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    • BPI WRITTEN EXAM >
      • Section 1 Building Science Fundamentals >
        • 1a. Basic Terms & Definitions >
          • 1. Airflow in Buildings
          • 2. Equipment Efficiencies
          • 3. Power and Energy
          • 4. Effective Leakage Area
          • 5. Area Weighted R-Value
          • 6. Baseload / Seasonal Energy Use
          • 7. Driving Forces (Including Natural and Mechanical)
          • 8. Behavior of Radiation
          • 9. Thermal Resistance / Transmittance: R and U Values
          • 10. Latent / Sensible Heat
          • 11. Total Equivalent Length
          • 12. Dehumidification / Humidification
          • 13. Convert Pressure Units
          • 14. Thermal Bridges
          • 15. Pressure Boundary
          • 16. Stack Effect
          • 17. Exfiltration and Infiltration
          • 18. Natural / Mechanical Ventilation
          • 19. Net Free Area
          • 20. Input & Output Capacity
          • 21. Peak Electrical Demand
          • 22. Permeability and Perm Rating
          • 23. Standby Loss
          • 24. IAQ (indoor air quality): Moisture, CO, Dust
        • 1b. Principals of Energy, Air & Moisture Thermodynamics >
          • 1. Thermodynamics: Conduction, Convection, Radiation, ΔT
          • 2. Factors That Affect Insulation Performance
          • 3. BPI certification online with BPI practice exams and study guides.
          • 4. Heat Gain / Loss
          • 5. Power and Energy
          • 6. Moisture Transport Mechanisms
          • 7. Identify Areas of Highest Relative Humidity
          • 8. Principles of Combustion
        • 1c. Combustion Safety >
          • 1. Combustion Analysis
          • 2. Carbon Monoxide (CO) Testing
          • 3. Combustion Appliance Venting, Draft, Combustion Air & Sizing
          • 4. Understand Combustion Safety Issues
      • Section 2 Buildings and Their Systems >
        • 2a. Building Components >
          • 1. Identify basic duct configurations and components
          • 2. Identify Basic Hydronic Distribution Configurations and Components
          • 3. Identify Basic Structural Components of Residential Construction
          • 4. Thermal Boundaries and Insulation Applications
          • 5. Basic Electrical Components and Safety Considerations
          • 6. Basic Fuel Delivery Systems and Safety Considerations
          • 7. Basic bulk water management components (drainage plumbing gutters sumps etc)
          • 8. Vapor barriers/retarders
          • 9. Radiant Barrier Principles and Installations
          • 10. Understand Fenestration Types and Efficiencies
          • 11. Understand Issues Involved With Basements, Crawlspaces, Slabs, Attics, Attached Garages, Interstitial Cavities, and Bypasses
          • 12. Understand Issues Involved With Ventilation Equipment
          • 13. Understand Basic Heating / Cooling Equipment Components Controls and Operation
          • 14. Understand Basic DHW Equipment Components Controls and Operation
          • 15. Identify Common Mechanical Safety Controls
          • 16. Identify Insulation Types and R-Values
          • 17. Understand Various Mechanical Ventilation Equipment and Strategies: Spot, ERV, HRV
        • 2b. Conservation Strategies >
          • 1. Appropriate Insulation Applications and Installation Based On Existing Conditions
          • 2. Opportunity for ENERGY STAR Lighting and Appliances
          • 3. Identify Duct Sealing Opportunities and Applications
          • 4. Understand Importance of Air Leakage Control and Remediation Procedures
          • 5. Blower Door-Guided Air Sealing Techniques
          • 6. Water Conservation Devices and Strategies
          • 7. Domestic Hot Water (DHW) Conservation Strategies
          • 8. Heating & Cooling Efficiency Applications
          • 9. Proper Use of Modeling to Determine Heating and Cooling Equipment Sizing and Appropriate Energy
          • 10. Understand the Use of Utility History Analysis in Conservation Strategies
          • 11. Appropriate Applications For Sealed Crawlspaces Basements and Attics
          • 12. Identify / Understand High Density Cellulose
          • 13. Appropriate Applications for Fenestration Upgrades Including Modification or Replacement
        • 2c. Comprehensive Building Assessment Process >
          • 1. Determine Areas of Customer Complaints / Concerns in Interview
          • 2. Understand / Recognize Need For Conducting Appropriate Diagnostic Procedures
          • 3. Interaction Between Mechanical Systems, Envelope Systems and Occupant Behavior
        • 2d. Design Considerations >
          • 1. Appropriate Insulation Applications Based On Existing Conditions
          • 2. Understand Fire Codes as Necessary to Apply Home Performance in a Code-Approved Manner
          • 3. Understand / Recognize Building Locations Where Opportunities for Retrofit Materials
          • 4. Understand Climate Specific Concerns
          • 5. Understand Indoor Environment Considerations for the Environmentally Sensitive
          • 6. Understand Impact of Building Orientation, Landscape Drainage, and Grading
          • 7. Opportunity Potential Renewable Energy Applications: Geothermal, Photovoltaic, Wind
          • 8. Understand Impact of Shading on Heating / Cooling Loads
          • 9. Awareness for Solar Gain Reduction / Solar Gain Opportunities
          • 10. Understand Need for Modeling Various Options For Efficiency Upgrades
      • Section 3 Measurement & Verification of Building Performance >
        • Section 3a Measurement & Verification of Building Performance >
          • 1. Air Leakage Test Results
          • 2. Understand Building Shell / Envelope Leakage
          • 3. Apply Fundamental Construction Mathematics and Unit Conversions
          • 4. Calculate Building Tightness Levels (Minimum Ventilation Requirements)
          • 5. Calculate Heating Degree Days and Cooling Degree Days
          • 6. Identify Proper Appliance and Combustion Appliance Venting
          • 7. Ventilation calculations and strategies
          • 8. Proper methods for identifying / testing fuel leaks
          • 9. Blower door setup, accurate measurement and interpretation of results
          • 10. Combustion Appliance Zone (CAZ): depressurization, spillage, draft, Carbon Monoxide (ambient and flue)
          • 11. Carbon Monoxide (CO) evaluation: ambient
          • 12. Proper applications and use of temperature measuring devices
          • 13. Pressure pan and room to room pressure diagnostics
          • 14. Recognize contributing factors to comfort problems
          • 15. Inspect for areas containing moisture or bulk water in undesirable locations
          • 16. Understand and inspect for basic electric safety (e.g. frayed wires, open boxes, etc)
      • Section 4 BPI National Standards & Project Specifications >
        • 1. Understand applicability content and intent of BPI National Standards – Do no harm, make buildings more healthy, comfortable, durable and energy efficient
        • 2. Recognize need for a professional local/state/national codes evaluation
        • 3. Be able to specify appropriate materials and processes needed for building performance projects
      • Section 5 Analyzing Buildings Systems >
        • 1. Recognize need for air sealing measures and their impact on other building systems
        • 2. Recognize need for mechanical equipment improvements
        • 3. Understand blower door use for identifying critical air sealing areas
        • 4. Apply blower door test results and Building Tightness Limit (minimum ventilation requirements) in development of improvement strategies
        • 5. Using combustion analysis and safety testing results to develop appropriate recommendations
        • 6. Determine appropriate method for assessing wall insulation levels
        • 7. Equipment control strategies for maximizing occupant comfort and minimizing energy consumption
      • Section 6 Conduct and Communications >
        • 6a. Conservation strategies
        • 6b. Personal Safety & Work Practices >
          • 1. Locations in which to identify indoor air quality issues
          • 2. Material Safety Data Sheets
          • 3. Isolation procedures for household pollutants
          • 4. Practice building science within your limits of professional competency
          • 5. Precautions when working around chemical biological and other potential hazards
          • 6. Understand role and responsibilities of the building analyst professional
    • BPI FIELD EXAM >
      • How To Put The House Under Worst Case & CAZ
      • What's What? Pa, CFM, CFM50, CAZ, Draft, Room Pressure
      • What To Know In The Attic
      • What To Know In The House
    • BLOWER DOOR TEST >
      • Manometer Setup
    • BPI BUILDING ANALYST STANDARDS >
      • BPI Standards Decoded
  • ESSENTIALS
    • HELP, I HATE MATH!
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Strategies for Hiring and Interviewing for Home Performance Professionals

