Business Owner Turns Passion for Saving Energy Into Business

Carl Clark said he's always had a passion for showing residents how to save on energy costs.

"After years of listing to me my wife said one evening - JUST DO IT. This is your passion, you love helping people, start a business that allows you to educate homeowners on how their home works,what can be done to lower energy usage, improve indoor air quality, and just be more comfortable in their own homes," Clark said.

Recently, Clark, President of CDC Energy Consultants, LLC, submitted information about the business to Patch. If you have a business and want to participate in Patch's Small Business Shout Out you can fill out the form here.

How did your business come to be?: My background is in radiant heating / snowmelt design and sales, along with residential & commercial boilers. I saved my customers a significant amount on their energy costs, but at the end of the day I often came home and told my wife - If I could just get people to air seal and properly insulate their homes and businesses they could save so much more. After years of listing to me my wife said one evening - JUST DO IT. This is your passion, you love helping people, start a business that allows you to educate homeowners on how their home works,what can be done to lower energy usage, improve indoor air quality, and just be more comfortable in their own homes.

What kind of services do you offer?: Residential and small business energy audits and infrared imaging.

What's a fact about your business that most customers probably don't know?: "That we are an Independent - Third Party Energy Auditor Only.
This is important to know, while other businesses that perform energy audits are also an insulation, general, performance, heating, window, or some other type of contractor - we only do energy audits. While they use energy audits as a means to get in to sell you on their other services - We have nothing to sell you, so you know the information you get has your best interest in mind.

What do you want your business to be best known for?: We want to be known as a consumer advocate. We give our customers a 20 to 30 page report based on a best bang for their buck approach, if they are handy I can show them how to do a lot of the work themselves, if they have their own contractors to work with - great, if they do not know of a qualified contractor, we will recommend one. When you schedule an audit you won't get a salesman coming to your door, or someone just learning how to do an audit, I personally come out to perform the audit, I analyze all the data, I develop your individualized report, I guide you on the best corse of action, and I file all of your rebate paperwork with the utilities.

What's your most popular product or service?: Home and small business energy audits are the most popular, but third party infrared scanning to verify the quality of an industrial or commercial insulation project is gaining ground.

When was the business founded?: 2010

Why did you choose to locate to Farmington-Farmington Hills?: I have lived in Farmington Hills for over 20 years and enjoy living here very much. This is an area with a wide variety of homes, and most if not all could benefit from our services.