Scenario Modeling and How it Can Impact Your Rating Business
Most raters understand the frustrations associated with keeping up with the ever-changing needs of their builder clients. New codes, tax credits, rebate programs, products, and material shortages are constantly introducing complexity. Builders expect their raters to provide guidance in navigating this changing landscape, requiring you to continuously research and model these changes in order to meet rebate criteria, go beyond code-minimums, and improve the efficiency of each home they construct.
To give an example, let’s say a builder comes to you with a new goal of achieving an average HERS Index of 40 within the next 5 years. This builder operates in several different climate zones, in many different jurisdictions, and has hundreds of homes in their pipeline requiring a complex and tedious analysis to determine the best path to meet their goal. Beyond the time and labor required to do this analysis manually, this process is often tedious, prone to error, and not robust enough to provide multiple pathways for achieving this mission.
Meet Scenario Modeling. Scenario Modeling is a premium add-on to Ekotrope RATER, our market-leading cloud-based energy rating software. It takes the guesswork out of conducting these complex calculations and turns this hassle of a process into a major asset, enabling you to better aid your clients and provide them with more in-depth analyses with multiple pathway options for accomplishing their energy efficiency goals.
So, how does this tool actually work? In just a few clicks, users pick the projects they’d like to analyze, select design changes to be considered, and how each design change should be evaluated. Users can easily evaluate how certain changes will impact home performance, HERS Index, code compliance, and rebate incentives. Soon enough, a comprehensive report detailing the cumulative and individual impact of each design change arrives, enabling the HERS Rater to quickly understand the best method(s) to achieve their client’s goals.
Scenario Modeling allows you to provide the most high quality and accurate information to your clients. With this tool under your belt, you can be more proactive in assisting your clients by providing this sort of analysis at the onset, rather than waiting for them to ask for it. With Scenario Modeling, you can anticipate the needs of your builders and provide them with actionable solutions before they even know what questions to ask.
Rating companies currently using our Scenario Modeling tool have saved time, exceeded client expectations, and are now able to sell this analysis as a separate service. As energy efficiency becomes an increasingly important facet of new construction, we believe this tool presents a monumental opportunity for rating companies to expand their services, garner new clients, and strengthen their foothold in the industry.
Interested in learning more about Scenario Modeling? Check out our one-pager to learn more. If you have any questions or are interested in a free demo of the product, reach out to scenariomodeling@ekotrope.com and one of our experienced engineers would be happy to connect!
