Sustainability is most commonly associated with preservation of the Earth’s environment. A common misconception is that sustainable development usually involves the sacrifice of profit for environmental gain. In absence of comprehensive government regulation, this misconception limits potential for wide spread sustainable development. Development that is sustainable from an environmental perspective can benefit users, workers and society, and have positive short or long term economic benefits, a concept known as ‘the triple bottom line’. It is the opinion of the authors that, with adequate awareness and education, the social and economic aspects of sustainable development will ultimately drive a comprehensive shift towards sustainable development. This paper presents the results from two pilot studies that examined the attitudes towards environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable construction from a ‘grass roots’ construction contractor perspective. The studies are conducted in the form of questionnaires, asking contractors to rate their opinion and the extent of their practice on a variety of sustainable principals. The questions focus on the environmental aspect in the first study, and on the social and economic aspects of sustainable construction in the second. 55 contractors responded to the questionnaires which consisted of 25 questions each. Attitudes towards the social and economic aspects of sustainable construction were overwhelmingly positive, with around 60% of responses demonstrating positive attitudes. Recent graduates displayed significantly more positive attitudes than experience contractors while questions regarding client demand and attitudes of construction workers were identified as weaknesses. More positive responses from recent graduates may indicate the effectiveness of greater emphasis on sustainability during their time at university in recent years while poorer client and worker awareness may be a product of lack of education regarding the concepts. The results also show that some of the drivers of sustainable development and construction are the availability of green material; financial incentives to clients and contractors; government policy for implementation; and overall environmental awareness within the industry. Furthermore, the barriers identified are high cost that is involved in the process; as well as limited knowledge and low demand of sustainable facilities.