TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HomeStars, Canada’s largest network of verified home service professionals, is proud to announce a new partnership with Perch, a technology platform offering homebuyers and homeowners the financial insights they need to build wealth through real estate. This first-of-its-kind partnership will help homeowners find flexible refinancing solutions to fund their renovation and home improvement needs.

Through the new partnership, HomeStars offers a refinancing option to Canadian homeowners looking to make home renovations, repairs, or improvements. Homeowners can now receive cash based on the equity in their homes and use these funds for home improvement projects.

“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Perch and offer Canadian homeowners flexible refinancing options to fund their home renovations. It’s been a difficult year for Canadians, with the volatile housing market and economic pressures making purchasing newer homes less accessible and forcing many Canadians to stay in their homes longer. This partnership will allow homeowners to increase the value of their homes and make the much-needed improvements to their homes,” says Shir Magen, CEO of HomeStars. “This is a great opportunity to provide Canadians with an alternative to financing to give them continued comfort in their homes and live in a space they’re proud of. ”

The 2021 HomeStars Reno Report reported that 20 percent of Canadians needed financial assistance to execute home renovations, and many put off home improvements due to the daunting costs associated. With the current market volatility, its expected more Canadians will be financially stretched. HomeStars met this growing financial need by partnering with Perch to empower Canadians to execute their home renovations without the upfront investment. Whether it’s Canadians choosing to age in place, convert their home to one that can be multi-generational, or reinvest in their current property due to the current housing market, through this new partnership, homeowners will be able to get quality work done through vetted professionals with a lower financial impact on their monthly budget.

Homeowners can access the Perch refinancing calculator on https://homestars.com to help understand their borrowing power while starting a HomeStars service request. After entering your current property value and mortgage information, homeowners will have the ability to view the results and either begin the pre-approval process or chat with a Perch advisor. Once your loan is finalized and you are matched with a verified pro, you can leverage the funds towards your dream home project with a reputable pro.

“Perch’s analytics help Canadians get pre-approved for their mortgages and give them insights to understand exactly how much they can afford,” says Alex Leduc, Founder & CEO of Perch. “We saw a connection to the HomeStars online home services platform, and we’re very excited to be working with them. Together, we can help homeowners reach their goals faster.”

By leveraging Canada’s largest network of verified home service professionals, HomeStars allows Canadians to choose qualified professionals in their area and have a clear line of sight into home service professionals’ ratings and quality of work. Canadian homeowners are well equipped to hire right the first time with a proprietary star score, verified background and finance checks, and manually verified reviews.

About HomeStars

HomeStars is Canada’s largest network of verified and community-reviewed home service professionals. HomeStars empowers Canadian homeowners to hire right the first time for home renovations or repairs by connecting project-ready homeowners with the best pros in their neighborhood. In 2021, 8 million homeowners visited HomeStars looking for a pro for their next home improvement project. HomeStars was created in 2006 to relieve Canadian homeowners’ anxiety and put their minds at ease knowing they’ve hired a vetted, highly rated home service professional. With three distinct trust metrics, HomeStars gives Canadians the confidence of hiring right the first time, can vet pros recommended to homeowners, and allows for searching and requesting for specific home service professionals. HomeStars is based in Toronto, Ontario, and is an operating business of Angi, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI). To learn more, visit @HomeStars on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Contacts

Media Contact:
Alex Hammill – Talk Shop Media

Telephone: 905-808-6327

Email: alex@talkshopmedia.com

TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–DREAM OFFICE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (D.UN-TSX) (“Dream Office REIT”, the “Trust” or “we”) today announced that it has been awarded a Platinum Level award by the Green Lease Leader program during the Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit, by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Alliance.

Building on the Trust’s 2021 Gold Level recognition, this year the Trust achieved Platinum Level recognition for integrating ambitious building energy reduction goals with social impact goals. To receive this recognition, the Trust qualified for credits in energy efficiency and sustainability best practices such as utility data tracking and sharing, cost recovery for capital improvements, building resilience and sustainability training. This is the first year that the Platinum Level award was implemented, and the Trust is one of the few applicants to receive the highest level of recognition.

“This Platinum Level recognition reflects our proactive approach towards achieving net-zero by 2035 by engaging our tenants on all fronts of Sustainability and ESG. With our emission reduction and other Sustainability goals, along with the green lease standard, we strive to increase the positive environmental, social, and financial outcomes of our tenants and key stakeholders,” said Gordon Wadley, Chief Operating Officer – Dream Office REIT.

The Trust continues to put strategies in place to systematically consider and manage sustainability in everything we do. In 2021, we became official supporters of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, which provides guidance and recommendations on climate-related risk and opportunity disclosures, and, as part of the Dream group of companies, committed to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. These represent meaningful commitments to accountability and corporate responsibility. Recently, the Trust published its Net Zero by 2035 Action Plan, which outlines the proposed strategy and course of action to achieve net zero within the targeted timeline.

More information on Trust’s sustainability goals, performance, disclosures and initiatives can be found on our sustainability website.