11/18/2017

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Hire slow and fire fast.  It’s a phrase that experienced managers and human resources professionals live by because many of us have learned the hard way that it only takes one bad hire to put your business into DEFCON Red Alert mode, which unfortunately tends to last weeks or even months after the event.  Certainly, robust training programs, quality assurance, employee perks, good pay and an encouraging work environment all contribute to a company’s success, but it’s the human element, the employees that can ultimately make a company or department shine or shrivel.  So why is it that our Human Resource departments are almost non-existent or thought of only in the context of payroll, workplace safety and those fun parties that we have every New Year?  Of all our tasks we do in a week, how much time is actually devoted to improving our own hiring and interviewing skills?  I would argue that the interview process is just-as or even more important than our training program and applies to all the Key Staff, not just the boss.
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A right hire can bring your business or department to new heights, raising moral and productivity all while leaving a trail of positive reviews on their wake.  A bad hire is an open door for theft, scathing customer reviews, and loads of anxiety and loss of sleep.  Just like a successful home performance job or HVAC installation depends on prep work (of getting the correct sizes of wye’s, making sure the trucks are restocked, the guys have even water, batteries are charged and the team has reviewed the work order and photos) a successful interview and hiring process can be night and day in terms of that new hires’ productivity, contribution and long term development.
Once you have committed to developing your team’s interviewing and hiring chops, where should you start?  In the home performance industry a great interview is less about asking strange, one off questions that take a psychiatrist to decipher, nor are they about simply chatting to see how well the candidate communicates (both things I have been guilty of).  The start of a great interview begins by simply collecting information and probing into the candidates past.

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​We all want employees looking to find an employer they can “grow old with”, who have “brought in millions of dollars in sales”, who have the “highest quality standards”, who have no problems working in attics and who etc etc etc.  Talk is cheap and you should be weary of candidates that come with those lines because good interviewers don’t always make good employees.  Do these two things to help prevent becoming a victim of thinking an employee who interviews well also will perform well with your company.

1. During the interview probe deep into their previous employment with questions revealing:
  • The work environment - what time did they start, who was on their team, what support did they have, did they have customer interactions.
  • The operations they are used to- who got their materials, what did the work orders look like, who maintained the cars and equipment, how long did the jobs last, what tools they have, have them show you how to cut in a start collar.
  • The performance metrics- what metrics were they measured against, what their close rate was, what kind of leads came in (are they the same quality as yours?)

