One income-qualified HOMES project, happy path: from the contractor's first nudge to the payment export to Spectrum.
Pick a step
Dashed: shown to the other person, the project stays put
Drawn 20 October 2026 for staff portal #288. Checked for exists / design against IRA_Contractor_Portal main@5fa1c37 (also its test site), IRA_Customer_Portal main@378391d (also its test site), this portal's main@b977486 and its test site test-deploy/issue-264-and-281@977c1b2. The numbers give the saved walkthrough order. Diamonds are decisions. Solid arrows are handoffs; dashed arrows share information.
The same chart as a list
Step 0: Nudge the owner — The contractor invites the building owner to sign in and create their building. The owner can also start on their own.
Who acts: the contractor, on the contractor portal's start page ("Nudge a landlord": the landlord's name and email, then "Send the nudge").
The owner is not always the one who starts a project. The nudge lets a contractor get one going before the building exists.
What it hands on: a project with a PRJ- code and an invite link that works once. The customer portal sends the email ("start your multifamily project").
The email is sent by a timer that runs only on the customer portal's test site, which is why this card says "Exists on test". There is no production timer yet.
The owner can also start on their own, with no nudge.
Step 1: Create the building and its units — The owner adds the building and every unit. The project cannot start until the owner does this.
Who acts: the building owner (or their property manager), in the customer portal.
They save the building, its owner company and every unit in one go, marking each unit Occupied or Vacant. The building type comes from the unit count (2-4 or 5 or more), so nobody chooses it.
An owner who arrives from a contractor's nudge is sent to add the building first, then brought straight back to link the project.
What it hands on: the building and its units, which every later step reads. Saving it also puts a type check in staff's queue (card 2).
Verify the building type — Runs alongside. It does not stop the owner, but staff can put a hold on it. It must be done before the reservation is approved.
Missing: staff cannot put a hold on a building, and approving the reservation does not wait for this check. Today the check is a status in staff's queue only.
Who acts: program staff, in the staff portal. New buildings show in My queue under "Properties awaiting a type check", and staff press "Confirm the type" or correct it.
Building creation hands this check to staff right away. It doesn't block anything until the reservation decision (card 12), but staff can put a hold on it.
The owner never sees it and is never stopped by it.
Step 2: Income-qualify the building — Building-level papers (for example Section 8 housing) can qualify units. At least half the units must qualify as low or moderate income for the whole building to qualify as low or moderate income.
Who acts: the building owner, in the customer portal.
Building-level papers, such as a Section 8 or other affordable housing agreement, can qualify units. One agreement can be ticked against units in several buildings.
Building-level papers might not qualify every unit. The rule is at least half the occupied units qualify as low or moderate income; the portal counts it ("3 of 5 units ready · 2 more to go") and staff confirm it.
Market-rate buildings skip income qualification and are not on this path.
What it hands on: when the papers reach half, straight to card 5. When they don't, the rest of the units go to their tenants (card 4).
Tenants qualify their own units — Only if the building papers don't reach half. The owner adds a contact for each unit and emails them an invite. Each tenant signs in and sends their own papers.
Who acts: the owner, then each tenant, in the customer portal. Only used when the building papers don't reach half.
The owner adds a contact for each unit and sends an invite. The email is optional; the link is always made.
Each tenant signs in with their own login and sends their own papers (for example W-2, pay stub, or proof of SNAP benefits).
Privacy: the tenant sees the building and their own unit, but not the building's papers or any other unit's income or result.
Privacy: the owner sees whether a tenant qualified (for example "Complete, Low"), but never the tenant's papers or income. Those papers are private; only staff see them.
What it hands on: each qualified unit counts toward the half (card 5).
Step 3: Finish and get the building code — The owner confirms at least half the units qualify, finishes their part, and gets a code to give the contractor.
Missing: the code doesn't come when the owner finishes. The owner signs and sends the building for review, and the code arrives only after program staff approve the building's income qualification in the staff portal.
Who acts: the building owner, in the customer portal. The portal won't send the building until at least half the units are in, then the owner ticks the two declarations (Terms & Conditions, Utility data) and signs.
The owner sees the code under "Give your contractor your code", with Copy and "Email it to my contractor". Codes start LEA- (low income) or MEA- (moderate income).
What it hands on: the code, which the owner gives the contractor.
