Funding and access gaps, especially for small contractors and community-based businesses: Small contractors face barriers because retrofits are treated as bespoke, high-cost projects rather than benefiting from economies of scale, making it hard for them to compete. Contractors and CBOs reported that qualifying for grant opportunities is difficult, especially when requirements favor larger agencies. Subgranting and capacity-building for smaller, local players was identified as essential

Complexity of incentives and funding cycles—fragmented, siloed, hard for homeowners to navigate: Homeowners find incentive stacking extremely complex, often requiring them to navigate multiple disconnected applications. Even experienced professionals said they struggle to access all available rebates. Programs are often developed in isolation, creating conflicting rules, eligibility requirements, and short funding cycles that leave customers confused.

Funding instability—programs often run out or change midstream: Participants described frequent lapses in state retrofit incentives: programs “run out of funding” unpredictably, leaving homeowners and contractors uncertain about whether projects will be supported. Local groups noted lag times in federal funding and shifting state priorities, which destabilize project pipelines and discourage investment

Need for more flexible, simplified, and customer-facing incentives and grant administration: Participants called for simplifying incentives and program design, so more customers qualify and funding can move quickly to projects rather than being bogged down in admin. Flexibility was a recurring theme: community members emphasized that rules must evolve mid-grant as conditions (like costs or disasters) change. Participants also flagged the need for advance pay options to ease upfront burdens, especially for smaller entities.