Understanding the Residential Contracting Market and Implications for Market Transformation Program Design

Robert D. Bordner, Energy Market Innovations, Inc.
Robert M Wirtshafter, Wirtshafter Associates, Inc.
Virginia Kreitler, Kreitler Research & Consulting
Jack Jenkins, Opinion Dynamics Corporation
Chris Ann Dickerson, Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Shahana Samiullah, Southern California Edison Company

Keywords

Abstract

Private-sector residential contractors, ranging from licensed HVAC technicians and general contractors to informal home repair persons, can have a significant influence in a variety of energy efficiency decisions made by homeowners. As such, understanding the structure of these markets, as well as the key business models, is an important step in developing program interventions targeting these market actors. This paper provides an in-depth review of research efforts undertaken in California on behalf of the California Board for Energy Efficiency (CBEE) to understand and characterize the highly complex residential contracting market. This work has documented the overall complexity of this market and highlighted the fact that there is not one single residential contracting market. Rather, this is an industry that is highly fragmented by specialty areas and with minimal overlap among these specialties.