Company: Roof Diagnostics Solar, Wall, NJ
Entry Submitted By: Rasky Baerlein
Company Description: Roof Diagnostics Solar (RDS) is one of North America’s top solar companies specializing in the installation of residential solar PV. RDS has more than 400 employees in New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York where they partner with homeowners to provider cleaner, cheaper energy. Currently, Roof Diagnostics has helped more than 5,000 homeowners bring their homes into the future with solar
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Energy

Nomination Title: Roof Diagnostics Solar

Tell the story about what this nominated organization achieved since January 1 2013 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Founded in 1994, Roof Diagnostics Solar (RDS) is one of North America’s top solar companies specializing in the installation of residential solar PV. Originally established as a roofing company in New Jersey, the company transitioned into solar into 2011 by establishing Roof Diagnostics Solar (RDS). RDS has since expanded to 6 offices in 5 states, including offices in Connecticut and Pennsylvania that opened in 2013. They have helped more than 5,000 homeowners bring solar power into their homes with solar PV.

In 2013, RDS continued to expand by more than doubling its number of employees, growing from 205 to 428 in less than a year. Additionally, the company grew in revenue from $32m to $58m in just the past year – an overall 81% growth in revenue. As industry dynamics were in a state of flux, RDS navigated the marketplace, outgrowing its peers while maintaining leading margins. For six months straight during the second half of the year, the company improved every one of their key performance indicators.

RDS has prioritized and maintained a strong focus on the simplification of the solar integration process, which has allowed it to outpace its industry competitors in terms of percentage of market share increase. RDS maintains a 15% market share in each of the states it operates. RDS also centralized several departments at their main headquarters that were previously hosted in local offices, and as a result saw operations recognize more than 10% improvements in both system design and administrative processing.

RDS is an innovation leader in the development of proprietary systems and approaches to drive down customer acquisition costs and maximize the development of quality management systems to enhance customer satisfaction. The company attributes one of its main driving factors of success to their efficient sales process, seeing referral customers increase by 205% and new customers increase by 95% year after year as a result of their Direct Marketing outreach.

As part of its strategy to increase sales and expand its customer base, RDS strategically partnered with Home Depot in 2012 to offer its residential solar services in-store. Due to the success of the partnership, RDS was able to expand from 21 stores to 200 stores in 2013, resulting in a substantial increase in sales leads.

Focusing on staff training and development, RDS has taken an innovative approach to growth that allows them to concentrate on culture-fitting talent acquisition. They prioritize developing and maintaining a positive and vibrant working experience to build both individual and company success. RDS believes in recruiting strategic problem solvers with the personality that fits their business model.

As a result of their innovative growth model, RDS was named one of Inc. Magazine's fastest growing companies, as well as the 37th best solar company in the world by Solar Power World. In November of 2013, RDS was ranked fifth on the list of New Jersey’s 2013 Fifty Fastest Growing Companies by NJBIZ, New Jersey’s premiere business news publication and the fastest growing energy company in New Jersey.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader of this nominated organization:

Kelcy Pegler Jr. is Co. Founder and CEO of Roof Diagnostics Solar. In just three years, Kelcy has helped RDS join the top ten in residential solar market-share and was subsequently named to Inc. Magazine's fastest growing companies. Kelcy spends the majority of his time driving forward looking, innovative initiatives and developing progressive strategies to bring homes into the future.

Kelcy holds a degree in Political Science from University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he played on the college basketball team. Kelcy also played basketball in England while completing a yearlong Political Speaking program. In 2013, Kelcy was named to Forty under 40 by NJBIZ.