The question it answersOnce a building passes our deal screen, what retrofit capital should we underwrite, and what will it return?
Single-asset diligence before close, for a building that has passed a deal screen. It picks up the deal screen's model and its questions for the seller, then works from the data room's own documents: the property condition assessment, utility bills and leases. It sets out the capex you would be obliged to spend, building performance standard exposure on the building's actual meters, climate and insurance risk, and your share of the savings under the leases. Page 1 leads with the retrofit capital to underwrite and its return through NOI, regulatory risk avoided and high-performance positioning.
Your expert decides three times, because this underwrites capital before close: to confirm the baseline, the utility split, the carbon target and the regulatory exposure, to approve the retrofit capital to underwrite, and to choose between packages with every option's figures side by side.
| Step | Expert | Lead agent | Knowledge check | Building surveyor | Energy modeller | Carbon accounting | Regulatory and capex analyst | Climate and insurance analyst | Retrofit advisor | Investment analyst | Report writer | Quality reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Deal screen pickup | Picks up the deal screen's model and its questions for the seller. | Fills gaps in rates, incentives and rules for the site. | ||||||||||
| 2. Kickoff | Share the data room, the hold and exit assumptions, and the hurdle and discount rates. | Asks every open question in one message, including those the deal screen raised. | ||||||||||
| 3. Data room | Accounts for every document in the data room. | Equipment, condition and capital obligations, page-cited. | ||||||||||
| 4. Baseline | Sends the documented building to the model. | The deal screen's model, calibrated to the actual bills; must pass Guideline 14. | Pathway on the actual meters; distance from the ASHRAE 100 target. | Performance-standard exposure and fines over the hold. | Hazards today, 2030 and 2050; insurance trend. | |||||||
| 5. Expert review | Confirm the baseline, the utility split, the carbon target and the regulatory exposure. | Presents the findings together; records the decision. | ||||||||||
| 6. Measures | Collects the measures with costs, incentives and install years inside the hold. | Screens, costs and dates measures within the hold, with incentives. | ||||||||||
| 7. Expert approval | Approve the retrofit capital to underwrite. | Records the approved capital. | ||||||||||
| 8. Package choice | Choose a package, with every option's figures side by side. | Builds the candidate packages. | Savings per measure, in install order. | Each package run three ways for the choice. | ||||||||
| 9. Value and positioning | Assembles the cashflows and the positioning section. | Value bridge on NOI, avoided risk and positioning; green financing tests. | ||||||||||
| 10. Quality check | Holds the report until checks pass. | Recomputes every figure; a fail stops the report. | ||||||||||
| 11. Report | Co-author the executive summary. | Issues the report, led by the capital to underwrite. | Page 1 led by the capital to underwrite and its return. | Checks the finished report. |
Each one has a single job, and all of their work reaches you through the lead agent. See every specialist.
Runs first. Confirms our reference data (utility rates, incentives, local rules, cost benchmarks) covers your buildings. Gaps are researched, cited to the source document and reviewed before any figure uses them.
Works from: Our shared reference library, filed tariffs, published regulations and cost data
Establishes what is actually in the building from the data room: equipment, envelope and condition, with a page reference for every fact. Lists the capital obligations you would take on, such as a roof replacement or equipment at end of life.
Works from: The data room, building stock data, satellite and street imagery
Starts from the deal screen's model, rebuilds it from the documented building and calibrates it to the actual bills, bounded against peer buildings. Then simulates the savings of each measure in the order they are installed.
Works from: The utility bills, weather data, energy simulation and peer benchmarks
Sets the carbon pathway and stranding year on the actual meters, the grid's forward emissions, and the building's distance from the ASHRAE Standard 100 target today and after the measures.
Works from: CRREM pathways, forward grid emissions, ASHRAE Standard 100
Every local performance standard, benchmarking, code and refrigerant rule that applies, fines over the hold on the actual meters, and the measures a rule makes compulsory.
Works from: Performance-standard regulations, the utility bills
Physical hazards scored today, in 2030 and in 2050 after a control check, hazard by hazard, with the insurance premium trend from a cited market source.
Works from: A physical climate hazard model, cited insurance market sources
Proposes, screens and costs the measures, tied to the capital obligations and to cited incentives. Recommended measures are installed within your hold. A cost with no benchmark comes from a named source, labelled unverified, with the quote to ask you for.
Works from: Measure performance and cost benchmarks, incentive programs, utility rates
The owner cashflow in today's dollars and the value bridge: the return on the retrofit capital through NOI, regulatory risk avoided and high-performance positioning, against your hurdle. Tests each green financing program (agency green loans where the asset qualifies, and C-PACE) and names the test that binds.
Works from: The cashflow engine, your underwriting assumptions, lender program terms
Assembles the report with page 1 led by the retrofit capital to underwrite and its return, and a positioning section on green financing and the ASHRAE Standard 100 target. A figure that was not analysed stays blank and is named as a gap.
Works from: The report template and its automated checks
Recomputes every figure independently before the report is produced, then checks the finished report before you see it. A failed review stops the report; there is no override.
Works from: The same engines and data as the specialists, run separately
Each of these is decided the same way every time.
If A deal screen exists for the building: Start from its model and its questions for the seller
If The calibrated model meets ASHRAE Guideline 14 against the actual bills: Continue
If not Stop. Nothing is built on a baseline that does not match
If Its right install year falls outside the hold: Listed as not recommended, with rough cost and savings
If not Never counted in the capital to underwrite
If A named source gives a figure: a list price, cost guide or comparable bid: Use it, labelled unverified, with the quote to ask you for
If not Stop and name what is missing. A cost is never typed in
If A local performance standard applies and the figure is sourced: Credit it in the value bridge
If not Leave it unquantified with the reason. Never assume zero
If Any figure does not reconcile: Fix and re-check. There is no override
Tell us what you need answered and we will scope it with you.