Review the building — Building name, address and units, as the owner entered them. The contractor sees only that the building qualified as low or moderate income.
Who acts: the contractor, in the contractor portal. They confirm with one tick: "This is the building I assessed."
They see the building name, address, owner and number of units, as the owner entered them.
Privacy: the contractor sees a redacted building: only that it qualified as low or moderate income ("Low income approved · LEA-…" when the code is looked up), and none of the income-qualification papers, tenant names or any unit's income.
What it hands on: a confirmed building, ready for the energy model.
Portal checks the file with DOE — It validates the file through DOE's API and reads out each unit's floor area and classification, the total project cost and the rebate requested.
Missing: the portal reads one floor area for the whole building, not each unit's, and does not read each unit's classification. It does read units, year built, bedrooms, savings, measures, total project cost and any rebate stated in the file.
Who acts: the portal, for the contractor.
The file is checked through DOE's API. A file DOE finds invalid is turned away with its list of errors. If the check can't run, the file is kept and flagged for staff.
What it hands on: what the file says, shown read-only. The contractor doesn't type it in.
Explain anything that doesn't match — The portal calls out anything missing or unexpected. One free-text box lets the contractor explain.
Who acts: the contractor, in the contractor portal.
When something doesn't match or is missing (unit count, address, missing costs or savings, failed DOE checks), the portal lists it under "Items for staff to review".
The contractor gets one free-text box to explain ("Your explanation for program staff"). There is no field-by-field form, and the listed items don't stop the request.
What it hands on: the explanation travels with the request, for staff to settle.
Confirm and request the reservation — The contractor ticks the confirmation boxes and sends the project to the program.
Who acts: the contractor, in the contractor portal.
They choose HOMES reservation (and, if wanted, assessment reimbursement), tick "I've reviewed the imported details and explained any items flagged for staff", and press "Send to the program".
What it hands on: a frozen copy of the request to the staff portal. The contractor sees "Received for staff review" and a receipt number. A receipt does not approve a rebate or reserve funds.
Decision:Approve the reservation — Staff finish the building check and approve what was sent.
This is the first step where staff must say yes before the project can move on. It covers the building check from card 2 and everything sent in card 11.
Who acts: program staff, in the staff portal: the reservation checklist, then Pre-approval Review 1 (CLEAResult) and Review 2 (Aptim).
The list of contractor requests and their review form are on the staff test site only. The building type check does not hold Approve yet (card 2).
Left out of this happy path: send back, deny and holds.
Pre-approval sent to both — The contractor and the owner get the confirmation, with the project cost, the rebate and the owner's cost.
Missing: staff produce the offer letter and record that it was sent, but it goes out by email outside the portals. It doesn't reach the contractor or customer portal, and the owner's cost always shows $0.00.
Who acts: program staff send it; the contractor and the owner receive it.
The costs are already set: project cost, rebate and the owner's cost, a deal between the owner and the contractor.
The program shows the owner what the contractor entered, so the invoice can't be padded and the program can't be gamed.
Owner signs off — The owner reviews what the contractor entered and signs the pre-approval.
Missing: the customer portal shows the owner no pre-approval for a multifamily project and has nothing for them to sign. Signing papers exist for single-family homes only.
Who acts: the building owner, in the customer portal.
They see what the contractor entered (project cost, rebate and their own cost) and sign the pre-approval.
What it hands on: the owner's signature, one of the two the work waits for (card 16).
Decision:Review and approve for payment — Staff check the completed project and approve the rebate payment.
Who acts: program staff, in the staff portal: CLEAResult's redemption review (completion documents, invoice, allowable costs, photos), then Aptim's payment review and "Approve for payment".
Nothing reaches this review from the contractor portal for a multifamily HOMES project yet, because there is no completion step there (card 16).
Left out of this happy path: send back and deny.
What it hands on: an approved payment, waiting for Spectrum (card 19).
Hold and batch export to Spectrum — Approved payments wait, then a scheduled batch sends them to Spectrum, the enterprise system that pays. This ends the HOMES path.
Missing: there is no scheduled batch export of payments. The staff portal's Spectrum downloads are for accounts and applications, and staff record each payment by hand after Spectrum pays.
Spectrum is the enterprise system that pays the rebate. Export runs as a scheduled batch.