Cushman & Wakefield secures $2.8M+ in incentives across multi-site projects with Roble

Repeatedly named one of the world’s best outsourcing service providers, Cushman & Wakefield brings expert advisory services, technology-driven solutions, and a commitment to delivering value in every client relationship. That’s why the firm decided to expand its value proposition by adding energy incentive capture to its capital project management services.

When an institutional client undertook HVAC and lighting upgrades at its three-building corporate campus in Pittsburgh, Cushman & Wakefield saw an opportunity to unlock additional cost savings. The problem? Assessing and validating the incentive would be a heavy lift for Director of Client Accounting Rebelee Seward.

Because each building had distinct construction timelines and unique documentation practices, incentive capture required extensive internal resources and deep expertise in energy data. To identify and qualify all federal energy-efficiency incentives, Rebelee and her team would need to parse vast amounts of technical data, conduct on-site inspections, and perform complex energy modeling for each facility. Then, they’d have to spend hours compiling airtight documentation to back up each incentive claim for the client’s tax preparers and auditors.

Rebelee knew that attempting this high-stakes task without the proper expertise could lead to missed savings. Additionally, she suspected that her team’s time and resources would be better spent on budgeting and capital planning than on analyzing energy data. So, she decided to outsource the job to a third party.

The right partner wouldn’t just help her maximize savings for this Pittsburgh property. They would set the standard for future energy savings projects across Cushman & Wakefield’s portfolio, empowering the firm to offer incentive capture to every qualifying client.

Fortunately, Cushman & Wakefield’s asset management team recommended Roble. Their energy intelligence platform addressed the gaps Rebelee’s team faced, enabling Rebelee to confidently move forward in capturing incentives for her client.

energy-efficiency incentives, Rebelee and her team would need to parse vast amounts of technical data, conduct on-site inspections, and perform

Onboarding was fast. Roble's platform ingested the property data, screened for eligibility, and produced a preliminary assessment within a week. From there, their team took over the full incentive analysis workflow, conducting on-site engineering audits, digitizing stacks of historical construction documents, and running detailed energy simulations timed to align with tax cycles.

The results spoke for themselves. Roble's analysis uncovered major energy cost savings and unlocked the maximum available incentives across all three properties, not phased over time, but certified in a swift two-month window. Following that early win, Rebelee expanded Roble's scope to evaluate the client's Denver property. Turns out, recent atrium renovations qualified for a $2 million deduction. "I never would've guessed that simple glass and lighting replacements could yield so much savings," Rebelee says. "But Roble really showed us that the possibilities are endless."

Beyond the analysis, Roble handled the administrative heavy lifting too. Their team prepared audit-ready compliance reports within weeks, and Rebelee's auditors and tax preparers haven't pushed back once. "Their documentation eliminates risk and brings me so much peace of mind," she notes. Everything lives in Roble's cloud portal, eligibility timelines, incentive status, and dollar-for-dollar savings, so Rebelee always has full visibility without having to chase updates.

Now, Rebelee consults with Roble on upcoming CapEx plans to get ahead of future incentive opportunities. In these strategy sessions, Roble breaks down each planned improvement for potential deductions and provides clear financial impact estimates, giving Rebelee time to scope projects, align partners, and gather documentation well before tax deadlines. For a firm in a competitive market, that kind of proactive cost recovery is a real differentiator, and a tangible way to deepen client loyalty.

In just a few months with Roble, Cushman & Wakefield unlocked millions in previously unknown incentives, bringing clarity and rigor to an area most firms treat as ad hoc or reactive. What began as a single engagement quickly evolved into a repeatable, professionally executed incentive-capture framework that gives Cushman & Wakefield a clear competitive advantage. The firm can now surface, validate, and execute on incentives with speed and consistency across its portfolio.

The dollars recovered were just the beginning. Roble also provided something far more valuable: visibility. Today, Rebelee and her clients have a clear, forward-looking view of incentive eligibility, timing, and reinvestment opportunities, turning what was once “missed” or “assumed unavailable” into found money that directly expands capital plans.

In fact, recovered funds from the Denver property are already being redeployed into additional lighting upgrades and a new Energy Management System, each with its own incentive stack. Just as importantly, Rebelee has shared the framework internally, and asset management teams across the firm now plan to integrate Roble into their client services.