Homeowners: About Home Energy Assessments

The purpose of a Home Energy Assessment is to evaluate the systems and
elements of your home to identify their operation and opportunities for improvement.

There are different levels of evaluation, from the checklist for you to fill yourself in
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. We
may be able to suggest ways to improve to energy efficiency, comfort, and safety, while building in durability.

Our agreement with the California Building Performance Contractors Association requires us to meet the following standards, at a minimum.

THE HOME PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

In the provision of services through the CBPCA HPwES programs, the Contractor shall conduct a 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 Report (hereinafter “Checklist”), which is attached hereto as Exhibit A and made a part of this Agreement. A similar test report may be substituted with CBPCA approval. 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:

• 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 energy assessment [link to page] or a less expensive, less extensive basic home energy assessment [link to page].