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Why should I get a home energy assessment?
The goal of a home energy assessment is not to get solid, verifiable testing data and actionable recommendations to your home performance concerns. The assessment is a means to the end goal of getting the work done and resolving your concerns. The true value of an assessment lies in its comprehensive nature - looking at your house as a system - and being able to identify solutions that span across the building trades. Without proper information, a homeowner may self-diagnose a problem and spend thousands of dollars in improvements that don't address the root causes of their concerns.
How much does a home energy audit cost?
The time associated with a comprehensive home assessment varies greatly by home size and types of heating and cooling equipment. Please call to receive an accurate price, but most homes assessments will cost between between $450 and $650 dollars. The price includes returning to your home and performing additional tests to measure how any improvements have afected your home's performance.
Does Aspen Enterprises implement any recommendations?
Aspen Enterprises has a Maryland Home Improvement Commission license and nearly two decades of construction experience. Aspen can provide air sealing and insulation services along with a variety of other building shell improvements. Aspen also tests mechanical equipment for safety and efficiency, and can seal air ducts that are accessible. Aspen does not have a mechanical, plumbing, or electrical license.
How can I afford both an assessment price and the costs to do any recommendations?
We are very aware that every homeowner has a limited budget, and many people may think that every dollar spent on information is a dollar less that can be spent on actually improving the home. There is no easy answer to that question, but we offer a few ideas and options:
- Many homeowners have spent thousands (and often tens of thousands) of dollars on solutions that don't address their original concern. Self-diagnosing a problem (or uncritically believing some of the claims of product installers like window salespeople) is not an affordable option. Measure twice and cut once - measure your home's performance with certified personnel using testing equipment in order for you to make an informed purchasing decision.
- For homeowners who want Aspen to act as a third party assessor, we can provide recommendations that allow a homeowner to bid out a consistent scope of work to various contractors. By having expert recommendations in your hand, you have additional bargaining power in your search for a contractor(s).
- Aspen can implement many recommendations. Aspen deducts 10% of the original assessment price from the price of the improvements. For example, if the assessment is $500, a homeowner can apply up to the entire $500 of the assessment price for improvements valuing $5000 and above. Due to the fact that during an assessment we have captured much of the data needed to properly bid a job, we can offer this discount based on our actual cost reductions.
Wouldn't a home performance contractor like Aspen try to sell its installation services?
There is widespread recognition in the home performance and building science community that a conflict of interest can exist when an assessor also performs the work. There is also widespread recognition that the existing building trade structure has experts in particular areas, but little expertise in a comprehensive understanding of the home environment.
Many local programs have a firewall between the assessor and the contractor. However, many homeowners have expressed a frustration that good home assessment recommendations cannot be implemented due to the difficulty of finding contractors. After all, many of the existing building practices are the cause of the homeowner's original complaint. Furthermore, the comprehensive nature of the recommendations means a homeowner may have to get competitive bids from several different trades.
The Maryland Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program recognizes that problem, and encourages participating contractors to be a “one-stop-shop” for the homeowner. In order to reduce any conflict of interest concerns, the Maryland Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program follows strict training and quality assurance protocols. If they find a contractor whose recommendations are not supported by solid building science, they can remove that contractor from the program. The program performs random auditing and site visits for all participating contractors. Please contact Maryland Home Performance with ENERGY STAR directly for more information.
Aspen recognizes that different homeowners will have different opinions about such issues. A homeowner can schedule an assessment with Aspen and decide later if Aspen is a 3rd party assessor or an implementor of any recommendations. We understand that views differ on pricing and the third-party nature of assessments, and try to provide options that best meet your needs. Transparency in our pricing and business model is an important component to building your trust.
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