Technical design / trade intelligence
Trade-specific intelligence that turns a scope into a code-compliant design. For HVAC, this is Manual J load calculation and AHRI equipment matching. For electrical, this is the NEC load calculation, single-line diagram, and panel schedule. Airship does this for HVAC. Treehouse's Edison and Kopperfield do this for electrical.
Contractor needs a design that is code-compliant, permit-ready, and defensible to a building inspector. Homeowner needs a system that is appropriately sized for their property — not over- or under-engineered.Hypothesis
Edison is Treehouse's trade intelligence layer for electrical. The HVAC market has standardized on Manual J and AHRI — those are regulated calculation standards with no equivalent in electrical. The electrical equivalent (NEC load calculation) exists but is less standardized. Treehouse's opportunity is to become the standard for residential electrical load calculation in the same way that Manual J is the standard for HVAC sizing.Treehouse internal
How competitors approach this
2 companies mapped. Click a company's "View flow" link to see their captured screens.
| Company | What they do | What they automate | Contractor control | FSM relationship | Key strength | Key weakness | Treehouse implication |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
HVAC: native Manual J load calculation and AHRI equipment matching built into the proposal workflow. Electrical: proposal templates with financing — no equivalent technical intelligence for load calculation or equipment sizing.Company claimSource | HVAC: load calculation, AHRI matching, energy savings calculation, rebate matching. Electrical: template-based proposal assembly — no automated load calculation.Company claimSource | HVAC: 'clear and auditable logic' for equipment recommendations. Tech selects from AHRI-matched options. Electrical: contractor selects from templates.Company claimSource | Reads from ServiceTitan price book. Writes accepted proposal back to ServiceTitan.Company claimSource | HVAC: the only proposal tool with native Manual J and AHRI — the industry-standard calculation built into the sales workflow. Electrical: none identified.Company claimSource | The HVAC/electrical intelligence gap is large. Airship's electrical offering is proposal templates with financing — there is no load calculation, no equipment sizing intelligence, no permit-ready design output for electrical. Treehouse's Edison has no direct electrical competitor in the proposal-layer category.Hypothesis | Airship proves that trade-specific technical intelligence (Manual J + AHRI for HVAC) is both achievable and commercially valuable at the proposal layer. The absence of an equivalent for electrical is not a technical impossibility — it is an unaddressed market. Treehouse's Edison is positioned to fill exactly that gap.Hypothesis | |
KopperfieldView flow → | Load calculation, electrical design, single-line diagram, panel schedule, and permit package for electrical contractors. Closest external analogue to Treehouse's Edison + permit documentation pipeline. Fully unresearched.HypothesisSource | Capture plan includes: load-calculation inputs → result → code references → errors/warnings → single-line diagram (generated) → panel schedule → permit package. Suggests a fully automated calculation-to-permit pipeline.Hypothesis | Capture plan includes editable values, manual correction, diagram editing, and manual override steps — suggests significant contractor control over the automated output.Hypothesis | Unresearched. Free-wedge GTM suggests the product may be used standalone.Hypothesis | If permit-ready output is genuinely automated from load-calculation inputs, Kopperfield eliminates the manual drafting work that is currently the main time cost for licensed electrical design.Hypothesis | Business model, GTM, FSM integration, and actual accuracy of the automated design are all unresearched. Cannot assess competitive position without product access.Hypothesis | Kopperfield is the single most important company to research in depth. If its load calculation and permit-ready output are comparable to or better than Treehouse's Edison pipeline, it is a direct competitor. Research priority: highest in Tier D.Hypothesis |
Treehouse read
What Treehouse owns, orchestrates, and defers to the FSM — plus six supporting questions that shape architecture decisions. All entries are hypothesis until validated internally.
