Launch of GreenEarthEquities
Dave Robinson’s 1st Post
I founded the company as a demonstration project to prove that energy efficiency is an idea who’s time has come and that it can and should be done in a big way in our existing housing stock.
Of course dealing with new housing, the ones not even built yet is easier, just change the code and then enforce it. And we’ve been doing that for about the last 25 years. But did you know?…. That of the homes we will live in in 2050, Two thirds of them are already here. And they are pretty bad, energy efficiency wise. So if we ever want to reduce our energy consumption, and get free of Saudi Oil, we must tackle our existing housing stock.
There are many obstacles to just getting all these houses greened up and energy efficient. In my experience as a contractor, selling energy efficiency to homeowners over the last three decades, I rarely found a person with the knowledge, the will, and the budget to do what their home really needed to become energy efficient. Most of our efforts at retrofit energy efficiency have been peicemeal at best. Salespeople have sung the praises of the particular peice of energy equipment that they happened to be earning a commission on. But to do retrofit energy efficiency right, it takes a “whole house” approach. When this whole house approach has been applied, excellent results in both comfort and energy savings are achieved. When peices and parts of a whole system have been applied the results have been predictably unsatisfactory.
When I realized that my construction company was under good management, and that I could “retire,” I looked around for a while before I realized that I was in a perfect position to do what I always wanted to do. Really fix houses and do everything that I wanted to do with them. No concern for budgets, no concern for utility rebates or lack thereof, I could just do my perfect retrofit. Now I have a 100% closing rate selling all the energy efficiency items to the home owner. I’m now a great closer. I sell everything I propose. Because I’m selling to me.
About 6 months ago I started buying foreclosed homes with the intention of greening up every house with a whole house energy retrofit. The retrofit would include everything you’ve ever heard of and some things that you probably haven’t. My wife was concerned, My friends were concerned, My real estate teachers said now is not the time to do that, Everyone doubted that I could do all that I wanted to do to these homes and get my money back and make a profit…. especially in this economy. It’s not a flipping market, Dave, It’s a buy and hold and rent market. I heard it from every direction. You may think that too.
Well the houses are finishing up. They look great. By the way, one thing I knew from the beginning is that I couldn’t just do energy efficiency, The houses had to have good real estate basics, good location, good bones, curb appeal and Wow! Factor and Conveniences as well. And they have started to sell. First one that wasn’t done yet sold for full price. Then another. Then another for over full price. Those three are in escrow and the other two are under contract. Oh, no, I’m out of houses! Well I did just close on another one today and we have about 7 or 8 more offers working
So I decided to blog about my experiences in “ENERGY WISE RENOVATION” I’ll be sharing what I find that works and why I think it works. I’ll also share about my blunders and what doesn’t work. I’m not selling anything and intend to be pretty much an “open book.” Am I worried that people will copy me and be competition? No, no, no. I hope they do. We need thousands of energy wise home renovators across our country to make an impact. So that is the purpose of this humble Blog. To prove that energy wise retrofitting can be done, to share it with others and To save the Planet, One house at a time. Really.
By Dave Robinson
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