Comprehensive retrofit is a relatively new approach to revitalizing a property. Change in ownership, use, or local market conditions may lead an owner to do a comprehensive retrofit to increase value to tenants, invest in future profitability, or make up for past maintenance and capital investment deferral.

This market is a huge opportunity for consulting engineers and the construction industry. According to U.S. Department of Energy researchers, if all U.S. businesses and institutions conducted cost-effective retrofits, the expense would be roughly $100 billion with a four-year payback, reducing energy costs for most buildings by 25%. As recently as 1995, the U.S. invested only about $4 billion annually on commercial energy-saving retrofits.