Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am doing a startup for residential energy auditing (also called home performance).

What I do:
"I look for affordable ways to reduce heating, air conditioning and electric costs. In a home visit, I use diagnostic equipment to test combustion safety and do a pressure test on your home (blower door test). The pressure test will tell us where heated air is escaping from your house and how much is escaping. I will recommend was to reduce those losses - including do it yourself techniques.

Customers can expect to receive low cost recomendations that will reduce energy costs by 10-30% - or more! Additionally, I will determine expected payback times for larger home investments such as furnace replacement, windows or attic insulation."

I have completed training, have the equipment and have leads for insurance. An S-corp is in place and we will do a "DBA". The HUGE problem right now is a business name. (and finding a related web site)

My last name is weird (to put it mildly) and hard for people to spell or pronounce right. I am concerned about using that in the business name for the spelling reason, though it would making getting the URL really easy. An alternative is my husband`s last name, which is easier to spell but Asian Indian (we live in a non-diverse area so this would not help business!) Examples: "GnappleEnergy" "PatelEnergyService" (not our real names!) I don`t want to do a geographical name either (Adams County Energy Services) because the wealthy customers are mostly out-of-county.

Primary marketing channels are web (Google ad words), word of mouth, and home shows. So we need a URL which is easy to remember and somehow related to the business name. Many of the obvious URLs are taken.

The following are some of the ideas I am trying to imply, all at once:
Energy audit
Energy investigation
Home analysis/home perfomance
Utility bill reduction
Building science
Draft reduction
Electric bill reduction
Carbon footprint reduction
reduced cost of home ownership
more comfortable home ownership
safer living in your home (combustion safety test)

Some other companies in the field are
Zero Draft
Perfomance Systems
Energy Doctor

All advice appreciated!

one thing to keep in mind is the prospect of registering the name as a trademark.  Doing that can really help if you find somebody in your industry using the same name or similar name.

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Thank you! More input appreciated :-)

 

This is not a proper way to name your business as there are a number of people in the country who are already using this name for their organization. Therefore take proper step and check availability of the name and then after deciding to name business accordingly.

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