When Paul Lambert cofounded Quilt in 2024, he saw a stubborn barrier standing between curious homeowners and the heat pumps that could cut their heating bills while lowering emissions: the price tag. Now, barely 18 months later, the startup has found a way to erase that obstacle entirely by partnering with Palmetto, a company that pioneered the art of financing solar systems, to offer heat pump installation and maintenance through monthly payments with zero upfront cost.
The timing matters. Heat pumps have become the dominant heating choice in America, outselling gas furnaces for the fourth consecutive year in 2025, and in September that same year they outsold traditional air conditioners for the first time in a single month. Yet despite this momentum—fueled by federal programs that finally made heat pumps viable in cold climates—affordability remains the single largest hurdle keeping many families from making the switch. "Great products don't help if homeowners can't afford the switch," Lambert said in May. "Partnering with Palmetto changes that."
The partnership works because it bundles everything a homeowner needs into one predictable monthly bill: installation, maintenance, annual service, and extended warranty. The model mirrors the solar lease plans that Palmetto perfected over years of installing residential solar systems, a business that taught the company how to manage soft costs—the permitting, design, and administrative expenses that typically eat up more than half of a residential project's budget. When Palmetto launched its Comfort Plan for HVAC systems last fall, it brought those same operational tools to bear.
What makes Quilt's technology compelling is not just the financing. The company's room-by-room, occupant-sensitive heat pump system claims to be 20 percent more energy efficient than competitors, 80 percent more efficient than traditional cooling systems, and 400 percent more efficient than traditional heating systems. Those claims impressed a roster of serious investors—Lowercarbon Capital, Gradient Ventures, MCJ Collective, Garage Capital, and Incite Ventures—who backed a Series A round that eventually grew to $64 million by December 2025.
But technology and capital mean little without trained hands to install the systems. Quilt has built its growth on a network of certified installation partners. When the company launched in 2024, it had assembled roughly 60 such partners across 16 US states and five Canadian provinces. Less than six months later, that roster had more than doubled to 130 partners, now covering 40 US states and six Canadian provinces, with the service available in 34 of those 40 states.
This expansion mirrors a broader push to accelerate heat pump adoption across North America. Colorado, for example, launched a $200 million "Power Ahead Colorado" program designed to remove barriers on both the consumer and contractor sides—acknowledging that prospective buyers are deterred by upfront costs and uncertainty about finding reliable installers, while contractors struggle to build customer confidence and recruit skilled workers in a rapidly growing field.
The Palmetto-Quilt partnership makes the calculus simpler. Under a 10-year lease term, customers pay monthly for a system that evolves with their needs, with the option to buy it out or renew at a lower rate when the lease expires. For homeowners watching their heating bills climb and wondering how they'd ever afford to switch, that easy monthly plan finally turns curiosity into action.