The paperwork in field operations is often old fashioned. The people doing the work are not.
That’s the idea behind Not So Old Fashioned, a new show from GoFormz CEO Rob Brewster. Each episode, Rob sits down with people who run field operations, pours a round of Old Fashioneds, and talks about the job: what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what they’d tell the people coming up behind them.
For episode 1, Rob was joined by Bradley Strahm, Andrew Saffel and Erik Garcia of Community Housing Partners (CHP) Energy Solutions. The conversation was recorded inside a mock airplane during Energy Out West in Phoenix, which might be the most memorable podcast set we’ll ever have.
Meet CHP Energy Solutions
CHP Energy Solutions is a weatherization service provider appointed by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The nonprofit serves 47 of Virginia’s 92 localities with federal and state weatherization services, and through utility-sponsored programs it can reach up to 90% of the state’s population.
The goal is simple to describe and hard to deliver: make homes more efficient and more comfortable, and lower energy bills for the families who need it most. For some of the households CHP serves, a high energy bill means a hard choice between keeping the lights on and paying for medicine. That’s the kind of stakes this team works with every day.
What We Talked About
The payment checklist that ended their subcontractor callback problem
CHP sends jobs out to subcontractors across dozens of programs, each with its own documentation rules. When paperwork came back incomplete, someone had to go back out to the home, which cost time and money and delayed funding. The team walks through the simple checklist that changed that, and why getting it right the first time matters so much when payment depends on it.
Running 20 funding streams to pull down a six-year wait list
CHP manages more than 20 federal, state and utility-sponsored programs. Each one comes with different eligibility rules, reporting requirements and funders to keep happy. Rob asks the question every operator wants answered: how do you manage the people who fund your organization? The answer comes down to discipline, consistency and getting the right people in place, and it’s how CHP has been working down a client wait list that stretched as long as six years.
What data center growth in Virginia means for energy funding
Virginia is one of the biggest data center markets in the country, and that growth is reshaping the state’s energy picture. The team shares what it’s seeing on the ground and what it could mean for programs that help families afford their energy bills.
Why We Started With This Conversation
Weatherization doesn’t get a lot of headlines, but it’s field work in its purest form. Crews in attics and crawlspaces, contractors juggling program requirements, and a back office that can’t get paid until every photo and every form is right. It’s a great example of what this show is about: people doing hard, important work and finding better ways to do it.
It’s also a team we know well. CHP Energy Solutions uses GoFormz to standardize data capture across its programs, and you can read more about how they’ve done it in their customer story.
“We want our technical folks doing technical things, not paperwork.” Erik Garcia, Director of Support Services, CHP Energy Solutions
Watch Episode 1
Pull up a chair, pour something good and watch the full conversation wherever you view or listen to podcasts.
Who will we talk to next, and where will we film? Subscribe on YouTube and follow Rob Brewster on LinkedIn so you don’t miss an episode.
#NotSoOldFashioned
