With revenue forecast to grow by 7.5% in 2011 and a 7.2% upturn in energy related employment, environmental & green consulting will be the leading job creator among the top 6 industries identified by IBISWorld, a prominent Santa Monica, California research firm. We are at the forefront of this incredibly large market opportunity and the growth potential puts us into an industry-wide leadership role as we continue to expand our franchise system.

Although having some background in the world of green technology would always be helpful, it is equally important to have background and skills in business management, marketing, and communications.

Do you already own a business that ties into the world of green technology and energy use, monitoring, & management? Have you worked hard to get to a certain level only to become stagnant? Are you frustrated with trying, but not really succeeding at growing your business to the next level? Are you an Energy Auditor or Leed AP certified contractor that loves the industry but is unhappy with your current results? DwellGreen’s comprehensive franchise model may be just the stimulus you need to move your business closer to achieving your goals. Combine your experience and background with our highly effective training, support, technology, marketing, and staff and get your business moving forward again.

If you consider yourself to have excellent communication and relationship building skills as well as a business background where utilizing programs and processes to maximize results was important, then you are well on your way to being the kind of franchisee we are looking for at DwellGreen.

Our current initial franchise fee is $30,000 and our royalty fee is 7% of gross revenues. Franchise fees for conversions will be discounted.

Our franchisee group will have a very wide and diverse set of personal characteristics but the most common theme amongst our team will be highly personable people who are professional in stature, honest and ethical in their nature, caring about the world’s environmental status, and are motivated, ambitious, self-starters who are driven to succeed.

Our industry niche is to work for the property owner as a Trusted Green Advisor. We complete thorough performance evaluations of a home or office and then provide real solutions and advice on who, what, where, and how to take the next steps to monitoring and analyzing energy consumption, eliminating energy waste, lowering costs, retrofitting with the most efficient equipment, reducing the carbon footprint, and improving quality of life. No one else covers all the bases like DwellGreen.

Our franchise business model includes comprehensive programs that provide you with everything you need pertaining to initial training, fast start up, grand openings, marketing tools, day-to-day operational support, research & development, the latest in evaluation and energy monitoring technology, proprietary web-based monitoring for all business aspects, exciting website design, lead generation programs, and much, much more.

Once we work through the initial contact and conversation, our sales team will guide you through the research and due diligence process including having you visit us at our World Headquarters for a Discovery Day. Our goal is make certain you receive all of the answers to your questions and that you are totally prepared to go forward as a DwellGreen franchisee.

Yes, all franchisees receive an exclusive territory developed from very specific housing and business demographic statistics within a group of selected zip codes. In general, all territories will include up to 400,000 households.

Not only will we guide you with purchasing equipment and supplies, we will also provide you with a start-up ‘tool kit’ that includes all of what you need to get up and running at the time you enter the initial training program. We will also continually develop relationships and national accounts for materials and equipment for our franchisees to ensure you can receive the best possible pricing.

Both our initial and ongoing training will be extremely thorough and cover all aspects of starting and operating your DwellGreen franchise. The training will be taught by experts in the areas of franchising, business development, marketing, sales, operations, finance, IT, electronic monitoring and reporting, building science, energy usage, home and commercial building retrofitting, and green building technology. Our extraordinary leaders have well over 100 years of combined experience resulting in a broad range of strengths—building science, building performance enhancement products, construction, real estate, sales, management, marketing, technology, and web-based applications and services. As a franchise owner, you’ll share our corporate team’s knowledge, insight and business expertise as you launch your business and build your customer and contractor referral base. The team is enthusiastic and motivated to teach you how to become the very best DwellGreen franchisee and will always be available to assist you with your questions, comments, and ideas.

Yes! You will receive assistance in launching your business from our dedicated and experienced marketing, sales, and operations teams. This will include an 8 week Fast Start program that begins before you attend your initial training and continues through the first two months of your business launch. We also provide a ‘Marketing Tool Kit’ that includes everything you will need to hold a grand opening event, start your business, and continue your marketing and advertising efforts on an ongoing basis.

Getting started in simple. Fill out our request form or call our franchise sales department at 1-855-DwellGreen. From there, we will guide you through the process and stay with you as you visit us at Discovery Day, sign your Franchise Agreement, attend DwellGreen training, and start your business.

One of our Trusted Advisors* will conduct a step by step evaluation of your property looking at its current level of performance. The level of performance refers to energy usage, how and where to save in the costs associated with your home (like water, gas, electric, and property insurance), how to effectively reduce energy consumption, creating a healthier and more comfortable living space, addressing fortification issues, looking for retrofit project rebates and incentives, and helping to improve our environment and the world we all live in. We will uncover all of the specific areas where you can make improvements and upgrades to meet your specific goals for your home and quality of life for yourself and family. Your Trusted Advisor* will work with you to create a comprehensive action check list of recommendations and projects to consider so that you have all of the necessary information and tools to make well informed, intelligent decisions.

