New Lehi-based solar company launches as nation's 5th-largest

New solar residential solar provider Lumio wasn’t formed until last December and already it is one of the industry’s top five companies. The brainchild of Utah serial entrepreneur Greg Butterfield and Smart Energy Today marketer Jonathan Gibbs, Lumio resulted from the amalgamation of five leading regional solar energy providers and sports a 12-month volume of more than $1 billion in gross sales and over 3,500 employees covering 37 states.

Forbes reported that Lumio was born from a series of meetings between Butterfield — whose success stories involve WordPerfect, Novell, Legato, Altiris, Symantec, Omniture, Vivint Solar, SolarWinds, Workfront, Domo, Venafi and Route Route — and Gibbs, customer satisfaction-centric chief marketing officer of Olympia, Washington-based Smart Energy Today. Each saw a unique strength in the other — perfect for this opportunity — and they were each making their next big moves, Forbes reported.

Butterfield told Forbes, “Gibbs walked into my office with a business plan that was already on my white board. He wants to build exactly what I was planning to build.” 

Lumio said it is working on being much more than just another solar company. The average install time in the residential solar business is 60-90-days. Lumio said it is currently doing it in less than 30 days— often in 10 days or less. Lumio not only installs turn-key systems for homes, it has simplified the financing process as well as energy management tasks associated with residential solar’s interface with the grid.

“I’ve seen the future and it’s led by those willing to hyper-focus on creating delight at every customer touchpoint,” said Butterfield. “Jonathan and our Lumio team are driven by this purpose. We know that when we lead with customer delight, the success and longevity will follow.”

The companies that combined to form Lumio include Atlantic Key Energy of Winter Park, Florida; Deca Solar of Arlington, Texas; Lift Solar of Lehi; Our World Energy of Phoenix; and Gibbs’ Smart Energy Today. Lumio said that each company leads its respective markets in customer satisfaction and time-to-install.

“Current market trends support the timeliness of Lumio’s approach,” the company said in a release. While reports indicate conditions are growing more challenging for the largest installers, smaller regional providers are rising and thriving. With consumers spending more time in their homes since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, interest and investment in home improvement is reaching record highs in 2021.

Butterfield and Gibbs said they are crafting a team at Lumio with some of the top performers in software and technology. Likewise, each of the five U.S. regional solar companies — now part of Lumio — have brought exceptional talent and combined strength in customer experience, supply chain, sales, fulfillment and best-in-class operations, they said.

“Speed is the currency of solar,” said Gibbs. “The future leaders of this industry will ultimately find a way to reliably complete installs in seven days or less while elevating the customer experience.”

Lumio is based in Lehi and is directed by Butterfield as chairman and Gibbs as CEO.