Creating Building Solutions
As our process, and our software, improved, we became better organized and found it easier to get the work done while still taking the time to find more jobs.
September 07, 2008
A version of this article appears in the September/October 2008 issue of Home Energy Magazine.
In many ways, the nature of the industry makes marketing the product particularly difficult. The basic principles of home performance contracting are simple enough that your average homeowner can grasp them rather easily. However, the field is just complicated enough that it still takes some one-on-one time with the homeowner to explain each home’s potential problems, and the potential benefits of solving those problems, whether it be increased comfort, improved air quality, or reduced energy bills. Our software helps, but it can’t replace the need to work closely with our clients. And in some ways we wouldn’t want it to. The most rewarding experience in our job is the moment when an idea clicks with a homeowner—when you can see in clients’ eyes that they understand why it makes sense to do it a certain way. For example, one client was concerned that certain rooms in her home were too cold and other rooms were too hot. After taking air flow measurements from her registers and comparing those values with the load calculation requirements for each room, we were able to present her with a graph showing the drastic differences between the required air flow and the actual air flow; the data ended up confirming her complaints! She was immensely relieved to have her concerns understood and explained in a quantitative, scientific way. And knowing we had thoroughly investigated her problems, she felt very comfortable with the solutions we offered.

In this particular case, the homeowners were fortunate enough to be able to get their home tested and explore solutions. But in many cases, homeowners don’t have this opportunity, simply because they don’t know that there is a service like home performance contracting—a service that can help them find the most complete, most cost-effective way to improve their home. We believe that getting the word out is a challenge shared by all home performance contractors, and that they should meet this challenge in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation.
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