The question it answersWhich upgrades should we fund on this building, when, and what do they return to us as owner?
A full engagement for one building, run over several weeks. It builds a calibrated energy model, a costed and dated measure roadmap installed within your hold, and the owner economics in today's dollars: IRR including exit against your hurdle, NPV, payback and the effect on exit value. The carbon result is a snapshot at your exit year, split into what the cleaner grid, the efficiency measures and solar each contribute.
Your expert decides three times, because this plan commits capital: to confirm the baseline, the utility split and the carbon target, to approve the measure roadmap, and to choose between packages with every option's figures side by side. Your share of the savings is asked at kickoff, building by building, and never assumed.
| Step | Expert | Lead agent | Knowledge check | Building surveyor | Energy modeller | Carbon accounting | Retrofit advisor | Investment analyst | Report writer | Quality reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kickoff | Share documents, the hold and exit assumptions, the hurdle and discount rates, and your share of the savings. | Asks every open question in one message before modelling starts. Nothing unsourced counts as answered. | Fills gaps in rates, incentives and rules; every figure cited. | |||||||
| 2. Evidence | Accounts for every document on file. | Equipment inventory and upcoming capital events, page-cited. | ||||||||
| 3. Baseline | Sends the documented building to the model. | Physics model calibrated to your bills; must pass Guideline 14. | Carbon pathway, local rules, fine exposure; snapshot at exit. | |||||||
| 4. Expert review | Confirm the baseline, the utility split and the carbon target. | Presents the findings together; records the decision. | ||||||||
| 5. Measures | Collects the measures with costs, incentives and install years inside the hold. | Screens, costs and dates measures within the hold, with incentives. | ||||||||
| 6. Expert approval | Approve the measure roadmap. | Records the approved roadmap. | ||||||||
| 7. 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. | ||||||
| 8. Economics | Assembles the cashflows. | Owner cashflow in today's dollars: IRR, NPV, payback, exit value. | ||||||||
| 9. Quality check | Holds the report until checks pass. | Recomputes every figure; a fail stops the report. | ||||||||
| 10. Report | Co-author the executive summary. | Issues the report and files it with the building's documents. | Assembles the report; unanalysed fields stay blank. | 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: equipment, envelope and condition, with a page reference for every fact. Lists the capital events you already face, such as a roof replacement or equipment at end of life.
Works from: Your documents, building stock data, satellite and street imagery
Builds a physics energy model from the documented building, calibrates it to your bills, and bounds it against peer buildings. Then simulates the savings of each measure in the order they are installed, keeping the rest of the building as it was sized.
Works from: Your utility data, weather data, energy simulation and peer benchmarks
Sets the carbon pathway and stranding year (carbon first, energy beside it), the grid's forward emissions, and your position against any local building performance standard, including fine exposure. The carbon headline is a snapshot at your exit year, split into cleaner grid, efficiency and solar. Solar counts at full output, flagged where it is exported or its certificates are sold.
Works from: CRREM pathways, forward grid emissions, performance-standard regulations
Proposes, screens and costs the measures, tied to your capital events and to cited incentives, booked at the low end of each program and marked pending. Recommended measures are installed within your hold; later ones are listed as not recommended with rough figures. A cost with no benchmark comes from a named source, labelled unverified, with the quote to ask you for. Systems already installed stay in the baseline; they are never claimed as plan value.
Works from: Measure performance and cost benchmarks, incentive programs, utility rates
Builds the owner cashflow in one engine, in today's dollars: capex, incentives, the savings you keep, avoided fines and exit value. Reports IRR including exit against your hurdle (or NPV at the hurdle where no IRR solves), NPV at your discount rate, payback and the value bridge. A federal tax credit stays out of the base case unless you rule it in; its upside is stated.
Works from: The cashflow engine and your underwriting assumptions
Assembles the report from the specialists' outputs. Every measure in the report traces to the analysis. A figure that was not analysed stays blank and is named as a gap, never invented.
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 The calibrated model meets ASHRAE Guideline 14 against your bills: Continue
If not Stop. Nothing is built on a baseline that does not match
If The energy model handles the measure: Simulate the savings
If not Use a named method and state it in the report
If Its right install year falls outside the hold: Listed as not recommended, with rough cost and savings
If not Never shown as a recommended measure
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 cashflow
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.