I was once interviewing a candidate for a crew position who praised the quality of his work and the high standard his company held them to only to find out it took a crew of 3 an entire week to complete a job that should be done in 1 day. 

2. Always make sure to call their past employers to provide validation to their claims.  Even if their previous employers won’t share personal information with you for legal reasons, asking if they are eligible for re-hire should steer you in the right direction.  If you know someone at the company a personal call may be best.

Hiring managers should also be on alert for their own biases for those candidates who are not great interviewers but would be an ideal employee by making sure we are probing deep enough to get the candidate to share their job details for us to make an informed decision.  When probing into their previous employment I am looking for the intangibles of their attitude toward their employer and their job, what the work environment was like, what time they started and finished, what exactly they did and who was their supervisor and what they did.  More often than not the candidates that go into more details are the ones you want to keep, the ones that have nothing to hide.  
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During the resume review period there are some obvious natural fits you want to be on the lookout for, for example we know that people with backgrounds in HVAC, roofing, solar, and framing are good fits for a construction technician position.  However, even if a candidate matches your ideal background for the position by letting them know you will need their supervisors phone numbers as part of the interview process for reference checks, you will weed out less than ideal candidates applying for your position.  Candidates that did well or outperformed in their past jobs won’t have anything to hide whereas underperforming candidates won’t be as willing to share their previous experiences. 

It’s a natural tendency to want to go with our gut on a new hire but the truth is if our gut was always right then we would never have to let someone go.  Interviewers should be probing deeper into our candidates background to bring out specific examples of comparable skill sets.  If you are hiring for a crew lead position rather than picking the candidate who has excellent presentation skills automatically, make sure you ask some tough questions to make sure they are comfortable disciplining the staff when necessary and they know when to separate being someone’s friend to being their manager.  If you are hiring an energy auditor make sure you have your key performance metrics and examples of what your best energy auditors have done in the past to use as a benchmark.  Just because a candidate has been doing energy audits with the City or a competitor for 10 years doesn’t mean that they will be able to adapt to your presentation and customer service requirements.  They may be very strong technically but if they are not willing to learn your processes it won’t be a good fit. 

When you bring a new staff member on, there tends to be a honeymoon period where the new hire seems to listen extra carefully, they follow directions to the letter, they are extra motivated to make a good first impression and they soak up their training like a sponge.  This honeymoon time is critically important that the right habits are taught from Day 1 and I would also say that the honeymoon period even begins from the time a candidate sees your job posting for the first time, not just when their first day begins.  Listing your KPI or Key Performance Indicators even in your job postings can set your expectations upfront.  Discussing the major challenges of the position during the interview process gives you insight to how your candidate approaches and solves problems.  Don’t wait until your candidate is already hired to find out they were an excellent apprentice but not prepared to be a journeyman.   

Knowing what not to look for is also a valuable tool.  Think of a time when an employee wasn’t performing to your standards.  Now list out all the traits and specific things they did that were out of line.  Just like your KPI’s will help keep your eye on excellence, that list will help you develop a nose for what to stay away from.  If you notice underperforming  staff tend to shy away from asking questions during the interview, it should be a red flag in your mind if an interviewee doesn’t have any good questions.

On the flip side you should also list the qualities of your best employees as well.  These traits can be used in your job post and to form interview questions around to discover how new candidates rank in those categories.

For example if one of your desirable traits is a technician that has great time management ability, you can ask new candidates to rank the tasks below in order of importance and tell you why they chose what they did.  Then compare their ranking to how you do your jobs.  Candidates that show you new ideas on ways to do things are A candidates.  Candidates that choose a similar order to what your team already does score a B.  Candidates that are off in their reasoning or order ranking will get a C and so on.

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By basing your interview questions off existing traits you want more of or want to avoid you can find more well qualified candidates for your home performance business.  Even when you are under pressure to a new hire, I’ve found it’s worth the temporary pain of being understaffed than to rush into a bad hire.  While it’s impossible to find the perfect hire, hiring smarter will get you closer to surrounding your teams with all high performers and a winning culture.
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What’s on the BPI Exam? About the BPI Building Analyst Certification Test

9/20/2016

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The written portion of the BPI energy auditor exam is made up of 100 multiple choice questions.  The BPI Building Analyst Certification is the most common exam and has questions from 6 Core Knowledge areas covering the BPI National Standards, Building Science Fundamentals, Buildings and Their Systems, Measurement and Verification, Analyzing Buildings Systems and Conduct and Communications.  The exam is done online and is closed book.  The maximum time allowed is 2 hours.  
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My experience has been to allow myself at least 1 week to review the BPI exam materials to prepare for the test.  If you are an active energy auditor renewing your Certification there will be some test questions that you won’t be actively familiar with or do on a regular basis.  Things like calculating the HDD or converting from kWh to BTU back to therms may require a refresher.  If you are taking the test for the first time, make sure you have your math conversions down and have reviewed the BPI Standards several times over.  The BPI Standards are not always covered in detail during the class so it would probably help to go over them a couple of times. 

