This past Friday morning, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a workshop hosted by Corbett & Grace Lunsford, founders of the Building Performance Workshop, as part of their “Proof Is Possible” U.S. Tour; and when I say “Tour”, I mean exactly that – these modern-day troubadours have been traveling around the country for almost 3 months on a 20-city mission with a simple goal: To package building performance so it can easily be understood and used by professionals & consumers alike, for better buildings worldwide. An admirable mission, we can all agree; but how do they spread this message across a country with an apathetic population more interested in what’s going on in the Kardashian’s house than in their own houses?
Well, it starts with the concept of “practice what you preach”; rather than flying from city to city, and occupying one hotel room after another, Corbett & Grace are seeing our great country from ground level: hitched to the back of their Dually is their “new home” – a self-constructed “Tiny House” like those that are the central focus of so many TV shows these days. But unlike the ones seen on TV, which are primarily built to minimize the homes’ physical footprint, this one is designed to minimize, if not eliminate altogether, any potential “carbon footprint” (a.k.a. “environmental impact”) thru the use of a Photo-Voltaic Solar array to generate all the electricity they might need; not to mention the super-high efficiency of their heating, cooling & hot water equipment, high R-Value insulation all around; and yes, it is aerodynamic as well!
But enough about their Tiny House; the workshop itself was called “Performance Testing for the Private Market”, and the focus of this workshop (in my opinion) was about how even the most successful Home Performance Contractors could be more successful if they would spend just a little more time using science & testing, and a little less time using “sales tactics”, to differentiate from the competitors approach & win new customers. If we can show the reasons why we are worth a few dollars more than our competitors, then isn’t it okay to charge a few dollars more than the competitors as well? This “best value for your investment dollars” has been the backbone of Princeton Air’s business philosophy for over 45 years – we know we’re not the cheapest, but we also know that we’re the best; and the clients who are willing to invest an extra dollar or 2 for the “better things in life” are the clients that we have been looking for, and will continue to seek & serve.
I went into this workshop with a “neutral” opinion of what I might be able to take away from it; but it only took a few minutes for me to realize that as much as I thought I already knew about Home Performance, there were that many more areas that I knew far less about than I believed I knew – and I’ve brought this new-found knowledge back to the office with me, and will make all efforts to apply this new philosophy to everything I do going forward. I think the hardest part for me going forward will be accepting that I received a giant-sized education from people living in a Tiny House… They proved it to me; quite fitting as the tour is called “Proof Is Possible” – and it is!
For more information:
About the Building Performance Workshop, please visit: www.BuildingPerformanceWorkshop.com
About the Proof Is Possible Tour, please visit: www.ProofIsPossible.com
