Willowside Project, Day 69

OK, here we go!  Just got a go ahead from the EUC, already have the one from SCEIP, so I check in with Sue at Harmony Farms to make sure she can make the solar electric installation come together in time; she's ordering the materials first thing Friday morning.  Then check in with Daniel at Zero Energy Associates to confirm he can get the furnace, AC, and DHW systems done within 2 weeks.  Both say yes so we're going for it.  Of course, the gods may yet smite me for my arrogance, thinking I can get it all done in two weeks but what's life without stress hormones, eh?  Daniel's starting at 9 Friday, I'll get there about 10:30 and... I'll keep you posted.  Plus photos.  This is the fun part.  Plus, unless I get smoted, I'll get paid on the first of July.

Willowside Project, Day 68

Muchtar Salzmann, the property ower, called yesterday and said that SCEIP has given up the go ahead to proceed, meaning his property assessed financing has gone through.  Fantastic.  The second half of the decision on when to start depends on the EUC (Energy Upgrade California) approval.  They have an approval process because they will send Muchtar a check for, tentatively, $3,500 after the job is completed.  That's a large incentive and represents more than 10% of the total cost of the job and we can't start until we get their approval also.

The problem now: I'm down to the wire on my ability to get everything done by June 23rd, the last date to get the final SCEIP paperwork in to get disbursement on July 1.  I'm giving the EUC until tomorrow morning for their approval or I'm going to have to postpone this job for another month.  Arghh.  It's already been 2 months in the pipeline and 26 of my man-hours so postponing for a month puts a dent in my cash flow.  I'll let you know tomorrow.

Willowside Project, Day 64

Since we finally submitted all the paperwork to SCEIP last week, I know we have a certain amount of down time with this project, since we have to wait for both SCEIP an EC to go through their beurocratic before then will let us have funds. So we still have a week or so of time that I'm spending for other jobs and to get them in to contract.  So not much news here; Muchtar called to say that he'd heard SCEIP would be quick.

On another note, here's a moderately done video bleeb on what constitutes an audit.  It's done by the Redding Electric Utilities and it's well enough done to keep on you web site for a while.

Willowside Project, Day 50

Wow, where do the days go?  I thought I'd get the EUC filing done and uploaded to the EUC website yesterday but here I am, late on Wednesday, Day 50 finishing it up.  After the monotony of assembling all the data and getting it all stuck in the right fields in EUC's Excel spreadsheet, I find I don't have one piece of information that they require: the account numbers from the Salzmann's gas and electric bill.  Arghh. Too late to call tonight but will first thing in the morning that then it's assemble, zip the file, and hit Send.  Whoopee.

Willowside Project, Day 48

Today, we're finally getting the contracts together and signed.  It's been a month and a half but we have an excellent package put together and one that they can afford.  I've got a separate contract for the HVAC contractor and another for the solar electric installer, plus mine equals three.  If the other two companies and I didn't know and trust each other, I don't think this would work because if one of us drops the ball or doesn't get finished by June 20th or so, we're all three screwed.  The last day to submit the final papers, including all closed contracts and final inspections, to the funding agency - the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program or SCEIP - is 5pm on June 23rd.  If all is complete and on time, SCEIP will send out a check for the full amount on July 1st.  If we don't get it in by the 23rd....well..they'll be $60,000 that the three companies involved won't get until the next pay date on August 1st.  Ouch. That'll put a dent in my cash flow.

So we're off to the SCEIP office, John Doe and I and 3 contracts.  We were very careful to get all our little ducks in a row so an hour or so across the desk from Taylor and we're submitted.  Right now, the SCEIP office has around a 10 day turnaround for approval, which is pretty quick.  Next I have to get the Energy Upgrade California (EUC) files together and submit those online, another multi-hour project, because they need to approve the project before we can start, also.  They're not doing any financing, but they will send John Doe a check for around $2,750 after the project is completed so it's well worth the application hassle.

But we all three swear that we can make it.  The companies:
Zero Energy Associates from Sebastopol, doing the furnace, AC unit, ducts, and DHW.
Harmony Farms from Sebastopol doing the solar electric system.
And I'm doing the air sealing, insulation, miscellaneous framing, and shepparding this project through.  Interesting way to do business, eh?

Also, John and Jane Doe have decided that now that we're in contract, they're willing to come out of the closet, so to speak.  John and Jane are actually Muchtar and Rohana Salzmann on Willowside Road.  They are the owners of Emerisa Gardens Nursery just west of Santa Rosa (my favorite in the County, and I didn't know they owned it when I first started this project).  Besides going public with their names, I'll now be able to take more photos.  That'll make the work much clearer.

Willowside Project, Day 43

OK, John and Jane have decided.  I calculated that they should have about $2000 left in their budget and they've decided to go over their budget a bit by choosing the 95% State water heater.  This will send them about $2000 over budget, which they will have to pay for themselves.

Time to get all the contracts together and plan out the work schedules:

Harmony Farms in Sebastopol is handling the solar electric installation and will have their own contract.

Zero Energy Associates in Sebastopol will handle the HVAC and water heater and will have their own contract.

I - Advanced Home Performance - will handle the organization, oversight, electrical, framing, air sealing, insulation, permitting, and lighting and will have my own contract.

These are the logistical issues:

In order for SCEIP to pay out on July 1, I have to have the permit finalled and final SCEIP paperwork in to their office by 5PM on June 23.  That's going to be tight for ZEA but they say they can do it.  HF says it should be no problem.  If one of us fails to finish, we all suffer through another month before seeing payment so it takes some trust in each other to step in to this.

Problem is, we can't start until SCEIP gives us approval for financing and Energy Upgrade California (EUC) gives us approval to proceed.  EUC is a week or two, SCEIP is around 2 weeks and here it is, May 18th.  It'll be tight but at this point, I'm going for it.

Today's job is to get all three contracts signed and head to the SCEIP office with John Doe for the signing, then work up the EUC file for submittal.

Whew!

Willowside Project, Day 42

Met with John and Jane Doe today to go over their decision making process.  It's something I see quite a lot: they've decided on the major items but dividing the small amount of their budget that's left after the 'have to's' can take a while.  He wants this, she wants that, and that's what marriage is all about, eh?  I think they're close to deciding.