As you accompany your Trusted Advisor* through the evaluation, you can expect to learn the following information about your home:

• Opportunities to reduce energy consumption
• Ways to decrease water consumption
• Current status of building’s fortification/structural integrity
• Air filtration
• Methods to make your home or office more comfortable
• How to significantly lower your utility bills and insurance premiums

A typical evaluation including the initial interview, the home performance walk through, and the detailed discussion about recommendations, projects, the GreenPort computer program, and the service provider network will take 2.5 - 3 hours.

We take great pride in conducting a completely thorough and detailed analysis of your property. Our process is an educational one:

• We ask you questions about your home, your goals, and your expectations
• You’ll walk us through and identify key areas of conversation or concern
• We’ll conduct our evaluation using the latest technology and log the results for your review
• We input all of all findings into our Greenport™ online platform and provide it to you
• We present you with a comprehensive list of recommendations and discuss implementation steps at the end
• We also show you how to use your personalized online Greenport™ program

Put simply, why would an energy company want to show you the best ways to buy less of what they sell… energy! They will take a few minutes to look at a basic list of items in your home and then provide you with a generic list of ways you ‘could’ lower your energy consumption. This will not be very specific to your property or be based on its evaluated performance or your personal goals. In fact, they will give this same list to every property owner they visit regardless of age of the home or any of the specific performance measurements we consider, nor will they ever suggest any products that don’t require the use of electricity.

We use the latest technology and take a whole home, whole performance approach to providing you with energy efficient solutions that are custom tailored to your home and to your personal goals.

Our industry training and certifications, our knowledge of the tools and equipment used, our technical and environmental experience, our knowledge of the community we live in and our understanding of the geographic and climate related specifics of the area, and our highly professional, proprietary evaluation software platform all create a level of expertise that cannot be rivaled in the industry. We utilize infra-red cameras to display our findings. We also use devices to accurately measure humidity, lumens (light), temperature, and airflow. We have a team of building science experts, including LEED certified staff members with decades of practical experience. These experts not only develop our sophisticated training programs but actually do the training of our Trusted Advisors*. We have a complete understanding of our state of the art energy monitoring equipment and how it can benefit you to have this equipment installed. We also provide you with an exclusive home efficiency scoring system that determines your home’s current state of energy effectiveness and charts your progress as you implement home retrofit projects and improve toward the ultimate goal of a zero energy property. Our ‘experts’ are created through vast experience and knowledge and the ability to communicate information effectively to our clients.

It is very helpful to the Trusted Advisor* if you would have your energy and water bills for the past 12 months available for review as well as your current home owners insurance policy. This gives us insight into your energy consumption and personal habits and helps with making the recommendations for improvements. You should try to schedule your Evaluation for a time that is convenient for you to spend upwards of 3 hours with your advisor. Your advisor will need access to your attic. He will also be taking photographs of various items and areas of your property such as appliances, utility/laundry room, hot water tank, lighting, HVAC unit, electric panel, bathrooms, etc. to include with your final report of findings and recommendations. Please be sure these areas are clear of obstructions and accessible. You should also take a few minutes to think about the age of: your HVAC unit, roof, various appliances, faucets, toilets, windows, doors, pool pumps, and other equipment used every day.

Yes, if you have something you need to do while waiting for us to complete the Evaluation, that’s fine. However, to get the most out of the process we strongly suggest you are available during the analysis. You’ll learn more about your home and our recommendations will be clear. You’ll see firsthand why we are making certain suggestions.

An Energy Audit consists of a blower door (whole house infiltration test), duct blaster, and pressure pan test. These concentrate on veneration and air infiltration. Although sometimes needed, generally these highly expensive tests are not necessary in most cases. If we identify a situation where these tests are necessary, we will advise the homeowner accordingly and can either conduct the energy audit for you or provide contact to a qualified, home energy auditor that we approve.

The eMonitor is an energy monitoring device that measures energy use on the circuit level. Installed directly to your breakers (breaker box), it measures your energy consumption in total and by individual circuit. Therefore, you can isolate each device, room, or appliance and see how much energy it is using and what is it costing you to operate. This is done in real time and available for your review 24/7.

At the time you make an upgrade or improvement, you’ll immediately see how much less energy the new, more efficient device is using and have a cost measurement so you can calculate your savings.

The 12 circuit unit costs $499 + installation and the initial 2 year prepaid monitoring fee.

The 24 circuit unit cost $699 + installation and the initial 2 year prepaid monitoring fee.

DwellGreen is a new kind of home services company, a premier home improvement planning company. You wouldn’t build a home without a plan. Yet people regularly spend thousands on major maintenance and improvements without a plan. We help you understand how your home is working. We develop a plan specifically for you to address energy, water, structural issues, and quality of life improvements, all while delivering reliable performance at the lowest possible cost. We also help you to achieve significant savings in your utility and home owner insurance bills and assist you with finding rebates and incentives on home improvement projects.

