Methodology

Rigorous. Transparent. Built around your strategy.

No black boxes, no generic benchmarks. Here's exactly how we score and rank every county in the country — and how you stay in control of the model.

Three rules that govern every model we build

01 /

Relative, not absolute

We use strict relative ranking. Not everyone gets a high score — a county earns its rank by genuinely outperforming peers. Your top markets are real opportunities, not inflated results from a generous scoring curve.

02 /

Multi-factor composite

No single factor dominates. A county that scores well on income but poorly on growth and competition won't rank in your top tier. We combine 10+ data points so you see the complete picture — not a misleading single-metric ranking.

03 /

Your model, your strategy

You define the target values for each factor — what income range signals a strong prospect, what growth rate is too low. You control how much each factor matters. The result reflects how your specific business makes money — not a generic industry template.

The factors we analyze

Our solar model is shown below as an example. Factor weights are always client-defined — the percentages shown are a common starting configuration, not a fixed formula.

☀️   Example: Solar installer model — weights shown are illustrative. Every client calibrates their own.
💰
20%

Median household income

Higher-income households qualify for financing more reliably and commit to long-term investments like solar.

U.S. Census Bureau ACS
🏡
20%

Home ownership rate

Renters can't buy solar. Higher homeownership directly expands your addressable market and rep efficiency.

U.S. Census Bureau ACS
15%

State cost of electricity

High utility rates make the ROI story easier to tell and correlate directly with higher close rates in the field.

U.S. Energy Information Administration
👥
10%

Population

Market size sets a hard floor. Below a minimum threshold, a county is disqualified regardless of other scores.

U.S. Census Bureau ACS
🏘️
10%

Existing single family homes

Total single-family housing units determine the raw size of your deployable opportunity in a given county.

U.S. Census Bureau ACS
🏠
7.5%

Normalized median home value

Higher home values correlate with larger systems and greater willingness to invest in home improvements.

U.S. Census Bureau ACS
📈
5%

County single unit housing growth

New single-family construction signals expanding neighborhoods with first-time buyers before competitors arrive.

Census Building Permits Survey
🏛️
5%

State solar incentive programs

State and local incentive programs strengthen the financial case and can meaningfully accelerate buyer decisions.

DSIRE / State databases
☀️
5%

Solar irradiance

Annual sun hours affect system output projections and the strength of your energy savings pitch in the field.

NREL National Solar Radiation Database
🌪️
2.5%

Climate risk

High-risk counties carry elevated warranty exposure and insurance complexity that affects long-term unit economics.

FEMA National Risk Index

How raw data becomes ranked markets

Trapezoid curve scoring

For most factors, there's an ideal range — not just "more is better." Take income: counties that are too low can't afford solar, but ultra-wealthy areas may be over-saturated. A trapezoid curve rewards the sweet spot and tapers scores outside it, unlike a linear scale that rewards extremes.

Building the composite score

Each factor is scored 0–100 using its curve. Scores are multiplied by client-defined weights and summed into a single composite county score — a clean, interpretable number that ranks every county against every other in the country.

Hard minimums

Certain factors act as hard floors. A county that fails a minimum threshold — population, for example — is disqualified entirely regardless of other scores. This keeps your ranked list clean and actionable instead of cluttered with edge cases.

Full transparency

You see exactly how every county scored on every individual factor, not just the composite. If you want to know why County X ranked above County Y, we show you the full breakdown. Your team can validate and explain every deployment decision.

Growth rate scoring curve

100 50 0 ideal range
0%LowTargetHighHyper

Sample composite score breakdown

Median income
88
Home ownership
91
Electricity cost
72
Population
65
Single family homes
78
Solar irradiance
82

Composite score
81

Live data, full transparency, ongoing support

Not a one-time report that collects dust. A live intelligence system that updates as markets evolve.

Interactive dashboards

Google Looker Studio dashboards ranked by composite score. Filter by state, tier, or custom criteria. Accessible to your whole team — no per-seat fees.

Monthly data refreshes

Building permit data updates monthly. Census demographics refresh annually. Your rankings stay current as markets grow, slow, or saturate.

Custom weights you control

As your strategy evolves — new regions, new products, new learnings from the field — we update your model's weights on strategy calls to match your current priorities.

Full score transparency

See every county's score on every individual factor. Validate decisions, brief leadership, and build confidence in every market you enter — no black box.

Live dashboards in three weeks

Fast and collaborative. You bring the domain knowledge. We bring the data infrastructure. Together, we build something neither could build alone.

1

Discovery & priorities

We start by understanding your business: where you've succeeded, where you've struggled, what factors drive strong markets, and what risks to avoid. Every decision in the model flows from this conversation.

Week 1 · 1–2 calls
2

Build your model together

We walk through each factor together. You define what "good" looks like — what income range signals a strong prospect, what growth rate is too slow — and you set the weights that reflect your strategy.

Week 1–2 · Model calibration
3

Deploy with confidence

Your live dashboards go live. We walk through your top markets together, answer questions, and schedule a follow-up to refine the model once you've tested it against real field results.

Week 3 · Ongoing refinement

See the methodology in action

View a live dashboard with sample county rankings, then schedule a call to explore what a model built around your business would look like.

What to expect on a discovery call

  • 15–30 minutes, no hard sell
  • We'll ask about your current deployment process and where it breaks down
  • We'll walk through which factors matter most for your specific product
  • You'll leave with a clear picture of what your model would look like
  • Founding client pricing available — locked for 12 months