Nobody forces you to get an energy audit. Here are couples of reason why you can get it:

• You will save money on utility bills for the rest of your life.
• You will learn how to make your home feel more comfortable during both cooling and warming seasons, without spending a lot of money.
• You will find out how your heating system works (or why it doesn’t).
• You will learn how to stay cool without relying on air conditioning.
• You will lighten your imprint on the Earth.
• You will understand the interconnectedness of your house.
• You will find out where the mold is and have a chance to get rid of it before it eats your walls and makes you seek.
• You will find the energy vampires in your house, and learn how to slay them… without the need for wooden stakes.
• You will get straight answers about whether the air you are breathing every day is actually safe to breathe.
• You will be given an audit report. That means, you will have a road map of what you can do- from caulking to replacing the insulation in your walls to fixing the roof… in order to save money in your home, make it safer and more comfortable.

A BPI (Building Performance Institute) Building Analyst is certified to conduct blower-door test (which should be done both before and after upgrades), combustion appliances inspection and repair, air quality testing including carbon monoxide detection, duct testing and airflow testing.

Most contractors seeking BPI certification already have extensive experience in the building industry. For this reason, most businesses with BPI certified contractors will market themselves as Home Performance Contractors rather then Energy Auditors.

Auditing maybe just one of the services they offer, and many Home Performance Contractors prefer to make the improvement suggested by the audit themselves. As you evaluate your options, keep in mind that the competencies to perform an audit are not necessarily the same as those required to execute an effective energy efficiency retrofit, and selecting the individual to perform the work indicated by an energy audit is entirely up to you. As in any sales pitch, if a contractor tries to pressure you into having work done, (or whistles at your daughter), hire someone else.

Before hiring an auditor, be sure to ask what certifications they hold, what kind of training they have undergone, and what their audit will entail. Among other things, a good complete audit will involve a blower-door test, a duct leakage test, leakage assessment using an infrared camera, and a written report detailing the auditor’s findings.

Find out if the auditor is also a contractor who intends to fix the problems he or she uncovers. For some homeowners, this is a benefit. Once you have found a trustworthy individual, you need not seek out another to do the work. This can be an advantage because a typical audit uncovers a laundry list of actionable items, some big and some small. Comprehensive documentation in the audit report is often difficult.

If the auditor returns to do the contract work, he or she will have a clear memory of every issue uncovered during the audit, even if some of those issues didn’t make it into the report. That said, for some homeowners separating the person conducting the audit (collecting and analyzing the home’s data) from the person doing the work is the best way to eliminate any chance of a conflict of interest.