Resources

Multifamily Project Resources

Green energy upgrade projects in multifamily properties benefit from careful, holistic planning and quality implementation. Your project’s success hinges on working with high quality professionals including consultants, contractors, and utility vendors throughout the process.

This page provides resources to guide your search for energy analysis, design, and installation professionals for multifamily projects in Connecticut. These resources are designed to support all levels of project complexity – from simple, single measure energy improvements to more complex deep energy retrofits. They can be used for making improvements to an existing property or building new.

Please note the Connecticut Green Bank does not make recommendations for individual contractors. For further assistance, please contact us.

Evaluation and Analysis

The following tasks or professionals may be needed during the design phase:

Energy Audits (ASHRAE Levels 1, 2, & 3; others)
Green Physical Needs Assessments (Green PNAs)
Housing Consulting
Energy Benchmarking
Energy Modeling
Green Charrettes
Architects
Structural Design
Envelope Design
Mechanical Engineers for HVAC Design
Electrical Design Engineers
Plumbing Engineers
Fire Protection System Design Engineers
Renewable Energy System Designers
Environmental Health and Safety professionals, including Certified Industrial Hygienists and state-licensed remediation experts

Construction

The following tasks, contractors, or vendors may be needed during the construction phase:

General Contracting
HVAC Contracting
Electrical Contracting
Plumbing Contracting
Weatherization Contracting
Renewable System Contracting
Asbestos Abatement
Lead Abatement
Performance Contracting by Energy Services Providers
Building Performance Institute (BPI)-certified contractors

Other

The following tasks are typically performed by design, energy, or commissioning professional firms:

Building Energy Ratings such as HERS
Energy Star Rating
Passive House Consulting
Sustainability Consulting
Commissioning for New Buildings and Major Renovations
Retrocommissioning or recommissioning in Existing Buildings
Ongoing Commissioning, Measurement and Verification (M&V)
Operations & Maintenance Staff Training
Tenant Education
Submetering

How to Select a Consultant, Contractor or Vendor

As with any major purchase, you should exercise diligence when hiring a design or implementation professional. Consider interviewing multiple professionals. Request and compare price quotes.

Relevant professional qualifications to consider may include:

Professional licenses and certifications;
License to practice or do business in Connecticut;
Safety certifications; and
Relevant experience and expertise (review prior projects and/or references).

For smaller projects, a simple interview process with local contractors may be sufficient to provide you with confidence in their ability to meet your expectations. For medium or large projects, owners typically execute a formal bid and selection process.

The Green Bank has developed sample requests for qualifications (RFQs) for commonly used services to assist in selecting the right contractor. Download the document, modify the highlighted information to suit your project, and you’re good to go!

Sample RFQ

Resources for Selecting a Consultant, Contractor and/or Vendor

Several organizations maintain lists of certified, pre-qualified, or approved contractors. The Connecticut Green Bank is providing the list below of contractors as a resource and convenience as you consider a contractor for a multifamily energy improvement. We do not in any way endorse particular contractors and strongly encourage you to perform your own due diligence before hiring. The Green Bank maintains an alphabetic list of professionals with experience implementing Green Bank-funded solar projects. Performance is not guaranteed, but familiarity with our financing products can be a plus.

Connecticut Green Bank & Partners Experienced Providers

Connecticut Green Bank Past Project Service Providers (Pre-design, design, and technical assistance consultants; implementation contractors) – Registered professionals, contractors and others operating in Connecticut that have provided various energy-related services on previous Connecticut Green Bank multifamily projects.

Capital For Change Participating Contractors (Implementation contractors) – These contractors are authorized to perform work that is funded by Capital For Change, formerly the Connecticut Housing Investment Fund, Inc. (CHIF). Please note, this list contains contractors for multifamily and single family projects.

Energize Connecticut Home Energy Solutions Providers (Implementation contractors) – Utility vendors on this list are registered contractors operating in Connecticut that will perform basic energy efficiency services. Most of these firms are implementation contractors, not design firms. Please note, this list contains contractors for multifamily and single family projects.

State, Regional, National Resources

Many other state, regional, and national organizations provide lists of consultants, contractors and/or vendors working in this space. Please see below for selected resources.

Connecticut Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) (Various AEE Certified Energy and Buildings Experts) – Experts in various fields are certified by this industry association. Enter “Connecticut” as the state in the search form; searches can also be limited to a specific certification type.

Connecticut Passive House (Certified Passive House Design Professionals) – This membership directory indicates which members are certified as passive house experts.

Connecticut Green Building Council (CTGBC) (Green Building Council Members) – Contact the CTGBC to connect with members with your desired expertise.

Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) (NESEA Members) – This membership directory is searchable; enter “Connecticut” as the state in the search form at the link shown above; searches can also be limited to a specific type of expertise.

American Institute of Architects CT (AIACT) (Registered architects in Connecticut) – This statewide membership directory may be filtered by location and project type. For a nationwide list of registered firms, click here.

Building Commissioning Certification Board (Building Commissioning Professionals Certified by the BCxA) – This registry is an online list of commissioning professionals certified by the Building Commissioning Association which also has a Northeast chapter.

Enterprise Community Partners Technical Assistance Provider Database (Pre-design, design, and technical assistance consultants) – A national list of firms providing technical assistance to multifamily projects in a variety of fields: energy modeling, green operations and maintenance, and resilience are examples.

Con-Edison Contractor List (Implementation contractors) – A list of contractors & contact information – consultants, electricians, plumbers, and energy management system installers. Some listed firms also work in Connecticut.

Multifamily Peer to Peer Network Presentations

The Connecticut Green Bank hosts monthly Peer to Peer Network meetings for those working in the multifamily energy space. Presentations from those meetings can be found here. To learn more about this network, please contact us.