Marketing home energy inspections to certified home inspectors

Marketing Home Energy Inspections to Certified Home Inspect

Marketing and Branding: TerraLogos

TerraLogos Green Home Energy Services, Inc. is a service-based company located in Baltimore, Maryland. It provides advice to home owners and prospective home owners as to how to make a home healthier, more environmentally friendly, and energy efficient. Because of TerraLogos's mission it is uniquely positioned to capitalize on current trends emphasizing the need for sustainable, greener home environments. Consumers are worried about the price of energy. Also, allergies and other environmental hazards are perceived as being more dangerous, or people are more aware of their risk. According to its official website TerraLogos currently markets to consumers who are concerned about high heating and cooling costs, ventilation, mold, and other concerns, and provides advice as to the best path to follow to remedy their concerns (TerraLogos, Official website, 2008).

Of course, many individuals get their homes inspected already by professional home inspectors, not simply to make their residences greener, but to improve their value and infrastructure. But making home repairs is an idea time to make a home greener and more energy-efficient. Also, the allergies of a child or older parent are often one of the motivating factors to change certain aspects of a home, like its ventilation system. Partnering with organizations such as the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) would link TerraLogos' services to some of the concerns that people have when they employ a home inspector, such as new home buyers contemplating selling a house, sellers wishing to make their property more attractive to buyers, and what is most likely to be TerraLogos' core constituency, owners who wish to embark upon home improvement projects to make their homes more livable and to increase the value of their homes. After inspecting a home and advising, for example, a new home buyer about the need for a new central air system, the home inspector could refer the owner to TerraLogos, which could then provide an energy audit of the home, so that the new system could be installed in the most economical fashion possible to the customer, and reduce the global footprint of the home on the environment. All involved parties would benefit from this partnership -- the owner would be glad to employ home inspectors that could give them a trusted referral to an energy-conscious company like TerraLogos, TerraLogos and the home inspectors would both benefit from the added business, and the consumer would prosper from the added savings.

Another effective way for TerraLogos to brand itself as "your partner in home energy efficiency," might be to advertise in conjunction with home improvement stores that market green appliances and products, given that consumers surfing such sites might be overwhelmed at the many options for improving their homes, and desire professional advice. During the early stages of branding, even engaging in certain community service products at a 'cost' might be one way of demonstrating the TerraLogos's commitment to energy efficiency, its ethics, and also its ability to generate proven community services. Partnering with agencies such as the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, or LEED would give the company added cache, not simply as a money-making corporation, but as a company individuals could trust to do what was right for the environment (Prevost 2008).

TerraLogos could capitalize on partnerships with organizations such as local realtors. If the company's name appeared on real estate agency websites, this could enable TerraLogos to target new home buyers who wanted to improve the energy efficiency of their new homes. This would be effective because new home buyers might be likely to note the name of the company, even while they are still searching home listings. Also, new home buyers often contract numerous repairs and modifications on a new home, to bring it into livable condition to their family.

The value of 'greener' buildings and the savings generated by green buildings has even been acknowledged by home insurance companies. According to a 2008 MSNBC story: "Two major insurers are launching 'green' insurance programs that will let homeowners reconstruct their property with more environmentally friendly building materials, appliances and landscaping, even if it costs more than the replacement value stated in the policy....Spurring clients to rebuild to greener standards is an insurer's hedge against climate change, and the worse and more frequent natural disasters that could be brought on by warming global temperatures," ("Insurers paying to rebuild greener homes." MSNBC.com, 2008). TerraLogos could seek out partnerships in the area with such home insurance companies, and verify for the insurance companies that the proposed improvements would indeed result in cost and environmental savings over time, despite the initial outlay.