About Green Lease Leaders program

Launched in 2014, Green Lease Leaders sets standards for what constitutes a green lease, while recognizing landlords and tenants who modernize their leases to spur collaborative action on energy efficiency, cost-savings, air quality, and sustainability in buildings. Green Lease Leaders represent portfolios totaling nearly 2 billion square feet (sq. ft.) and comprise a diverse range of buildings from large and small commercial offices to industrial buildings to data centers. Altogether, Green Lease Leaders manage more than 5 billion square feet of commercial and government space across North America, representing a huge potential for growth in green leases. Learn more about Green Leasing by visiting GreenLeaseLeaders.com or reading Green Lease Leaders’ case studies.

About Dream Office REIT

Dream Office REIT is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. Dream Office is a premier office landlord in downtown Toronto with over 3.5 million square feet owned and managed. Dream Office has carefully curated an investment portfolio of high-quality assets in irreplaceable locations in one of the finest office markets in the world. For more information, please visit our website: www.dreamofficereit.ca.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including with respect to the trust’s sustainability goals, including the implementation of its Net Zero Action Plan, reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, and the Trust’s support and engagement with certain sustainability initiatives; and the Trust’s intention to engage tenants in respect of sustainability and environmental, social and governance matters (“ESG”), and the increase of related positive ESG and financial outcomes of tenants and key stakeholders. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Trust’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general and local economic and business conditions; risks associated with unexpected or ongoing geopolitical events, including disputes between nations, war, terrorism or other acts of violence, international sanctions and the disruption of the free movement and provision of goods and services across jurisdictions; employment levels; mortgage and interest rates and regulations; the uncertainties around the timing and amount of future financings; uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic; the effect of government restrictions on leasing and building traffic; the ability of the Trust and its tenants to access government programs; the financial condition of tenants; our ability to refinance maturing debt; leasing risks, including those associated with the ability to lease vacant space; rental rates on future leasing; future parking revenues and interest and currency rate functions. Our objectives and forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, including that the general economy remains stable, interest rates remain stable, conditions within the real estate market remain consistent, competition for acquisitions remains consistent with the current climate and that the capital markets continue to provide ready access to equity and/or debt.

All forward-looking information in this press release speaks as of the date of this press release. The Trust does not undertake to update any such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is disclosed in filings with securities regulators filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). These filings are also available at the Trust’s website at www.dreamofficereit.ca.

Contacts

Dream Office REIT

Michael J. Cooper
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

(416) 365-5145

mcooper@dream.ca

Jay Jiang
Chief Financial Officer

(416) 365-6638

jjiang@dream.ca

Two of the leading global Fleet Management and Maintenance platforms have integrated to improve the sustainability of fleets across the world.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#partnership—Samsara is the pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, which enables businesses to harness IoT (Internet of Things) data from vehicles, equipment, and warehouses to develop actionable insights and improve operations. Samsara serves over 20,000 customers, providing visibility into their entire operations and improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability as a result.

Samsara’s partner ecosystem and software integrations are enabled by its open APIs. With thousands of organizations leveraging 155+ API integrations on its App Marketplace, Samsara collects trillions of data points annually and surfaces those insights within a single platform.

Whip Around is a powerful, yet easy-to-use fleet maintenance software solution that connects drivers, mechanics and fleet operators to improve the uptime across their fleet operations. Whip Around operates in North America and Australasia and serves hundreds of thousands of users and assets worldwide across all commercial fleet industry verticals.

When the two systems are connected, odometer and engine hour readings are automatically pulled into Whip Around from Samsara. This way, customers never miss preventative maintenance schedules to ensure reduced downtime and improved fuel efficiency.

It takes fleets from a reactive costly process to a proactive approach, saving them thousands of dollars each year on each vehicle and asset in their operation.

Drivers have the ability to submit defects from both the Samsara and/or Whip Around apps via the Samsara Driver App making for a seamless and efficient driver experience. DTC Fault Codes, Inspection Defects and Servicing can be grouped into Work Orders in Whip Around, and bulk assigned to mechanics to ensure efficiency and real-time tracked workflows. As a result, fleets are kept moving in a sustainable manner.

Elizabeth Santorelly, VP of Product for Whip Around said, “Combining Samsara’s powerful IoT data with Whip Around’s comprehensive fleet maintenance workflows seamlessly to diagnose issues and be proactive with regular service intervals, will provide our mutual customers with improvements to their overall fleet operating performance leading to reduced emissions and cost savings.”

“We’re excited to add Whip Around as our latest partner integration on the Samsara App Marketplace,” said Chris Mozzocchi, Sr. Director of Product Management, Ecosystem Integrations at Samsara. “Proactive fleet maintenance not only improves road safety but also reduces the environmental and economic impact of fleet vehicles. With this Whip Around integration, maintenance workflows are streamlined so customers can operate more efficiently and reduce associated costs.”

