Brian Goldberg

Review of Achieve Renewable Energy

How does one pick a geothermal contractor when mos...

How does one pick a geothermal contractor when most of us are not geothermal experts? For us, it came down to trusting who we thought would deliver the most comprehensive design to match our house--at a competitive price.

Six months after our geothermal project installation (and a year after taking the first steps to get quotes), we re still very pleased with Achieve s whole-house, data-driven approach to geothermal system design and implementation:
1. Other firms we sought proposals from provided single stage estimates based on a 45 minute walk through of the house. Achieve s two-stage proposal provided us with a much higher level of confidence that our dollars would be efficiently spent on a system designed for our house. Stage 1 featured an energy audit of our house rather than a general assumption of system needs based on house size. Stage 2 used the audit to provide a very accurate estimate of project costs and incentives based on the audit.
2. We also valued Achieve s whole-house approach that integrated benefits of insulation and duct system improvements (identified from Stage 1 energy audit) to reduce system energy demand, size, well depth and cost while improving our comfort.
3. While the drilling, prep-work and installation of a geothermal system is disruptive the Achieve install team, Gap Mountain drilling teams and other sub-contractors were courteous, hard-working, battled through snow/ice, taught us about each step and kept us appraised of schedule shifts.

Although this process required more time start to finish than other firms projected from planning to installation, Achieve s approach gave us much more confidence that our investment would secure a right-sized system. We also benefited from Achieve s participation in the MA pilot MVP contractor program, which provided additional, data-driven incentives for energy performance improvement. At the end of the day, our out of pocket project cost with Achieve was $10K less than other firms and included considerably higher value equipment, insulation, enhanced duct work and energy analytics.

Since our Dec 2019 install, Larry and Louise have been extremely responsive to our detailed-questions as we fine tune the system with their remote adjustments.