The heaviest test area is in the BPI National Standards, which makes up 25 test questions of the 100 total.  You can download the BPI Standards at the end of this post.  Questions on the BPI National Standards will cover topics of how the BPI Standards relate to local, state and national codes, and test your knowledge and understanding of the Standards.  20 questions will be on the topic of Analyzing Buildings Systems.  These are more field-related questions and understanding the need for air sealing measures, how to use a blower door to find critical air sealing areas and the Building Tightness Limit (MVR) or how to find when a home is “too tight.” 

There will be 15 test questions on Building Science Fundamentals, asking about heat transfer and can be “which way will water move if a slump block in a basement in in contact with mulch?” There will likely be questions on weighed R-value, converting to U-value, effective leakage area, baseload and seasonal energy use, and the stack effect.  Health and safety is a big topic in the exam and you may see questions on spillage, combustion analysis and CO.  
Another 15 questions will be on the topic of Buildings and Their Systems.  You will have to know the window sticker guide, insulation types and R-values, proper use of modeling to determine HVAC size, fire codes applied to home performance and the effect of shading on heating and cooling loads.

20 questions on the BPI Written Exam will be on Measurement and Verification.  These topics test your knowledge of unit conversions from kWh to BTUs, the definition of a BTU, heating degree day calculations, blower door set up, CAZ and CO evaluation.
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There will be 5 questions on Conduct and Communications and issues relating to presenting options for comprehensive retrofits without bias and consistent with good building science practices, MSDS sheets, isolating household pollutants and understanding the role of the building analyst professional.  
bpi_standards_for_exam.pdf
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How Energy Auditors Can Profit From Reversing the Risk

2/12/2016

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Risk reversal is one of my all-time favorite profit-boosting strategies. When I coach energy auditors and home performance contractors, I always discuss the importance of risk reversal; however, it's critically important when you are starting your business. When you are starting out, you really don't have a track record about which to boast to your prospects. Chances are also good that you have no testimonials yet. Your prospects have no reason to trust you, and skepticism is high on the list of reasons customers don't say yes to your product or service. Zig Ziglar always emphasized that one of the five main obstacles to a sale is the lack of trust.
Many entrepreneurs and business owners believe that prospects don't buy because of price. High price is rarely the reason a prospect doesn't buy even from a long-standing or well-established business. Customers don't buy from businesses that they don't know, like, and trust, and the best way to build trust is to reverse the risk.

You’ve probably had your own experience with warranties and know that the product will invariably stop working the day, week, or month after the warranty expires. Prospects will hesitate to buy because of that "what if" factor. What if it doesn’t work? What if it doesn’t deliver as promised? What if I’m not satisfied? It's up to you to eliminate that concern. And you can do that by reversing the risk. That is, you, as the business owner, assume all risk associated with the purchase of your product or service. What other add-ons can you offer to help put the risk more on your shoulders? Maybe you need to personally show up to the job to supervise.  

As energy auditors, getting more business is about consumer education as much as it is selling the benefits of having an energy audit done.  Try adding risk reversals and guarantees to help book more energy audits.  Some examples of guarantees energy auditors and home performance contractors can use are...

"If I can't find 10 ways to save you $100 for under $10 your audit is free."

"We guarantee no more than 2 degree temperature change between each room. "

"We guarantee you'll save this much on your energy bills or we will pay your energy bill." 

You’ll find more often than not it is the risk reversal that puts you in the top tier of your competition and can build powerful momentum in your energy auditing business.

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The Art of Delegation

1/5/2016

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How can you create a successful energy audit business that brings you more freedom, time and increases your well being?  It may be surprising to you that success comes less from becoming an expert energy auditor than it does becoming a master of delegation.  By mastering the art of delegation you can have more freedom in your time and escape the rat race of trading time for dollars.  However, delegation is not as easy as it sounds.  The right way to do it actually takes some planning, strategy and effort to get up and running.  Get it right and you will experience more time and happier and more productive employees.  Get it wrong and you open yourself up to employees and subcontractors who are lazy, steal and lie and drag your energy audit business down.

Delegation is not assigning a task for someone to do and setting and forgetting it.  It involves careful planning and accountability.  If good delegation is the engine that drives your energy audit business, metrics and accountability are the oil.  Creating good metrics for your staff or sub contractors is not being corporate nor is it not “selling out” and losing touch with your customer base.  Metrics and a good training program set everyone up for success.

This is not to say that you need to put in the ground work to learn and master the things you need to master to be a damn good energy auditor. If you are just starting out as an energy auditor it is not a good idea to outsource your energy modeling right off the bat because energy modeling gives you a more complete picture of your services, gives you the knowledge of predicting cost savings by recognizing patterns and enables you to talk more confidently regarding your recommendations and a home-as-a-system approach.  Is it tedious work and a pain to try to figure out at times?  Yes, but the fact is that if you are not able to run different scenarios and take the time to experiment with the model, no one is going to do it for you and the knowledge and experience you gain from doing the work will never be given.  Once you have done 300 audits and energy models, ok, now it’s time to start training someone else to do it.  Can you and should be creating an energy modeling training manual while you are doing the work yourself?  Of course!  That time can be also be used to analyze what you enjoy doing and gives you energy regarding energy modeling, or the task you wish to delegate, and what you do not enjoy doing and drains your energy.  The tasks that you enjoy doing and are the best use of your time, should be what you do yourself as you grow your company.   Using sub contractors too early in your business is not a durable business model. 

