Really Selling Efficiency: Home inspections at time-of-sale
Leveraging existing home inspections at time-of-sale to promote energy upgrades. Presentation given at ACEEE 2018 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.
About the presentation
During the spring and fall of 2017 the authors conducted a pilot of 38 homes in the Twin Cities metro area, training home inspectors in basic energy assessment methods and assisting them in creating a separate energy report for their clients. After completing the pilot, these inspectors participated in a focus group and we completed a phone survey with participating homeowners.
Initial findings suggest that home inspectors in this market can serve as trusted messengers to prospective homebuyers for recommending energy upgrades. While our research also indicated some barriers and potential pitfalls to working with home inspectors, overall we conclude that this is a promising channel for utility-funded efficiency efforts — with the potential to increase (by an order of magnitude) the number of customers currently reached by home performance programs.