The United States is facing a shortage of electricians, with job openings in the field expected to grow 11% annually over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the shortage won't go away anytime soon, as U.S. electrician candidates typically must log 8,000 hours of work before becoming licensed.
In normal times, labor shortages can cause inconvenience while the labor market changes accordingly. But the United States is in the midst of a seismic shift in how people and businesses use electricity. Adding solar panels, replacing furnaces with heat pumps, adding electric vehicle chargers, etc. all require electricians and rack up projects with today's limited workforce.
“That pipeline will take a long time to build, and we won't see significant relief within the next five to 10 years,” said Erik Owski, co-founder and CEO of Treehouse. told TechCrunch. “We have to make our existing workforce more efficient.”
Inefficiency comes in many forms in the construction industry, but one of the most obvious is site visits to scope and estimate jobs. “Do I have to roll the truck?” Owski said. “Most of the time, if there's any uncertainty, they just roll over the truck.” Depending on where you work, these visits can consume valuable time.
Owski and several of his co-founders previously worked at LinkedIn, but they founded Treehouse with these visits in mind. To minimize “truck rolls,” the company collected data on the home footprint and various electrical work details for different homes. These were fed into an AI model that predicted how long a new job would take to complete and how much material it would require.
Owski said the company has made progress, especially with simple tasks like installing EV chargers. “We do the majority of EV charger installations, and I would say over 90% are done without a truck roll prior to the installation date,” he said.
For these jobs, Treehouse asks the customer several questions, including what the main uses of electricity are in the home, such as stoves and water heaters. This helps the company determine if homeowners need to upgrade their electrical connections or main panel. The survey also asks you to drop a pin on a map to indicate where you would like your charger to go. The goal is to provide a quote while the customer is sitting at the car dealership.
“They need to be clear on their pricing, and if they're going to fund that purchase, we need to be very good at it,” Owsky said.
In addition to the EV charger, the treehouse also installs a heat pump, whole-house battery, thermostat, and electrical panel. For more complex work, such as heat pumps, the company will ask homeowners to submit more detailed information, such as a photo of the home's circuit breaker. If the company needs more information, it will attempt a virtual visit with the customer, and if that fails, it will run the truck. “We are building automation to avoid these surprises,” Owsky said.
Treehouse has many competitors in this space, including Qmerit, Kopperfield, and Zero Homes.
Like many of its competitors, Treehouse estimates the job, designs the installation, and creates plans for permit applications. Often, they then hire an independent electrician to do the work.
Unlike other platforms that focus on generating contractor leads, Treehouse has licensed electricians acting as lead contractors, with independent electricians working as subs. Treehouse also employs its own electricians in California and Colorado, Owsky said, and plans to hire more in six to eight other markets over the next year.
The startup recently raised $16 million in Series A led by Flourish Ventures with participation from Acrew Capital, CarMax, Eaton, Holman, Invest Detroit, InVest Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Montage Ventures, Veriten, and Virta Ventures. did.
Owski said the funding will go toward hiring engineers to improve models that help automate quoting. We are also expanding geographically. Currently, Treehouse is deployed in 40 states, and Owsky said it should be in all 50 states by the end of the year. The company currently partners with Carmax, Holman, Emporia, Quilt, and ChargePoint.
While EVs may be the gateway to electrification for many people, Owski believes it's just the first step for many. “I think we are experiencing a multi-decade supercycle,” Owsky said. “EVs will change the way the average consumer thinks about home energy.”