If the House Is Tight, Better Make Sure It’s Right

Talking the Talk

When you work with a professional home performance specialist, you need to be educated about building science not only because it will help you choose a competent pro, but because it will also help you educate your clients, remain in charge of the process, and, ultimately, improve your business. “For 24 years we’ve been building projects less efficiently than we could or should have, even though they were up to code,” Bryan says. “But [having a dealership] with Dr. Energy Saver raised the bar on our construction side.” Retired remodeler Ed Voytovich—a REMODELING columnist and certified home performance contractor—says he wishes he could go back and re-do every job now that he is familiar with building science. “I could have saved health, paint jobs, and labor,” he says. You’ll want to know what a blower door test is and how it works; grasp how insulation and air sealing make an air-tight home; and understand combustion safety and what to look for during a safety test. And be aware that a little knowledge can be dangerous, too—particularly when it comes to combustion safety and possible backdrafting of carbon monoxide into the home.

Ted Kidd, of Energy Efficiency Specialists, suggests a practical way to learn about home performance: Have your client apply for a free, state-sponsored energy audit, then follow the auditor through the process and ask questions. If you already have some know-how, you’ll be able to tell if the auditor is any good. “I got started by having an energy auditor at my house,” says Hugh Stearns, owner of Stearns Design Build in College Station, Texas. “They showed up with no equipment, weren’t knowledgeable, and told me things that were wrong. You have to be careful. Our local utility is no longer offering this service.” When seeking a home performance pro, ask to see their sample reports; see if they make sense and are written in plain language. Stearns recently sent an employee for BPI certification and says that, while the employee “learned about the stack effect, he didn’t know a lot about buildings and how a house functions. Some bad decisions could be made. You want a [home performance pro] who has a significant amount of history with buildings and didn’t simply get a certification.”