First, we sit down with you and clarify your goals and objectives so we can offer recommendations that make sense. We consider issues such as how long you plan to live in your home, what your savings and ROI goals are, what your main motivators are, and if you have any special considerations like health, age, air or water quality, etc. Then we inspect your home with you using specialized, state of the art tools to learn about how your home is working and to identify problems and opportunities. Next we create your personalized online Greenport™ page that includes a sequenced action checklist that you can execute all at once or a project at a time.

Typically, DwellGreen charges $299 for an evaluation on a home up to 3000sf. Then, there is an additional charge of $100 per each incremental 1000sf.

We like to say our services begin on Day 1 when you contact us and continue to Day 365 and well beyond. The fact is, our relationship with our customers extends indefinitely. We stay close to every customer over the long term to ensure complete satisfaction and to provide ongoing support and recommendations. We will stay with you for as long as you want us!

No, we are not contractors and are not in the AC, roofing, insulation, or any other building trade business. Although we may be certified to conduct certain services such as Energy Auditing, Mold, Radon, and Water testing, generally we act solely as your Trusted Advisor* bringing science and accountability to the process of home maintenance and improvement. We do, however, maintain strong business alliances with the very best service providers in the marketplace. We take the time to select providers that agree to our strict customer service terms and standards. We also select these providers based on their experience, expertise, professionalism, dependability, and pricing format. We work for you, not the service provider and we want to make absolutely certain your expectations are met with each company and project you select.

DwellGreen is your whole home expert and helps you understand what improvements work best together, when they should be scheduled, and what contractors can do them effectively. For example, an insulation upgrade that lowers your energy bill, saves on your hurricane insurance, and lowers interior humidity should be done prior to any air conditioner replacement. There are literally hundreds of these kinds of situations that require the DwellGreen expertise and recommendations from a certified DwellGreen Trusted Advisor*.

The best way to answer this question is to identify the source of the problem. This might be a leak somewhere or something more complicated like old fashioned landscaping with inefficient irrigation. Often times there are other issues associated with equipment within the home. Problems with this equipment can be solved by changing to low flow faucets and showerheads, low flow toilets, and energy star clothing washing machines, and dish washers. Every adjustment you make here will lower water consumption and your bill.

Many home owners are now replacing water intensive lawns and plantings with acclimated and native plants and groundcovers that do well without much attention or help. A good example of a local, native plant in Florida is the attractive Palmetto.

Absolutely! Controlling moisture gives you control over mold. Moisture control involves protection from rain, ground water seepage, and humidity penetration. Air quality can also be improved by using non-toxic paints and finishes, cleaning products, and eco-friendly pest controls. Whole house ventilation can also have a measureable impact. Of course, special conditions may require remediation.

If you are going for a zero energy home with solar-electric photovoltaic panels, purchase a SEER 23 model. Otherwise, a SEER 16 coupled with improvements like sealing AC ducts and home air sealing may make more financial sense and still achieve the results you’re looking for. As with any of your improvement projects, you should always consult with your DwellGreen advisor and request several quotes from among our list of service providers before making any final decisions.

Yes, but you should know that these devices are highly specialized and expensive. They are, however, very useful in special situations. Under Florida water conditions, the heat exchanger component in this kind of heat pump often times needs to be replaced after approximately 5 years.

Most insurance companies provide substantial discounts for measures that protect the home against wind and rain. These improvements include: upgrading structural integrity of the roof and its fastenings, installing impact windows and garage doors, and modern measures for water sealing.

Yes you can! A good handyman can replace the gaskets and renew the seals. However, when it is time to replace, the installation of new high efficiency, impact resistant windows creates opportunities for better thermal performance and maximum storm protection.

There are many ways to control moisture. Some of these include improved site drainage, air sealing, positively pressurizing your interior, and a whole-house humidifier. We use infra-red cameras to help us identify leaks, infiltration, and other potential moisture problems and then make recommendations on how to eliminate these issues.

Your Trusted Advisor* will help you calculate the projected cost, timeframe, and performance of your anticipated home improvements so that you can make well informed, intelligent investment decisions.

Some of the most effective improvements over the first year include: lighting upgrades (200% ROI), low-flow showerheads, faucets, and toilets (55% ROI), sealing leaky air conditioning air ducts (30% ROI), variable speed pool pumps (25% ROI), air seal home (25% ROI), and new attic insulation (15% ROI).

A Trusted Advisor is a DwellGreen Professional who is highly trained and experienced at evaluating property and making recommendations based on a total homes solution format. He accomplishes this based on his expertise with observation within the home, by utilizing state of the art equipment, by following a very detailed and sophisticated reporting structure, and through conversation with you to determine your personal goals and expectations for your property’s overall performance and maintenance.

A Certified Expert is a service provider that is hand picked by DwellGreen based on depth of experience, superior knowledge, the utmost in professionalism, and someone who carries the proper licensing, is bonded, and provide a satisfaction guarantee. Our list of Certified Experts can handle any project from the smallest fix to the largest install…and you can rest assured the work will be completed to your full expectations, GUARANTEED!