Example of tasks energy auditors can delegate are:
  • Energy modeling
  • Scheduling appointments.
  • Sending documents and reports to customers.
  • Paperwork and rebate processing.
  • Material pick up or refilling on register tape.

Tasks that are best to do yourself as a business owner are:
  • Forming business relationships and partnering with other home performance contractors and contractors.  This would be your “marketing,” and although you are not creating direct mail pieces or using Google Adwords, you should be treating your relationships and prospecting as marketing and life-giving cash to your business.
  • Performing the energy audits to start.  If your company grows enough where you cannot handle the number of energy audits each day and your reputation for quality energy audits and good customer service is well known, that is a sign it’s time to hire and train another energy auditor to work under your company and brand.

​As a rule of thumb, tasks energy auditors do by themselves should meet this criteria:
  • One-to-one relationships that bring in more business for your company.
  • You enjoy doing it and you come home feeling energized and recharged.
  • It is something only you can do.  Regarding the actual energy audit, you will likely want to do your own audits for the first two years or so.  Energy audits are so personalized and varied on the customer service side that having you as the business owner performing the audits really builds your brand and a solid foundation you can build a team around in the future.
  • It directly affects your income and bottom line.  If you were a CAD drafter before you became an energy auditor and need to draw the home in CAD for RESNET HERS Rating or you are doing a Manual D duct design and are an expert in Manual D, I would start to sub that work out or hire someone in-house to do those drawings for you.  You may be the best person to do a Manual D calculation but it is likely that your time could be spent doing an additional energy audit adding revenue to your business while your staff created your model to 90% of what you would have done.  Yes, you can train someone how to think about and create a good Duct Design.  You can train money’s how to culture lung cells, and you can put your thought process out on paper to create a training manual to do virtually any task.  Tasks that are repetitive and are more impersonal can be outsourced or given to someone else to do to free up more of your time.
 
 

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How To Get Started Working Full Time As An Energy Auditor

11/5/2015

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It is not often clear the path a BPI Certified energy auditor should take, or where exactly the opportunities lie… to buffer existing business, as side work, to full as a full time energy auditor, or to go out on your own, the opportunities are vast and diverse.   Often times we get our energy auditor certification as a kind of back-up plan or to aid a struggling business.  Or maybe you attended BPI training as part of the federal grant money and hope to start off slow and learn the ropes from another home performance company.  Or maybe you are like me and are all-in, starting your own home performance company from scratch purchasing your own blower door and creating your own field sheets for your jobs.  Regardless of your goal, one thing is for certain… earning your BPI Certification is just the beginning.

​There are three routes you can take if you want to work full time as an energy auditor, work in weatherization, gain experience first by working for someone else or jump out and see if you can swim.  Each path can lead you to the end goal of owning your own business if that is what you want.  Let’s say that Tim has his BPI Certificate in hand but owns no equipment and has no energy auditing experience.  How should he get started?

Work in weatherization

Weatherization work has been around since the 70’s.  It has traditionally been government funded or non-profit operated.  Most organizations that do weatherization also are BPI Test Centers or give their own week class.  How do you land a job with a weatherization group?  Because they do a lot of government work a criminal free background is usually a must.  If you take your BPI exam with a weatherization group/ BPI Test Center it helps to do well on your exam and show the instructor you are a quick learner during the class, and then ask if there are any openings for energy auditors or retrofitters. 
 
Those organizations have an aplothera of equipment for energy auditors.  Either apply for a job there and stay in touch with the auditors and supervisors in the future if something does come up.  Relationship building is key here as I have seen several independent auditors borrow for free or rent blower door equipment from these organizations if you need a blower door and yours happen to “brake.”  If you land a job there you have a powerful asset behind you with the organization being experts in energy auditing and retrofitting, cranking out high volumes of both each year.  The down side is the pay isn’t very good and the homes are limited to low income housing so you will see a lot of smaller homes, bitchy tenants and manufactured housing.  The fundamentals will be the same no matter what house you go to but your habits of looking for defects will need to be adjusted when going into larger homes.  Working in weatherization you will learn to do everything by the book and not pick up the bad habits of lazy contractors and crews who are for-profit. 

Gain experience working for another energy audit company

Playing it safe and getting experience on someone else’s dime has its advantages and disadvantages.  The advantages are:
  1. You learn the mistakes of other people without cutting your teeth too bad.
  2. You can gain experience.
  3. You may miss a significant income increase by working for others.
  4. You may miss family time by working on someone else’s schedule.

The disadvantages of starting your own business rather than working for someone else are:


  1. You also can pick up bad habits from others. Have your heart in the right place and always do the best thing for the client and charge appropriately to cover for mishaps.
  2. You may get comfortable and never go out on your own.
  3. You become liable for others mistakes.  Set up a training program right away and get rid of bad employees fast.  It’s no fun getting a $60,000 insurance claim filed against you and battling it out.  If you start out before you are prepared, you leave the door open for bigger problems if you grow too fast without controls in place.

What is the best way to find these kinds of jobs? Search your local utility company website for energy audit programs and rebates along with a Google and Yelp search.  They will have a list of contractors who perform home performance and start contacting them.  Some of the companies will be HVAC companies who do energy audits as an-add on. It will be hard to get in with them as a newbie unless you have HVAC experience.  Usually these companies take one of their own and train him to do audits.  You will have better luck going to a solar company and pitching them to do energy audits with you as a lead into solar.  Create your own field sheets, report and contract to show as examples and ask them to do a trial with you where you will take their last 20 customers and offer them an energy audit as a thank you for their business.  Sign a few of those people up and you’re off!  It’s also worth calling other energy auditing companies to see if they are hiring but I suspect they will mostly want to hire auditors who have some experience.  If you’ve made your calls and still don’t have a company to grow into, you can give up or start on your own. 

