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Method · How the Score guides every recommendation

No formulas. No phases. Just the truth your house tells us.

Most companies hand every homeowner the same playbook, insulate first, then heat pumps, then solar. We don't. The Home Efficiency Score reads your house and points to the upgrade that moves your Score the most for the dollars you spend.

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What the Score reads

Your Energy Report is the whole answer.

Before any contractor crosses your threshold, the Score has already pulled the data that actually matters, what your home is, what it costs to run, what your roof sees, and what your utility will pay for upgrades this month.

The recommendation that comes out the other side isn't a generic checklist. It's the one upgrade (or stack of upgrades) where the math, the climate, and the rebate calendar all line up at the same time.

Home envelope
Year built, square footage, insulation R-values, air leakage, window U-values.
Electric rate
What your utility actually charges per kWh, plus time-of-use, demand, and net-meter rules in your zip.
Solar potential
Roof area, pitch, azimuth, and shading from satellite + LiDAR, matched to your local production curve.
Heating & cooling load
Climate zone, design temps, equipment age and efficiency, what your existing system is really costing you.
Live rebate stack
Every state, federal, utility, and IRA program you qualify for, with current funding levels, not last year's numbers.
Climate & weather
Heating & cooling degree-days, humidity, peak demand windows, what your house actually has to fight.
Why we don't sell a formula

Two homes, two streets apart, get different answers.

You'll see the same advice from the rest of the industry: do the envelope first, then mechanicals, then generation. It sounds reasonable. It's also wrong as often as it's right.

A leaky 1880s Brooklyn brownstone with $0.34/kWh ConEd rates and a flat tarred roof needs a completely different first move than a tight 2015 build in Newark with a 30-year mortgage and a south-facing roof. The Score sees that. A formula doesn't.

Our promise

The Score makes the call, not us, not the installer, not a script.

Whatever the data says is the highest-ROI move for your house, that's what shows up at the top of your report. Even when it's the upgrade we make less margin on. Even when it contradicts the “right way” everyone else preaches.

Four real-world reads

Same Score engine. Four very different recommendations.

Below are four composite homes, each based on the actual housing stock, climate, and rebate landscape we see every week. Notice how the top recommendation never repeats.

A modest 1960s Cape Cod-style house in a Worcester, Massachusetts neighborhood, vinyl siding and original single-pane windows
MA · Worcester 1962 Cape · 1,400 sq ft Oil heat · $0.31/kWh

The leaky oil-heated Cape.

D- CURRENT SCORE

Blower-door reads 7.8 ACH50 (terrible). Attic R-11. Original 1962 oil furnace at 76% AFUE burning 800+ gallons a winter. South-facing roof but deeply shaded by mature oaks. MassSave covers 100% of weatherization up to $10,000.

Score's top recommendation
Air-seal & insulate now. The MassSave program pays for it in full and the Score jumps from D− territory to C+ before any equipment is touched.
A single-story 1990s Florida ranch home with stucco exterior and palm trees, bright Tampa-area daylight
FL · Tampa 1994 ranch · 1,850 sq ft All-electric · $0.165/kWh

The sun-baked Florida ranch.

C+ CURRENT SCORE

Decent envelope (4.2 ACH50), R-30 attic, 14 SEER central AC running 9 months a year. Big unshaded south-facing roof with 25° pitch, basically built for solar. FL has no solar income tax, 100% sales-tax exemption, and a lifetime property-tax exemption on the added home value.

Score's top recommendation
Rooftop solar lease or PPA, sized to summer cooling load. Insulation can wait, the math says generation pays back faster here.
A late-1800s Brooklyn Victorian rowhouse with brick facade, tall windows, and a classic stoop
NY · Brooklyn 1887 Victorian · 2,200 sq ft Gas steam · $0.34/kWh

The historic Brooklyn brownstone.

D- CURRENT SCORE

Plaster-on-brick walls (impossible to dense-pack without a major rip-out), single-pane sash windows the landmark commission won't let you replace, gas-fired steam radiators. Roof is flat and gets full sun. ConEd electric is among the highest in the country. NY-Sun + 25% state solar tax credit + 30% federal.

Score's top recommendation
Flat-roof solar with battery backup first. Envelope work here is constrained by the building, offsetting $0.34 power gives the bigger Score lift, faster.
A modern 2015-vintage suburban two-story home with fiber-cement siding, double-pane windows, and an attached garage in a New Jersey suburb
NJ · Newark suburbs 2015 build · 2,400 sq ft Gas furnace · $0.18/kWh

The tight 2015 builder spec.

B+ CURRENT SCORE

Code-built envelope (2.1 ACH50, R-49 attic), 92% AFUE gas furnace, 16 SEER AC. Already efficient, the gains from another inch of insulation are tiny. Gas furnace is mid-life. NJ Whole House offers $7,500 toward heat-pump conversion, plus federal 25C credits.

Score's top recommendation
Convert to a cold-climate heat pump at the next furnace replacement window. Pair with whole-home electrification rebates, Score climbs to A territory.
What you'll actually see

Your report ranks moves by Score lift per dollar.

When you generate your Home Efficiency Score, you don't get a pamphlet of generic tips. You get a ranked list, specific to your address, that shows:

Each upgrade ranked by Score lift ÷ payback. The math is transparent. You see how much each move lifts your grade, every rebate it qualifies for, and how long it takes to recoup through bills and benefits.

Sometimes the top move is insulation. Sometimes it's solar. Sometimes it's swapping a 25-year-old furnace for a heat pump and skipping the rest. The Score decides, your house tells it what to say.

And because we're not paid by any single contractor or manufacturer, there's no incentive to push a particular product. The recommendation is just the math.

See what your house actually needs.

Ten minutes, no installer in your living room. Get the ranked list of upgrades the Score recommends for your specific address, with current rebates already calculated in.

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