The Home Waterwise Service

 

 

The Challenge:
Retrofit 200,000 homes in two years across the South East Queensland region of Australia – about one in every seven homes - as a key component of the “millennium drought” emergency response plan.

 

The Project:
Prior to founding Econnics, Director Kirk Stinchcombe was co-creator and project director of the Home Waterwise Service.  This project involved completing comprehensive audits in residents’ homes, then directly installing devices such as water saving showerheads and tap aerators, as well as fixing leaks and providing advice on other ways to save water.  All this was offered at a dramatically discounted price through state government subsidy funding. 

 

At the peak of the program 135 plumbers were on contract and retrofits were being completed at a rate of 3000 per week.  The logistics of coordinating an enterprise of this scale were daunting.  A call centre was created with a full time staff of 50.  A comprehensive marketing campaign was launched with print, radio, TV and web components.  A quality assurance program was put in place to ensure water savings were achieved and customer satisfaction was high.

 

The Result:

By the end of 2008, 228,551 homes were retrofitted, resulting in water savings of over 4.8 billion litres per year (13 million litres per day).  A key performance indicator of 95% customer satisfaction was consistently achieved.