Start your own energy audit company

By jumping into the fire right off the bat you will likely hit more road bumps but your learning by doing will go off the charts.  Nothing compares to doing everything yourself, you learn really quickly what works and what doesn’t and it doesn’t take very long to get it right or you don’t eat.  Click to read about how I thought I killed my first customer.  By going it alone you are also maximizing your financial gain two to three fold.  You get to keep almost all the money you bring in.  If you charge $300 for an audit, that’s almost all yours rather than $100 per audit if you worked for someone else.  I say that $300 is almost all yours because of course you have expenses but if you are smart, you aren’t wasting $3000 relying on a Val Pak direct mail piece but instead are boots to the ground door knocking, making cold calls and using your network to drum up your first customers.  Once you have the first couple in the door, put real effort in building your referral base and warm-lead marketing.  Do not go into debt trying a new marketing campaign, you already spent enough on your blower door equipment.  I would even skip on the IR camera when you just start off or get the iPhone thermal camera attachment.  Going out as an independent energy auditor is also good because you get to experience first-hand all the aspects of the business.  Go lean and go hard should be your motto. 

You get market to your prospects, do the energy audit, sell the upgrades and even install them all while learning what customers expect at every step along the way and then use your feedback to improve the process the second time around and so on.  Does showing the zonals on recessed canned lights help you sell the job but you learn that there is no energy savings and is super time intensive on the install side?... stop showing and talking about your zonal readings on canned lights during your energy audits.   Did you learn when selling your upgrades at the kitchen table that homeowners don’t care about going green or reducing their carbon footprint?... stop using that as a selling point on your website and at networking meetings.

No matter which method you choose to take your home performance career, one constant is the need to practice you butt off.  Take zonal readings everywhere in the house, spend some extra time exploring in the attic and do an extra modeling scenario or two because that’s how you will become a master energy auditor in your region.  Dedicate yourself to practicing and asking questions and you’ll soon be a high quality energy auditor with a great reputation.  


5 Comments

What is needed to start your own energy audit company? Part two

11/4/2015

5 Comments

 
Since many of our readers plan on starting their own energy auditing company this is the second part of our list of essentials you will need to get off the ground. The second part of the essential list starts out a little unconventional on purpose to help stress important highlights to help you avoid going out of business. You may be thinking, "What? You are trying to help us by helping us not go out of business?" My answer is yes, because I have seen a dozen of my peers close their doors as energy auditors and home performance contractors. Some of them were good energy auditors and good people, some of them weren't, but they are all out of business regardless.

This is more than a marketing and advertising plan. This post can help you avoid their mistakes and try new things and if you get nervous thinking about trying something new, it's probably something worth your full effort.

What is the difference between successful independent energy auditors and energy auditors that go out of business?

A willingness to do whatever it takes
I mentor a new energy auditor who started his own independent energy audit business. He is qualified with lots of experience and over 1,000 audits under his belt and does a good check up, is personable and has good customer service skills. We had talked about getting new business by acting as an independent energy auditor to home performance contractors in our Home Performance With Energy Star Program. He would have to call each contractor and solicit his energy audit services highlighting his independence and ease of gaining trust with homeowners, experience in the Energy Star program and flexibility and adapting to each companies process and requirements. He would have already set a set schedule of availability, how much he would charge per audit and what deliverables and services he would provide. That was all set so after a week of quitting his existing job, we met and I asked how his process was going? He replied that he hadn't called anyone yet. We were providing most of his leads thus far on overflow audits we had but I knew that it was going to eventually dry up and he would be up a creek if he didn't act fast. After discussing the inevitability it was clear his lynch pin was that he was very hesitant on picking up the phone and calling anyone. Cold calling is intimidating and scary, but what is more scary is not having any money in the bank account to feed the kids! This guy needed to get on the phone and start dailing, knocking on doors, connecting with managers on LinkedIn, showing up at home shows and introducing himself, writing letters and take massive action to put himself in front of companies. I knew his service was needed, he just needed to take the jump and put himself out there everyday.

That's where a lot of companies fail, they won't do anything that makes them uncomfortable and so when one marketing source dries up, they have nothing to fall back on to keep the money flowing in. A marketing plan is only as good as its implementation and back end execution. Too many energy auditors aren't willing to do what makes them uncomfortable out of fear of rejection,  being seen as pesky and annoying, and because of the negative connotations surrounding the action. I heard on my local news talk radio show during their news round up that any door to door sales people should be avoided because that way of marketing is outdated. I thought that was a stupid and ignorant thing to say that just makes it harder for companies to do what they do. Yes, there are companies that do door to door sales that are crooks but there are also ethical companies that offer good products and services that do door to door sales. That mindset of being an annoying pest keeps many energy auditors out of the game and leaving thousands of dollars on the table. If you practice ethically, there is no reason why you should be hesitant in promoting your energy audit services in any way possible. Energy auditors offer a service that is needed by the public and with a clean conscious you have given yourself the green light to promote yourself to the masses.

