On October 16, 2012, the Associated Press yesterday carried a story on the importance of third party verification before and after improving an existing home’s energy performance. The story, “Avoid Costly Mistakes and Missed Opportunities: Invest in Home Performance Testing Before Home Improvement” states that “Investing in home improvements without third-party assessments has led to a number of costly side effects including carbon monoxide poisoning from the HVAC systems, sweating windows, moisture problems in attics, and temperature fluctuations.” The story quotes Corbett Lunsford of the Illinois Association of Energy Raters saying, “The secret to making your home improvement dollars count is comprehensive third-party testing. “Taking your home to the doctor before investing in a potentially misguided surgery is a necessary part of any home renovation, which is why it’s actually being adopted as part of the building code in Illinois on January 1. The third-party testing helps you invest in only the improvements that are assured to make your home more healthy, comfortable, and durable, rather than those that are the most profitable or convenient for contractors to sell you (and which might cost you even more money to overhaul down the road).” By the end of 2012, homeowners across the country will have spent over $400 billion on home improvement projects, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Since 49% of homeowners are planning to stay put in their homes for at least the next six years, according to a poll by National Association of the Remodeling Industry, the home improvement market has become much busier than in the housing rush of the mid-2000′s. The story concludes that “the home performance experts of the Illinois Association of Energy Raters seem to be onto something big, and are teaming up with home performance contractors throughout the Midwest to deliver the home improvements we all assumed we were already getting. Now the next $400 billion spent on our homes can have proof behind it, and peace of mind to boot- two things a country in recession needs right now.” To download the AP feature click on Importance of Third Party Verification. The feature was covered by 200 news outlets nationwide. The approach being applied in Illinois fits within the RESNET philosophy on home performance and is embodied in the RESNET Energy Smart Home Performance Teams. For more information go to RESNET Energy Smart Home Performance Teams
