Comments on: Will the Independent Home Energy Auditor Become Extinct?

By: Kevin B Gilbert

Kevin B Gilbert — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 17:13:01 +0000

Ive been doing energy audits
Ive been doing energy audits since 1993. Started with NEAT then Hancock / Heat. I'm BPI analyst / envelop certified. I'm considering HERS as a marketing benefit. I've been reading some of the above comments and would like to hear if any of you have found your place in the audit market since the last posted comments of Jan 2012. Are you still with it?

By: chris

chris — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:49:10 +0000

The independent rater will
The independent rater will become extinct just like the local independent hvac company. There's a long way to go and a lot of inefficient houses to go around. Raters (and all businesses) need to adapt to varying conditions, and will like no big company can.

By: Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:32 +0000

I am an independent auditor
I am an independent auditor who recently went full-time into the business. Did so knowing the December/January period would be slow.

True, last year the bulk of my work was with the utility sponsored BPI audits, but I am branching out and expanding my services. My recommendation is if you want to succeed at this as an independent - then you need to align your services and MULTIPLE certifications with those programs that require it. Then, market yourself to end users or even middle-men in the process. IF you can provide a full turn-key experience that includes consultation, education, testing, recommendations and verification - then you can make a living doing this.

If you are just in it to get into a house and get out, with little regard for being an integral part of the team, then you simply won't make it. It takes a certain type of individual to make it at this as an independent or small business. You MUST be knowledgeable about a whole lot more than what they teach you to pass the certification exams and you must be both aggressive and creative.

I intend to become a regional player, not national. That will work fine for my goals and it keeps the level of housing stock more manageable in terms of types of construction, etc.

By: Carl D. Clark

Carl D. Clark — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:27:29 +0000

I am an independent auditor.
I am an independent auditor. My business model is third party auditing, and I accept no referral fees for recommending contractors. As I state on my site – Energy Audits Are Not A Side Line – They Are Our Only Line. This is my only occupation, I did well last year, and this year is starting out very good. I work in the Detroit Metro area – one of the most depressed economies out there and I stay busy all year
So “yes” their is a place for the small independent auditor

By: Bo aka BoKnowsMortgages.com

Bo aka BoKnowsMortgages.com — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:58:12 +0000

From a lenders perspective
From a lenders perspective and an Energy Efficient Mortgage Lender EPA preferred, I find it more that the HERS auditors that I have come in contact with are utilized are extremely talented in their field by default, but the sell/pitch to the client on utilizing or originating a EEIM is like extra weight of a traditional sale on the street with the auditor literally on my back with me carrying them. Its SALES101 and unfortunately in my market my auditors are in need of sales training and where to market their audits. It sure would make my job much easier, but I do not think it is a dying breed, just a silent voice that many don't get to hear.

By: John Poole

John Poole — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:01:45 +0000

Hi Amanda,

Hi Amanda,

Thanks for the information about the New Mexico pilot. The article likewise mentions a large-scale program being conducted in Seattle.

As long as quality of service isn't diminished, anything that reduces upfront & ongoing costs and time to complete a project can't be a bad thing. It'll be interesting to see where EPS goes!

- John

By: Amanda Evans

Amanda Evans — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:13:14 +0000
John,

John,
We're doing a pilot program in New Mexico using EPS software and the auditors involved all really like it - very quick and easy to use. The people at Earth Advantage have been very responsive and helpful.

By: John Poole

John Poole — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:40:43 +0000

Allison,

Allison,

Just before seeing this post, I finished reading an article in the latest Home Energy magazine about Energy Performance Score (EPS), an online auditing tool based on SIMPLE and being promoted by the Earth Advantage Institute (I had mentioned this to you on Twitter).

If you’re already certified as a BPI BA, you can become certified in EPS via an online course and a series of exams. The total cost of training/certification is $199 and the per-audit cost to use the online software is $45.

Of course, this program is very much in start-up mode, and according to the author of the article, still has a way to go to mature.

But I mention this here because its related to your post topic in the sense that it appears to significant lower both cost of entry and ongoing auditing costs (lowering costs is always a good thing), assuming, of course, that you’re already BPI-BA certified.

Here’s a link to the article: http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/id/1748/viewFull/ 

And a link to the EPS website: http://www.earthadvantage.org/programs/energy-efficiency/energy-performance-score/about-eps/ 

~ John

By: pj

pj — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:06:39 +0000
“I am an
“I am an independent auditor and I haven't quit my day job yet. Not enough demand to fully support myself doing audits,

Henry, it sounds like you are already in a different line of work.

If you would like to lay some money down on the accuracy of your “science project” audit vs a customer interview and quick field validations, I would be happy to accept the challenge. Quite a bit has been written about the waste of time, money, and opportunity to effect the masses of your 6 hr Performance Art Audit. First you tell me about the need for the science project and then you tell me you can’t make a living doing it, then we get to here how bad all those HVAC guys are that are running profitable businesses. Hmmmm.

Reading the comments relating to mandates, subsidies, rate payer money, other peoples money, etc, one might think HP guys are all communists. Does your business deserve handouts or should it stand on its own like others?

By: Karl Oberjohn

Karl Oberjohn — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:09:31 +0000
Great post! The demise of the
Great post! The demise of the independent energy auditor is a sore subject with me.

I am a licensed professional engineer. I worked as a mechanical engineer for a decade before recently pursuing my interest in building performance. I performed about fifty home energy audits while working for an air sealing company and then for an HVAC company.

Licensed engineers are prohibited from selling reports in situations where they stand to make additional profits from their recommendations--the classic "conflict of interest." But the rules are different in the home performance industry. Here in southwest Ohio, the local energy alliance will only subsidize $50 audits for companies who offer a "one stop shop" solution of performing energy audits plus quoting and then installing the recommended weatherization and HVAC upgrades. They are explicitly not interested in supporting independent auditors, because their focus is on subsidizing the improvements, not the testing.

Consequently, a lot of independent auditors and smaller companies are scrambling to partner up with someone, anyone, who can fill the gaps. The result is a hodgepodge of partnerships that offer a "jack of all trades, master of none" level of service. Regarding the conflict of interest, I never tried to sell a homeowner a service that they didn't need. However, I did tend to filter out audit requests from homeowners who needed services that my employer couldn't provide. Otherwise, we had to subcontract that portion out, and we would lose money on the job.

In my opinion, a better model would be to have energy auditors perform a similar role as building inspectors. They would perform the initial baseline testing and make recommendations, then step back and allow the weatherization and HVAC installers to focus on what they do best. The energy auditor would check in at the critical milestones--a blower door test after the building envelope has been improved, a duct blaster test after the HVAC system has been upgraded--rather than saving it all for the very end, when the contractors have been paid (or should have been paid) and are long gone.

The "house-as-a-system" approach is excellent from a technical perspective, but not from a business perspective. If I'm getting paid $50 plus a modest subsidy to perform a 3-4 hour site visit (which doesn't include the driving time, reporting, and follow-up), then I'm not interested in also being a project manager. I like the idea of homeowners being able to select trusted contractors from a BPI database, but unfortunately, the database is very sparse at this point.