Budderfly’s model is as bold as it is simple. The company spends its own money to upgrade everything from HVAC units and lighting to thermostats and refrigeration. In return, it takes over the customer’s utility bill – passing on a guaranteed discount, while keeping additional savings. “We become the customer of record,” Subbloie explained. “They get all this stuff for free. All they do is say, ‘Sure,’ and we transfer it over.” For gyms, that means improved air quality and humidity control – crucial in sweaty, crowded spaces. For restaurants, it means full-scale modernization, often at a fraction of the cost of going it alone.

“We started in the restaurant industry because we landed Subway as our first customer in 2017,” Subbloie said. “Today, we’re in over 8,000 facilities, including McDonald’s, IHOP, and now a fast-growing list of fitness centers like Orangetheory and Planet Fitness.” Budderfly even employs its own technicians, outfitting fleets of electric service vehicles to ensure the equipment is properly maintained.

“We are presently maintaining between 50 and 60% of our customers direct,” Subbloie said. “That’s a big deal. You know, if you say, Why? Why the hell did you do that? Quality. The quality of this market is not what you’d want it to be.” By keeping so much maintenance in-house, Budderfly ensures higher standards and faster response – another layer of hassle taken off operators’ plates.

Mitch Benson, vice president of business operations at Empire Portfolio Group (Orangetheory), said partnering with Budderfly helped reduce startup costs and commit resources to expansion.

“Opening a fitness center is capital-intensive, and HVAC systems can cost around $50K per location. By working with Budderfly, we can preserve capital, reduce maintenance downtime, and replace aging units with high-efficiency systems," Benson said, noting every dollar saved is reinvested into new locations or improving existing studios, "while also reducing energy waste and our carbon footprint.”

AI Steps Up in the Background

The next leap, though, may come not just from hardware, but from software. Companies like ServiceTrade are betting that the real gains will be made by turning data – the repair logs, inspection notes, and service calls piling up in digital back rooms – into actionable intelligence.

“AI is impacting all of us on a daily basis, and our goal is to take the scarcest, most precious resource that our customers have – their technicians – and make them more productive,” said William Chaney, a leader at ServiceTrade. The company’s Smart AI suite is designed specifically for the fire, life safety, and mechanical contractors who keep America’s buildings running. Unlike a chatbot that answers questions, these ‘agentic’ AIs are built to analyze data, make recommendations, and even initiate actions, all while keeping a human in the loop.

ServiceTrade’s vision is to transform the system of record – the digital file cabinet of inspections and work orders – into a system of action. “We want to enable field staff and office staff to set aside mundane work and automate a lot of the workflow,” Chaney said. That means AI that can analyze a work order, match it to asset histories and maintenance standards, and send a technician out with the right tools, parts, and instructions – no more wasted truck rolls or head-scratching over what went wrong last time.

Custom Solutions, Real Savings

Both companies emphasize the importance of local data and customization. Budderfly’s upgrades are tailored not just to general best practices, but to the individual quirks of each building – whether it’s a gym with a pool and humidity issues, or a restaurant with patchwork insulation and aging rooftop units.

Security and privacy remain top concerns, especially as more sensitive data gets uploaded, analyzed, and used to train new models. “The data is our customers’, and we take that very seriously,” Chaney said. ServiceTrade anonymizes and aggregates client data for model training, ensuring that competitive or sensitive information stays protected.

The Road Ahead

The changes are already mounting. Budderfly expects to install nearly 6,000 commercial HVAC units this year, and is testing new ways to bundle services like insulation and renewable energy into its offerings. ServiceTrade is rapidly developing predictive maintenance features, aiming to help clients decide when to repair, replace, or even preempt failures across multi-site, national portfolios.

For the business owners on the ground, the appeal is clear: smarter energy management, less manual paperwork, and more time to focus on the actual work of serving customers. As Subbloie put it, “Life is simple. We try not to over-engineer it.”

With energy and AI quietly transforming even the most familiar parts of American life, one thing is certain: the next time you walk into a bright, comfortable gym or a bustling restaurant, chances are there’s a whole lot more technology – and a lot less wasted energy – humming behind the scenes.