The Edison NEC load calculation and scope-of-work generation. Permit documentation output (panel schedule, single-line diagram). The AHJ/NEC rules engine.Treehouse internal
Equipment specification data (from OEM/distributor feeds). Local AHJ requirement data (from permit authority partnerships or a maintained database).Hypothesis
Equipment ordering, inventory management, job scheduling. The FSM does not need the permit-ready design — it needs the summary labor and material counts.Hypothesis
Edison's ability to produce a code-compliant electrical scope and permit-ready design from panel data — without a licensed electrician physically present. This is the moat: the combination of Panel IQ (photo-to-panel-record) plus Edison (panel-record-to-scope-to-design) that no general-purpose tool can match.Treehouse internal
NEC code text and tables (public domain). AHRI equipment database (HVAC-specific, not applicable to electrical). Property data services.Hypothesis
The permit-ready design package (panel schedule, single-line diagram, circuit list, code references) that supports both the proposal conversation and the permit application.Treehouse internal
A reviewable design with Edison-generated elements highlighted and contractor edits tracked. Code citations for every code-required item. A permit-readiness checklist.Treehouse internal
NEC load calculation, circuit sizing, panel schedule generation, single-line diagram generation, permit-requirement identification.Treehouse internal
Any non-standard configuration. Local AHJ requirements that differ from NEC defaults. Design decisions with multiple valid approaches where contractor preference matters.Treehouse internal
Research detail11-field structured template: contractor workflow, information flows, product outputs, FSM read/write
Contractor needs a design that is code-compliant, permit-ready, and defensible to a building inspector. Homeowner needs a system that is appropriately sized for their property — not over- or under-engineered.Hypothesis
For HVAC: Manual J calculation from property data, equipment selection from AHRI database. For electrical: NEC load calculation, circuit sizing, panel schedule, single-line diagram. Currently requires a licensed trade professional or significant experience.Hypothesis
From scoping: property address, job type, panel data (electrical), equipment inventory (HVAC). From code sources: NEC or AHRI databases, local AHJ requirements. From the contractor: design preferences, equipment brand relationships.Hypothesis
Airship (HVAC): 'AHRI and Manual J native' — load calculation and equipment matching built into the proposal workflow. For electrical: Airship has proposal templates but no equivalent load-calculation intelligence. Kopperfield (electrical, unresearched): load calculation, electrical design, single-line diagram, panel schedule, permit package.Company claimSource
Review the generated design. Apply local AHJ requirements not in the system. Confirm equipment availability and lead time. Sign off on the design before it drives the proposal.Hypothesis
Non-standard configurations. Local AHJ requirements that differ from national code. Equipment compatibility with existing systems. Design decisions with multiple valid approaches.Hypothesis
For HVAC: a Manual J calculation result and AHRI-matched equipment list. For electrical: a panel schedule, single-line diagram, circuit list, and permit-ready design package.Hypothesis
The design output may be attached to the FSM job record as a PDF. The structured design data (circuit list, equipment specifications) lives in the design tool.Hypothesis
HVAC: Airship's AHRI matching eliminates manual equipment selection — the algorithm proposes compatible equipment from the contractor's preferred brands. Electrical: Kopperfield (unresearched) promises permit-ready output that eliminates manual drafting.Company claimSource
HVAC: Manual J is a residential standard — commercial and light-commercial jobs require different tools. Electrical: no commercial tool at the scale of Airship for HVAC — the market is fragmented. AHJ database maintenance is ongoing and expensive.Hypothesis
Edison is Treehouse's trade intelligence layer for electrical. The HVAC market has standardized on Manual J and AHRI — those are regulated calculation standards with no equivalent in electrical. The electrical equivalent (NEC load calculation) exists but is less standardized. Treehouse's opportunity is to become the standard for residential electrical load calculation in the same way that Manual J is the standard for HVAC sizing.Treehouse internal
Open questions
- 01Does Treehouse's Edison output include a single-line diagram and panel schedule, or only a load calculation?
- 02What is Kopperfield's approach to the single-line diagram — is it generated automatically or manually drafted?
- 03How does Airship's AHRI matching work — does it require the contractor to configure preferred equipment brands, or does it draw from a universal AHRI database?
- 04What is the AHJ database coverage gap for both Airship (HVAC) and Edison/Kopperfield (electrical)?
- 05Is there an electrical equivalent of AHRI — a regulated equipment database — that Treehouse could integrate?