitchen-floor modification or basement-ADU conversion.
What a green building project looks like here
Back of the Yards sits immediately adjacent to the former Union Stockyards (active 1865-1971) — essentially all parcels carry Illinois EPA Brownfield Agreement restrictions, requiring soil testing before any kitchen-floor modification or basement-ADU conversion.
The neighborhood's wood-frame workers' cottages (1880-1910) are among the oldest surviving residential stock in Chicago's south side — but with no Landmark District coverage, many have been lost to demolition or severe deterioration.
Because Back of the Yards sits in a historically industrial area with active rail lines, soil contamination is spatially variable — some blocks pass IEPA screening easily while others require costly Phase II soil investigation ($12K-$35K).
Chicago Bungalow Association retrofits, ComEd Energy Efficiency Program, heat pumps, EV chargers — rebate-stacked estimates. In Back of the Yards specifically, workers' cottages (1880-1910) stock means green building scope is shaped by the neighborhood's dominant construction typology. Baily's Chicago scoping flow factors no landmark district and chicago historic resources survey green-rated mostly into the estimate before a contractor is involved.
Start your Back of the Yards scope — Baily asks the right questions.
Pre-seeded for green building in Back of the Yards. Mention your 800-1,500 sqft cottage/bungalow, your timeline, and any known constraints — Baily factors the cdob standard permit review queue into the scope.
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Who is Baily?
Baily is named after Francis Baily — an English stockbroker who retired at 51, became an astronomer, and in 1836 described something on the edge of a solar eclipse that nobody had properly articulated before: a string of bright beads of sunlight breaking through the valleys along the moon’s rim.
He wasn’t the first to see them. Edmond Halley saw them in 1715 and barely noticed. Baily’s contribution was clarity — describing exactly what was happening, in plain language, so vividly that the whole field of astronomy paid attention. The phenomenon is still called Baily’s beads.
That’s what we wanted our AI to do. Every inbound call and text has signal in it — a homeowner’s real question, a timeline, a budget, a hesitation that means “yes but.” Baily listens to every one, 24/7, and finds the beads of light.
Baily was a businessman before he was a scientist. That’s our vibe too.
Questions LA homeowners actually ask
Back of the Yards green building projects typically run $14K–$225K. Back of the Yards's workers' cottages (1880-1910) stock, combined with no landmark district, puts most mid-complexity projects in the $120K range. Baily scopes the exact band once you describe the work.
Nearest neighborhoods
Same service, adjacent Chicago submarkets.