As both companies look to help their customers improve operational efficiency and fleet sustainability, this partnership offers unparalleled levels of connectedness and responsiveness – and it would appear it’s already delivering for customers who have utilized the integration.

A number of mutual customers have already seen value in the integration, like Scott Ireland from Sail Energy who manages 132 vehicles and equipment across the northeastern states. They use the combination of Samsara and Whip Around to control their fuel costs by reducing excessive idling time and deploying preventative fleet maintenance measures to improve fuel efficiency of vehicle powerplants.

“I get the idling time, telemetry and fault codes from Samsara and provide information to our 3rd party maintenance vendors through reports in Whip Around. This expedites preventative maintenance which helps manage downtime of our vehicles,” Scott says. “The ability to always know which vehicles are in repair and which are driving unsafely on the road makes this possible for me. This has a direct positive effect on reducing costs of our fleets, improving service to our customers through reduced breakdowns, improving vehicle economy, and most importantly, giving our drivers safe vehicles to work with.”

About Samsara

Samsara is the pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, which allows businesses that depend on physical operations to harness IoT (Internet of Things) data to develop actionable business insights and improve their operations. Samsara operates in North America and Europe and serves tens of thousands of customers across a wide range of industries including transportation, wholesale and retail trade, construction, field services, logistics, utilities and energy, government, healthcare and education, manufacturing, and food and beverage. The company’s mission is to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy.

About Whip Around

Whip Around is a powerful, yet easy-to-use fleet maintenance software solution that connects drivers, mechanics and fleet operators to improve the uptime across their fleet operations. Whip Around operates in North America and Australasia and serves hundreds of thousands of users and assets worldwide across all commercial fleet industry verticals. The company’s mission is to keep the world’s fleets moving by accelerating information.

Contacts

Lauren Yeoman
704.412.3986
Lauren.yeoman@whiparound.com

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#carbonfootprint–Businesses are being held accountable for their environmental impact. Some companies have taken a proactive approach by announcing their plans to reach net zero, while others are considering more modest reductions to reduce operational expenditures. A few weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposal requiring public companies to disclose climate risk and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data, prompting executives to examine their current energy usage.

The challenge? Business leaders don’t know where to begin.

“There’s a huge knowledge gap here,” says Rich McBee, President & CEO of CLEAResult, “and we’re uniquely qualified to not just fill it—but do it better and faster than any other business.”

CLEAResult is North America’s leading provider of energy efficiency solutions and recently became the Official Energy Efficiency Partner of the Boston Red Sox. They have worked primarily with utility companies to save homes and businesses money by reducing energy use for the past 20 years. Now, they’re expanding their expertise to work directly with forward-thinking business and community organizations like manufacturers, healthcare providers, schools, stadiums and more.

Rob Beckwith, CLEAResult’s VP of Carbon Consulting Business Development, noted, “Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become increasingly important to investors, advisors and regulators in recent years. Over the past two decades, companies that have successfully embraced ESG performance into their corporate DNA have outperformed others in terms of stock price, overall management, and ‘peer perception’ within their respective industries.”

Leveraging two decades of experience, CLEAResult has developed practical solutions to measure and reduce businesses’ annual carbon emissions, with the ultimate goal of reaching net zero. In 2021 alone, they helped save people over $9 billion on their energy bills through efficiency upgrades and averted more than 22.8 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions from our environment.

CLEAResult’s Carbon Consulting services offer a comprehensive portfolio of energy and GHG emissions reduction solutions, rather than delivering limited scopes of work. Their energy experts begin by measuring an organization’s current GHG emissions and providing energy-efficient measures to reduce them. From there, they recommend ways to transition to renewable energy and purchase carbon credits to further decrease carbon footprints. This approach enables companies to bring CLEAResult in at any stage of the process and lean on them as a singular resource for measuring, planning, implementing and improving their reduction strategies.

“We keep things simple for our clients. All the technical and tedious work is handled in-house.” McBee continued. “Businesses are busy, we get that. But when we show them how much money they’ll save and the impact it will have on our environment, all of their employees get excited–not just the executives.”

CLEAResult is currently offering free consultations for companies looking to lower their energy costs and carbon emissions. Visit CLEAResult.com/carbon-consulting for more information.

About CLEAResult

CLEAResult is the largest provider of energy efficiency, energy transition and decarbonization solutions in North America. Since 2003, our mission has been to change the way people use energy. Today, our experts lead the transition to a sustainable, equitable, and carbon-neutral future for our communities and our planet.

Our hometown teams collaborate with a diverse network of local partners to deliver world-class technology and personalized services that make it easy for commercial and industrial businesses, governments, utilities and residential customers to reduce their energy use and carbon footprint.

CLEAResult is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has over 2,400 employees in more than 60 cities across the U.S. and Canada. CLEAResult is majority owned by TPG through its middle market and growth equity investment platform TPG Growth and its multi-sector global impact investing strategy The Rise Fund.

Explore all our energy solutions at clearesult.com.

Follow us on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Contacts

media@clearesult.com
Amber Tester
Director Corporate Communications