construction crews have a four-day window to complete retrofitting job, or risk upsetting the next month’s schedule. (Each crew is scheduled 10 jobs deep, Golden says.)
And Recurve isn’t keeping its auditing software to itself: home performance contractors in other regions can subscribe to the Web-based system (which also works offline when there’s no Internet connection). Golden says the company plans to focus its own growing auditing and retrofitting operations on California for the time being, where there’s a more predictable set of rebates in place. But it can sell the software nationally, while it waits for utilities and policymakers to set up the mechanisms needed to support forward capacity auctions and other overarching mechanisms for getting more homeowners to retrofit.
“We have lots of different business models open to us,” he says. “The goal has always been, how do we get this into the mass market, so that we can achieve environmental goals. Two or three years ago, before Obama, things were moving a heck of a lot slower. But the reality is that huge players are getting into this industry. And if our goal is to create scale and a return to our investors, we don’t have time to build a huge national footprint. So, to leverage the IP we have most broadly, packaging the software for all players makes a lot of sense.”
Meanwhile, there’s still one energy improvement Recurve can’t help you with: installing solar panels. “It’s the one thing we don’t do,” says Golden. “To be honest, solar is really easy compared to doing this kind of work. There aren’t very many moving parts. And to compete in the solar industry these days, you need to be very, very focused.” Which is one of the points I’ll emphasize in a piece on Oakland, CA-based Sungevity, coming later this week. So stick around, and enjoy the Bay Area’s cool early-autumn weather—no heat or air conditioning required.