Are there times you will have to do things that take you out of your comfort zone? Sure, but the more you practice and build up your "muscles" the easier it gets and the more effective you get. Don't become paralyzed in a state of inactivity or comfort.

Will you maybe not hit the mark every time and have to go back to the drawing board to alter course? Maybe, but an imperfectly executed plan is far better than a perfectly planed non executed plan.
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Shark Tank Thinking For Energy Auditors

10/14/2015

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The Shark Tank is a popular TV show where entrepreneurs get one shot to pitch their ideas to 5 sharks, who can choose to invest in the company or take a pass.  I personally love the show and rejoice when a deserving entrepreneur strikes a deal with a shark and even more so when they have to fight their way to a deal and don’t back down.  Even though I’ve only seen a few home service companies and only one HVAC related company on the show, it got me thinking, how much would I ask for and what I would do with an infusion of an extra… let’s say $2,000 per month?  Am I even prepared to receive that kind of capital?  That was several years ago and it put me on a useful path and exercise I often go over with my own home performance company.

The investment of cash fantasy was a good exercise, I spawned other ideas too from watching Shark Tank such how well would I stand up to Mr. Wonderful if I were getting drilled on my financials?  Where would a shark see a reason not to invest in my company and how can I improve on that weakness?  How could I best leverage an extra $2,000 a month?  This is a very useful gut check for home performance contractors that have been in business several years and maybe plateaued to help them improve processes and look at their company more as a CEO and less as an owner-operator. 

As energy auditors we live and die by the motto “if you can’t measure it, it can’t be improved,” so we of all people should start using financial and operational metrics to get a baseline of our companies’ health, formulate a plan of improvement and implement and adjust.  It wasn’t until I saw my reconciled balance sheet that I realized how far off I was in my thinking of our cost per lead, average contract, profit margin, close rates and revenue.  This spawned a three month audit and improvement of my company, which has resulted in a stronger and healthier company since that first audit.

I encourage you to do the same by taking what you think your close rate, average contract, gross and net profit margin, cost per lead and annual revenue numbers and performing a “gut check.”  Take your numbers and compare them to your local Home Performance Program’s numbers and to publically traded companies in the home building, construction or solar industries to get an idea of where you stand.  So for example, if your annual revenue in 2014 was $500,000, and if you multiply your average contract, close rate and number of audits together do you get around $500,000?  If not, start digging into why.  Try running different scenarios like this with your numbers because when you start asking yourself the same question in several different ways, you will begin to uncover a discrepancy that you may not have been aware of before (and that’s where the gold is for improvement).  Let’s use the same scenario as before but add that your profit margin is 40% (insert your actual number).  $500,000 x 40% = $200,000.  If you estimate your marketing costs to be $50,000 a year, $200,000 - $50,000 = $150,000.  Was your income close to $150,000 last year?  If not, maybe your marketing expense is actually more than you thought, is your overhead (which we didn’t account for here) really high because those work vans are turning into money pits, or are you not really doing the number of audits you thought you were because of cancelations or lack of follow up?  Once you shed light on the problem, a focused effort to correct the problem can put an extra $10,000 in your pocket each year from eliminating wasteful or bad practices.

As home performance contractors we are better able to serve our customers and grow into new markets if we run a financially and operationally healthy company and “gut checks” like these are essential to do along the way if you are fighting the good fight alone. 

David Byrnes advises home performance contractors on growth strategies and runs a home performance company in Arizona.  Visit www.NeighborhoodMarketingSystem.com to learn more about the home performance marketing program available.
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Stump the Energy Auditor Chump - Energy Auditor Training Practice

10/14/2015

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This home already had an energy audit done to it and the homeowner performed a basic energy improvement upgrade of blowing more insulation to R-38, sealing the leaky ductwork and air seal the house to meet Weatherization guidelines.  Your home energy auditting company is called out to see if the other home performance company missed anything and to figure out why their bills did not go down at all in the 4 months since the work was done.
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A 2100 sq ft ranch home in Phoenix,  AZ  built in 1975 has the homeowner complaining of high energy bills of $350 in July.  Your auditor goes out to find the static pressure of 0.6 IWC on the return and 0.2 IWC on the supply with a twist elbow on the roof.  The summer and winter temperatures are kept at 78 degrees and 68 degrees and 2 people live in the house.  Windows are dual pane, low-e with shade screens already installed before the work was done.  What would be the cause of a $350 energy bill in July? 

Highlight this paragraph for the answer:
The work was done correctly, but the high static pressure on the return was not addressed during the initial inspection or retrofit.  The high static should have been fixed by changing the twist elbow to a side by side elbow and installing a new return plenum with a larger return duct into the home.  That would have reduced the static pressure from 0.6 IWC to 0.3 IWC.
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How To Become An Energy Auditor

9/29/2015

1 Comment

 
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​​Energy Auditor Training

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To become a home energy auditor does not require a huge initial investment, but it is more than going through the motions of taking a week long class and passing the exams. The Building Performance Institute, or BPI for short, is a non-profit organization that has created and set the standards for energy auditors of existing homes. BPI uses approved test centers to train and administer the exams for potential BPI certified energy auditors. There are some non-accredited energy auditor training classes out there, mainly doing online training, but you should make sure the training class is geared towards the BPI exam, and not just becoming an energy auditor. This is because the term “residential energy auditor” is loosely defined, especially by those who are not energy auditors. They may define an energy audit as a clip board audit looking at lighting, windows and doors, shading and if the homeowner is lucky, a look at the insulation depth right by the attic hatch. This is done not only by companies selling windows, solar energy, HVAC, radiant barrier or a specific product but also is promoted by these “energy auditor” training companies that are not geared towards the BPI exam whose creators have never done a real energy audit but saw an opportunity in a hot market.

