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For contractor James Faison, Clean Energy Works Portland sounded too good to be true.

The program connects contractors with training, as well as clients, for home weatherization and other residential efficiency projects. It also looks to get more work for historically underused contractors. But Faison said the program cost his company Faison Construction too much for the program’s initial returns.

“Gearing up, it costs several thousand dollars for the training,” Faison said. “Then you have to get the right equipment, which costs several thousand dollars, too.”

Clean Energy Works program director Derek Smith says he is aware of the cost barrier. And before the program expands next year into a statewide effort that will retrofit 6,000 homes, he wants to be sure no contractors are barred from the program due to financial constraints.

“There has been some financial assistance for minority firms to help diversify the initial contractor pool,” Smith said. “Now what we need is a contractor capacity assessment to determine how to fill the gap with training assistance as needed.”

The upfront costs for Clean Energy Works were the biggest challenge for Val Solorzano, owner of Chick of All Trades. She also found herself shelling out thousands of dollars before performing her first project. But the results Solorzano has seen since the projects started to roll in have made her a believer in the program.

“We’ve hired people and our sales are up,” Solorzano said. “The upfront costs were a big concern when we started, but we managed to get over that hurdle.”

When Chick of All Trades entered the program, Solorzano had two staff members go through the required $4,000 training series from the Building Performance Institute. Then she purchased thousands of dollars of new equipment, including a $12,000 blower door to perform weatherization and efficiency projects. Luckily, she received some financial assistance from the city’s Sheltered Market Program for the training. The Sheltered Market Program helps minority-owned, woman-owned and emerging small businesses compete in the construction industry.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today unless the Sheltered Market Program helped pay for the training,” Solorzano said.

While the Sheltered Market Program has been helpful for minority firms, Smith said Clean Energy Works needs to find a way to close the gap for firms outside the Sheltered Market Program.

“We need to do the contractor assessment before we can commit training dollars,” Smith said. “We don’t want to over train and end up with trained people with no work to do.”

Since Faison can’t afford to purchase the new equipment he needs, he plans to lease or rent blowers, trucks and other tools.

The added costs worry Faison at a time when no new projects are coming in, but he says he believes the program will work because of the success he has seen from other Clean Energy Works contractors.

For these companies, the promises made by Clean Energy Works mirror the reality.

Chick of All Trades has been able to hire four employees because of additional work through Clean Energy Works, Solorzano said.  Another company, the Home Energy Life Performance Group Inc., has increased its staff from three to twelve since joining the program, according to owner Berenice Lopez-Dorsey. And at Neil Kelly Company, vice president and general manager Brian McVay said he has hired two new staffers and is looking for a third. All three companies say they have more work coming in than they would have without the Clean Energy Works program.

Faison hopes he’ll be able to say the same thing someday.

“I’m hopeful it will pay off,” Faison said. “There are good people working to make this work. They just haven’t worked all the bugs out yet.”