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Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Energy Trust of Oregon

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on key challenges and opportunities for working with HVAC contractors to shift toward high-impact energy-efficient HVAC solutions. Speakers include DOE and the Energy Trust of Oregon.

Author(s)
Chris Lohmann, U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Build It Green,
Efficiency Vermont,
Illinois Home Performance with Energy Star

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on ensuring contractor networks work for both energy efficiency programs and participating contractors.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E),
New Jersey Clean Energy Program,
Energy Upgrade California

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on strategies for scaling up and growing residential energy efficiency programs or contracting businesses. It covered PG&E's Residential Energy Efficiency Program's Pay for Performance (P4P) program. It also covered priority areas to consider when scaling up a program, such as contractor sales and marketing training and maintaining quality.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Build It Green

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focuses on how mentoring on sales skills and business management helped one contractor increase sales and become more profitable. The call also covered top tips for supporting contractors, such as helping contractors develop systems to be more efficient in completing projects and creating a service plan with customers for additional improvements in the future.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Energize New York

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on methods, reactions and legal considerations of contractor rating and feedback systems.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
SustainableWorks,
Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance (GCEA),
CharlestonWISE

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on the challenges, strategies and advantages of  operating as a prime contractor.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Austin Energy,
Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2)

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on working with the real estate sector to promote and drive demand for energy efficiency.

Author(s)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Publication Date

This report contains information on the market for home performance upgrades and the opportunities that exist for new home performance contractors; start-up needs and costs for firms entering the home performance contracting industry; home performance business approaches; and how established home performance contractors attract customers. It also contains detailed profiles of eight successful home performance firms across the United States.

Author(s)
Jonathan Cohen, U.S. Department of Energy,
Ryan Clemmer, Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit),
Melanie Paskevich, NeighborWorks,
Jay Karwoski, ICF International
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Enhabit,
NeighborWorks H.E.A.T. Squad

This webcast includes slides and information on programs' use of concierge programs to support contractors. It highlights two program examples: Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit) and Vermont NeighborWorks.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
RePower Kitsap,
RePower Bainbridge,
RePower Bremerton

This video describes how RePower benefited from coordinating with contractors from the very beginning.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Enhabit,
Community PowerWorks

This peer exchange call summary focused on how to engage, grow and identify challenges of small contractor businesses.

Author(s)
Chad Ruhoff, Neil Kelly Company
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Enhabit

This article, part of a series sponsored by Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, details the successes and lessons learned of the Neil Kelly Company. Over the past 63 years, the Neil Kelly Company has successfully navigated several economic downturns and has revamped its home performance division to emerge as a leader of sustainable building practices.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
EnergyWorks

This video describes the partnerships that EnergyWorks in Philadelphia established to offer classroom, lab, and in-field training to technicians to help them enter the home performance market.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
RePower Kitsap,
RePower Bainbridge,
RePower Bremerton

In this video interview segment, Yvonne Kraus of Conservation Services Group describes how program and utility partnerships can co-benefit each other.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date

This peer exchange call summary focused on the advantages, challenges, creation and management of regional networks.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
EnergyWorks

This video provides an overview of training a local workforce to meet program needs, including meeting the needs of local contractors for new hires.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Austin Energy
This case study discusses strategies that Austin Energy, a municipally owned utility, used to collaborate closely with building contractors to launch a new Best Offer Ever promotion quickly and effectively.
Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Enhabit

This case study discusses the strategies Clean Energy Works Oregon's (now Enhabit's) used to actively engage contractors to make the program successful (e.g., balancing contractors' work priorities, enforcing quality standards).

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
This case study describes the experience of HartmanBaldwin, an architecture and construction company in Pasadena, CA, in becoming Home Performance with ENERGY STAR certified contractors. It includes a detailed example of a home performance upgrade from start to finish based on building science and other principles of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR training program