His Flagstaff-based HVAC company, CozyHome, was swimming in work orders thanks to a state program called Efficiency Arizona. In September, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that the state would reimburse homeowners up to $14,000, based on income, to replace their old, inefficient air conditioning systems. Federal grants from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 made it all possible.
Anticipating an uptick in business, Chamberlain hired more staff, including HVAC and weatherization technicians and energy auditors. He purchased more vehicles and equipment and even upgraded the company’s space. The program aimed to help 20,000 Arizonans lower their energy costs, and many in Northern Arizona were knocking on CozyHome’s door.
In early February, CozyHome completed its first job, installing a new heat pump in the home of an 80-year-old Flagstaff man whose furnace had broken months earlier. But before Chamberlain could be reimbursed the $8,000 he spent on the job, everything came crashing down.
Weeks earlier, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order freezing all “green” federal grants, including those from the Inflation Reduction Act. Arizona had been allocated $153 million for the Efficiency Arizona program in 2023. Now Trump’s administration refused to release the funds.
That decision is the subject of a court battle, though that legal fight has provided no immediate help to Chamberlain or his customers. In late February, the Arizona Governor’s Office of Resiliency halted the Efficiency Arizona program. In a statement, Hobbs said, “The Trump administration’s refusal to release these funds puts this program in limbo, leaving homeowners contractors in a prolonged state of uncertainty.”
Eli Chamberlain started CozyHome in 2012. Now the Flagstaff company is feeling the crunch of Donald Trump's spending freeze.
Courtesy of CozyHome
Losing money
That certainly describes Chamberlain. On Feb. 21, Chamberlain and his company got a stop-work notice from the state. His first customer could not afford to pay for the new heat pump out of pocket, and Chamberlain does not expect the state to reimburse the $8,000 he spent. He worries more for his customers, who were counting on that assistance to modernize their homes.“It’s never fun to lose money,” he told Phoenix New Times. “It’s more of a program collapsing and not being able to do the other 100 customers that we had waiting.”
Some of CozyHome’s customers have decided to pay for HVAC improvements themselves, Chamberlain said, but many simply don’t have the budget. The Efficiency Arizona program was available only to low- and middle-income families who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford needed upgrades. Chamberlain believed it could have been “a catalyst in communities” to “help grow local economies by providing jobs (and) lowering homeowners' utility bills.”
The freeze has also left CozyHome overextended. A federal judge did block Trump’s freezing of federal grants, ordering the money to be unfrozen. Brazenly, Trump’s administration has not complied. Small businesses such as Chamberlain’s can’t just bide their time and wait for the courts to sort things out. A gap in work can be fatal.
To make matters worse, Chamberlain purchases much of his equipment from China, which Trump just hit with a 20% tariff on imports. Those costs are passed on to purchasers such as CozyHome and hit customers in turn.
After gearing up for a business boom, Chamberlain is now trying to stay afloat. Because of Trump’s freeze, he expects his company will miss out on hundreds or thousands of dollars in revenue. He’ll have to make changes, which he hopes doesn’t include laying anybody off. He said his employees have asked if they should start looking for new jobs.
“We’re just trying to scramble right now and trying to keep everybody working, moving, and keep everybody busy,” he said. “We’re just trying to cut costs as much as we can (and) really try to stir up as much business as possible to keep our crews busy.”
