The Retrofit Exchange is an Internet-based system. There’s no software to download, no need to continually upgrade, and no fear of losing data. The Exchange is available 24 hours a day, and users can access the system wherever there’s Internet connectivity.
Components that set Retrofit Marketplace Exchange apart from other systems:
- Property assessment - Guides the energy auditor (see Management Team below) through the home energy audit using detailed instructions and checklists, ensuring all aspects of the audit are covered. Audit summary includes uploaded photos and floor plans and programmatic generated building file for DOE approved energy modeling software.
- Cost estimating - Automatically generates cost estimates and project proposals, eliminating the need to do this manually. Packages include a complete list of materials, a detailed proposal, a preliminary work schedule, a fee schedule, and an estimated cost.
- Material and contractor bidding - Automatically creates detailed requests for quotes, and sends those requests to The Exchange’s qualified vendors. Compiles vendor submissions for homeowner review.
- Purchase and work orders - Electronically submits purchase orders and work orders to The Retrofit Exchange vendors, eliminating piles of paperwork and maintains orders in the Exchange’s database for easy retrieval.
- Scheduling and labor management - Provides structured, easy-to-manage schedules that cover every stage of the retrofit process. Schedule changes automatically cascade down through the schedule, adjusting all subsequent tasks.
- Construction management - Guides the Field-Project Manager (see Management Team below) through the work-verification process using detailed checklists, ensuring all tasks have been performed satisfactorily. Generates status reports with photo documentation.
- Financial safeguards - The Retrofit Exchange’s escrow arrangement provides financial security to both homeowners and vendors. The Retrofit Exchange has eliminated the financial risk to the investor, property owner, and workforce by implementing an auditable and quantifiable task-completed compensation system.
- Communications - Automatic notifications keep homeowners, subcontractors, and material suppliers up to date, eliminating the need to call everyone individually.
- Documentation - The Retrofit Exchange maintains an archive of completed projects, providing data on demand for audit reports and performance evaluations.
- In addition - to the construction-management system, The Retrofit Exchange offers access to a pool of top-performing, local trade contractors and high-quality material suppliers for general contractors and homeowners to choose for their retrofit. Homeowners can even select building materials, such as insulation, mechanical systems, and solar, without ever leaving home. The Exchange’s online catalogs make the selection process easy.
A Scalable Solution
The brain trust behind The Retrofit Exchange has decades of experience in construction and, more importantly, residential retrofit. The Exchange has established strategic alliances with energy efficiency experts, deep roots in Realtor and mortgage industry, and applied knowledge in construction management. We know the problems associated with managing multiple small-scale projects scattered across a city. We’ve experienced the frustration trying to design, plan and finance energy improvement projects for homeowners. We know the massive challenges contractors face in the retrofit industry.
The Retrofit Exchange provides a system to enable contractors to efficiently retrofit homes by networking the industry into a central Retrofit Industry Exchange.
Benefits to the system are numerous:
- Efficiency - The Retrofit Exchange’s automated system eliminates repetitive tasks, ensures no steps are missed, keeps projects on schedule, and increases the number of projects a contractor can manage.
- Communication - The automated system ensures everyone involved-homeowners, subcontractors, materials suppliers, energy auditors, Realtors, lenders, and title companies-receives timely communications. The Internet-based Retrofit Exchange keeps homeowners in the loop, even displaced homeowners living outside the community, by giving them access to all status reports and budget details pertaining to their retrofit project.
- Connectivity - The Retrofit Exchange brings together homeowners who need their homes retrofitted and vendors who have the supplies and manpower to do the job. Moreover, since only qualified auditors and raters are accepted into The Retrofit Exchange network, mortgage lenders and homeowners can be assured that the energy improvement measures will provide appropriate return on their investment.
- Financial safeguards - Unique to the Retrofit Exchange system, financial safeguards protect both homeowners and vendors through third party verification.
With The Retrofit Exchange, contractors can easily manage multiple retrofit projects simultaneously. Without a doubt, organizations that use The Retrofit Exchange system are committed to building a sustainable retrofit industry and creating good jobs... not by the handful... but by the thousands.
System Security, Redundancy and Dependability
Our current server systems have maintained over a 99.8 uptime over the past 2 years. The Rebuilding Management, LLC’s primary server is located at a Kansas City Area high-speed Internet service provider that provides redundant power services and a climate-controlled environment. A second backup server is located at a second site that is capable of providing all services of primary server. The secondary server will be available if the primary server fails to operate properly. The secondary server has only been used for less than 10 hours over the past two years. Part of the 10 hours included primary server scheduled downtime for a storage addition (hard drive) into the primary server.
Systems are backed up on a nightly basis. The database is stopped and unavailable from 3:00 am central time to approximately 3:12 am central time for the nightly backup process.
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