Issue 66 - What a Bright Idea!

Assisting homeowners in reducing their carbon footprint, one green home at a time

"Green Home Green Planet" offers a very unique and free service to homeowners. If you've considered upgrading your home's energy efficiency with items such as insulation, heating, cooling, windows, doors, or geo-thermal, it would be very wise to call these professionals first. There has never been a better time in history to upgrade your home's efficiency levels, since the government is chipping in some money to assist you with the project. Green Home Green Planet not only visits your home for a free energy evaluation, but they assist homeowners each step of the way at no charge.

Green Home Green Planet's name says it all. When you make your home "Green", you help keep the planet "Green". For a limited time, each Ontario homeowner can qualify for up to $10,000 in government rebates simply by decreasing your home's energy losses. If you're a homeowner residing in Essex County, all you need to do is call Green Home Green Planet at 519- 259-8229 and they will assign you a trained personal consultant to "hold your hand" each step of the way, at no charge. The initial visit by a Green Home Green Planet consultant to your home includes an inspection of your attic, a small test hole drilled into an exterior wall to determine current insulation levels, a walk-through to inspect your basement or crawl space and to research your existing windows, doors, furnace, air conditioner and hot water tank. The initial consultation takes approximately 30 minutes, at which time they will usually schedule a second follow up appointment to deliver and discuss a customized report including a list of all available rebates the homeowner could be entitled to, plus a list of Green Home Green Planet approved contractors that are qualified to handle the job.

Green Home Green Planet has established a financing arrangement called the "no money out of pocket program". Since the government requires homeowners to have the work done first, to qualify for the rebates, some people would love to take advantage of the program, but can't due to financial restraints. The "no money out of pocket" program helps homeowners apply for a 6 month no interest no payment loan, so people can in most cases, receive the government rebate cheques before the 6 months no interest, no payment ends.

Having your own personal Green Home Green Planet consultant will eliminate the problems many homeowners have experienced by trying to manage the government rebate process themselves. Some homeowners are left frustrated due to starting their renovations before hiring a government licensed Eco-Energy auditor to document the home first. Some homeowners make calls to get quotes from contractors that are too busy to call them back, or worse don't show to the quote appointment at all. Some homeowners may have hired uninformed contractors that installed non-approved equipment due to being uneducated in the proper process.

Green Home Green Planet isn't a contractor. They're a consulting company that refers and organizes the best local contractors available. Pointing homeowners towards reputable contractors is of huge value to ensure homeowners have a pleasant experience dealing with their home's energy efficient upgrades. All Green Home Green Planet approved contractors must be fully educated in the latest available rebate information, must be in business for at least 15 years, must carry brand name products at pre-set Green Home Green Planet approved prices, have a minimum of $2,000,000 in liability insurance and must be members of the B.B.B. (Better Business Bureau).

Green Home Green Planet isn't a government licensed Eco-Energy auditor either. Homeowners will still have to pay for the government licensed Eco-Energy auditor to be enrolled in the program. However, by calling Green Home Green Planet first, you may save yourself a few hundred dollars if your home doesn't qualify for any potential rebates. Also, government licensed Eco-Energy auditors are not permitted to point homeowners towards contractors to do the work. Their primary job is to accurately document the home before and after improvements and to file paperwork with the government so homeowners receive their rebate cheque's accordingly.

So what's the Catch? How does Green Home Green Planet offer such a fabulous service at no charge? They have the ability to provide the best local contractors an extraordinary amount of sales volume. In exchange, the contractor's agree to allocate their advertising budget to Green Home Green Planet for the major increase in business since they no longer have to find their own customers. That way Green Home Green Planet focuses on the rebate program, while the contractors focus on what they do best, which is to properly install government approved materials to help reduce the homeowner's monthly energy bills. Whether the homebuyer chooses to call each contractor directly or they choose to utilize the free resources of a Green Home Green Planet consultant, it makes no difference in the total project cost.

Green Home Green Planet also hired a local software firm called Pure Data Flow Inc. (www.puredataflow.com) to custom design a state of the art project management tool which is the platform for organizing all moving parts including financing, contact management, accounting, government audits and contractor project management. This helps the best local contactors deal with the increase in volume to maximize customer satisfaction.

"This has been the best project I've ever worked on", says Green Home Green Planet's President Craig O'Brien. "We're helping Essex County residents receive up to $10,000 per home for helping to reduce their energy bills. We've helped homeowners in our community receive more than a million dollars in rebates over the last few months. Not to mention an average reduction of 4 tons of CO2e per household, per year! This rebate program ends March, 2011 or whenever the government money runs out, whichever comes first. My goal is to bring as much business into our community as possible, while assisting homeowners in reducing their carbon footprint, one green home at a time."

Green Home Green Planet has just announced their impressive "2010 Referral Tree Program". "Most of our clients come from referrals", says Craig O'Brien. "We're going to 'plant a tree' in each homeowner's honour, each time they refer friends and family to us. The referring customers will receive a 'Referral Tree' confirmation card in the mail with the coordinates of the planted tree once the referred customer has followed through with our process. The first Saturday of each month in 2010 we will be announcing on AM800 and our website (www.ghgp.net), the individuals name that has referred the most. Also, starting March 2010 our website will display the growth of the '2010 Referral Tree', so anyone can view it."

At the end of the day, a lot of us want to make our homes greener. Why wouldn't we when the government rebates take a chunk out of the financial burden and the Green Home consultants make it so painless? All it takes is one call for these professionals to successfully guide you through the process. Reduce your footprint and go green by calling, 519-259-8229 or visiting www.ghgp.net.

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