Home Performance Assessments

The purpose of a Home Performance Assessment is to identify the systems,
subsystems, and various elements of your home, to evaluate their operation, and
to find opportunities for improvement, especially with regard to energy use.

There are different levels of assessments, from the checklist you fill in yourself
that your local utility offers, to the comprehensive assessment performed by trained
home performance auditors.  Obviously, there's a big difference in the information and
its usefulness to you. Some of these audits give you a list of steps you can take yourself,
some result in a proposal for corrective work, with costs.

Green Building Solutions has made a substantial investment in specialty equipment and tools
so that we can perform an in-depth assessment of the systems and components in your home, as
well as a substantial investment in training to use the tools and interpret the results. We are likely
to be able to suggest ways to improve energy efficiency, comfort, and safety, while building in durability.

THE HOME PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

In the provision of services through CBPCA Green Home Energy Upgrade and Building Performance Institute programs, we conduct a comprehensive Home Performance Assessment (HPA). One of the primary features of home performance contracting that makes it unique is the employment of the HPA to determine how the home's critical components or subsystems (building envelope, mechanical systems, appliances, lighting and inhabitants) are performing individually or together. This whole-house or building-science based approach leads to more comprehensive home improvements, increased energy savings and better attention to health and safety than traditional contracting.

The practical application of the HPA is achieved through the use of the CBPCA's Home Performance Diagnostic Checklist . The information gathered during the HPA will be used by the Contractor as a baseline to make recommendations and to sell home performance services to the consumer. CBPCA requires that the HPA encompass, at a minimum, the following elements to do an assessment for a Green Home Energy Upgrade:

• The Initial Homeowner Interview and Walk-Through
• Utility Bill Review and Analysis
• Appliance and Lighting Inspection
• Building Envelope Inspection
• Mechanical System Inspection
• Health and Safety Tests and Inspections
• Summary Report and Homeowner Recommendations

Green Building Solutions is a trained building performance auditor and contractor. 

We can perform a Comprehensive Home Performance Assessment for the Green Home Energy Upgrade (GHEU)--we are required to recommend this alternative.
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a less expensive, less extensive Basic Home Performance Assessment, because not everyone wants to spend the money upfront for the comprehensive. If we are engaged to implement at least some of our recommendations for a GHEU, we will complete the additional elements that comprise the comprehensive HPA as part of the upgrade.