Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 20, 2026 17 by about 30%. It signs long-term contracts with customers and gener- ates revenue through a share of the resulting energy cost savings. Budderfly installs equipment such as HVAC systems, air quality controls, LED lighting, smart panels, sensors and solar panels at no upfront cost, and provides around-the-clock, AI-en- abled monitoring, maintenance and infrastructure upgrades. "Humans made equipment, lighting, things that are efficient, that need to be managed," Subbloie said. "If you're good at what you do, you can go get that 30%" savings. For OEM Controls, which employs about 200 people and has faced rising energy costs, Budderfly is investing $1.5 million in upgrades to the electronic controls manufac- turer's nearly 85,000 square feet of facilities in Shelton. In addition to installing battery technology, Budderfly has added LED lighting and a new water heating system, and replaced 90% of OEM's rooftop solar system and 18 rooftop HVAC units. Largest HVAC installer Budderfly installs equipment in about 150 locations per month. "We're putting in 400 commercial HVACs every month in the United States," Subbloie said. "We are prob- ably the largest installer of HVACs in the country right now." He said the units save about 55% of the energy used by the systems they replace. Budderfly now has customers in all 50 states, and outsources about 80% of its installations, Subbloie said. The company still employs project managers and between 40 and 50 mechanical and electrical engineers. Budderfly has a Milford ware- house where it stores about 1,600 HVAC units, and even that building has been made net-zero for carbon emissions because it's heated by geothermal energy. Subbloie said Budderfly has also focused heavily on developing its own technology and software. He said he previously tried to persuade Google to create a version of its residential Nest ther- mostat for commercial and indus- trial buildings, but when that effort fell short, "we created our own." Budderfly also developed billing software that integrates with 600 utility companies nationwide, allowing it to manage energy billing for customers. "We patented that entire process," Subbloie said. Budderfly has no plans to leave Connecticut despite its continued growth, Subbloie said. He expects staffing to increase by 10% to 20% annually, though not at the same pace as the compa- ny's growth, in part because of improving use of AI tools. "The reason these big financial players are giving us so much money, it's because they're comfort- able with where we're going to put it, and we know the return we're going to get from it," he said. CEO Al Subbloie says large financial firms are investing in Budderfly because they "know the return we're going to get from it." Contributed Photo

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