Partner Up
Alure Home Improvements on Long Island, N.Y., has taken a different approach. Two years ago the company sent three of its installers to certification classes offered by the Building Performance Institute, a Malta, N.Y., organization that offers classroom training and certification for building analysts. Alure then partnered with Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), the major utility on the island, to offer what it calls a Home Performance Assessment, i.e., energy audit.
The partnership with LIPA allows Alure to offer rebates on some of its products to customers who sign on for an audit, and who then purchase windows or doors as part of the audit’s recommendations.
But anyone can hire Alure to do an energy audit, without being obligated to buy anything. Alure president Sal Ferro says that in the last year and a half the company has done close to 100 audits, for which it charges anywhere from $300 to $500. Typically, he says, Alure’s auditors find that area homes lose energy through the attic and through band joist areas, which “tend to be susceptible to air infiltration and heat loss.” The company sells Energy Star-rated Kensington Windows.
Shape of Things to Come
Home improvement company owners who choose to offer energy audits must decide whether such a service is a “business development opportunity,” i.e., generates orders for products such as windows and doors, or a profit center that pays for itself out of fees collected. Ferro says that, at the moment, he’s on the fence about that.
LIPA has steered some of its customers to Alure for energy audits, but for both Alure Home Improvements and Sir Home Improvement, the ability to offer an audit by fully certified personnel is one more service that a salesperson brings to the appointment.
Besides mailings and home shows, Alure uses its salesforce to promote the service. “We’ve given it to them as a tool,” Ferro says. “Each and every job – siding, basement, kitchen – we explain [to clients] that we can make a home performance assessment available to them.” The company’s assessment ties safety in with energy conservation by checking for fire extinguishers and examining smoke detectors.