The best way to get a full energy auditor training is on the job and then just take the exams without the week long training. If that’s not possible in your situation you can take a week long energy auditor training course through an approved test center. The week long energy audit training classes do have the advantage of forcing you to cover aspects the residential energy audits that you may not see in the field every day and broaden your knowledge base. The disadvantages of taking the week long energy audit training class is the time burden and the lack of depth or knowledge the instructors have. There are some good training centers out there, but you have to look for them. The national energy audit classes, taught by instructors who are not living and breathing home performance is a little shallow in knowledge.

​The BPI Building Analyst exam consists of a 100 questions written exam and a field exam where you go through an actual energy audit with a proctor grading you. To become a certified BPI Building Analyst you will need to pass with a 70% or better a written exam and an 85% or better on the field exam. The field exam IS OPEN BOOK. You are allowed to bring in any material you would like, including your BPI Standards, field sheet cheat sheets and formulas to aid you. However, you are only allowed TWO HOURS to complete the field exam. The BPI Building Analyst written and field exam is broken down into six sections:
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  1. Building Science Fundamentals
  2. Buildings & Their Systems
  3. Measurement and Verification of Building Performance 
  4. BPI National Standards & Project Specifications 
  5. Analyzing Buildings Systems
  6. Conduct and Communications


The heaviest tested section in the BPI written exam is the “BPI National Standards & Project Specifications.” The heaviest section in the field exam is the “Measurement and Verification of Building Performance.” BPI has a few golden rules such as “do not harm” which emphasizes combustion safety protocols and BPI Standards and the “home as a system” approach which emphasizes every part of the home is interdependent on the other and we as energy auditors need to be aware of our impacts and that we need to educate the homeowner also. Each the cornerstones plays out and appears again and again not only throughout the BPI course material and on the exam but after the exam and when you are performing your home energy audits, selling and installing the work.

​The energy auditor training course is very useful for anyone wanting to start offering energy audits or home performance work. Even seasoned home inspectors, insulation and HVAC contractors and general contractors will benefit because we were building homes wrong for so long that it just became the norm. Even insulation contractors who do not know what they are looking for will blow right over misaligned batts or bridged soffits… I’ve seen it!

The field exam can be difficult because you have to think out loud and is akin to acting in a play... it's staged, you need to almost memorize lines until it become natural, and you have an audience that may or may not be forgiving of slip-ups. Lots of practice and mock field exams on several houses is the best way to prepare for the field test.

What To Expect On The BPI Field Exam

The field proctor is not allowed to offer any guidance during the exam. You will have to talk through a good portion of the exam, telling the field proctor what you would do, but not actually perform it. Many field proctors will not have you go in the attic for liability reasons, but you will need to tell them what you would look for during an attic inspection. The field exam, unlike the written exam is open book. Here is a list of some essential material to aid your field exam.
  1. BPI Standards
  2. Create your own energy audit field sheets complete with formulas, CAZ limits, and other limits to room pressures, BAS threshold, draft formula, etc. This will take time and energy on your part, but I highly suggest it. Put in the hard work required to make these field sheets but in doing so you will walk through the energy audit in your own mind.
  3. Pictures of the manometer set up for each test you perform. This will vary slightly depending if you have a Minneapolis, Retrotec or Therma Star blower door.

How To Save Money Getting Your BPI Building Analyst Certification

You can save money and time because not all BPI test centers require you take the week long class in order to take the exam. So if you have performed energy audits for your current company, or do a good home study, or use this website for a free online BPI training, you can potentially take the exam without the training class and waive the training class fee. You will still have to pay the BPI written and field exam fees, but you will have saved yourself a lot of time and about $1,000. Is it possible to self-study to become an energy auditor? Absolutely, and that’s why this website was created. If you have a construction background it will be even easier for you.

If you want to start your energy audit training or get a more in depth view of the material covered to become an energy auditor visit our home page for a video overview.
1 Comment

Use apps for energy audits and home performance contractors

9/12/2015

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While performing energy audits there are useful apps you can use to save time and get more accurate data collections. A simple search in the business section of your app store will likely reveal new apps to try in the field. Room Scan by Locometric is free and simple to use. It lets you draw floor plans by placing your phone along the walls within the home. FLIR has a thermal camera adaptor that turns your phone into an IR camera. It’s a fraction of the cost of a normal IR camera and does the trick for our energy audits. Wrightsoft has a Manual J app where you can do a quick load calc on any home and is accepted by government weatherization programs. Periscope is an app that lets your customer see what you are seeing through your phone, which can be perfect for those dirty attics or crawl spaces where you can walk a customer through what you are finding without them being there.
Links:

iPhone IR Thermal Imaging Camera
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    David Byrnes

    Owns and operates Green ID, a residential home energy auditing and contracting company in Phoenix, AZ. He is a BPI Proctor and has trained over 40 energy auditors.

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