BPI Marketing Corner
How to Hire Qualified Workers: Engage with the Other 50% of the Population
By Hannah C. Wood, BPI
At the HPC National Conference in April 2018 in Philadelphia, industry leader and OmStout Consulting President, Mike Rogers (@MikePRogers), made a passionate call for more women in home performance. He pointed out that companies in this industry are always struggling to find qualified workers. But, how many of you and your companies are actively recruiting from the other 50.5% of the population – women?
Women make up slightly more than half the U.S. population, yet only 2.6% of the construction industry. Likely, there are even fewer women employed as contractors and auditors in home performance. One of the prime advantages of hiring women is that many other women are often the key decision makers in the household. Thus, having women as your installers and energy auditors will only help with your sales.
Tips for recruiting women contractors:
- Recruit women classmates from trainings and CEU courses at which you participate.
- Check your area for workforce development programs – especially those geared toward women. For example, in New York City, the Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) trains and places women to serve in the construction, trades, and utility industries.
- Support Women in Building Performance, which provides scholarships to the HPC National Home Performance Conference & Trade Shows. Please note: "Women in BP" on your check.
Share your engagement story! What has worked for you to employ more women as contractors and energy auditors? Please email marketing@bpi.org to let us know.
On a final note, Mike Rogers reminded us that we need to ensure all employees – especially women – are safe in their work environments. To watch some of the video of Mike's comments, click here.
Cheers,
Hannah C. Wood
BPI and Industry News
Building Performance News and Discussion
By BPI
BPI Client Relations and Operations Updates
- The application period is now open for the Quality Control Inspector (QCI) and Energy Auditor (EA) 2018 pilot exams. Participating Test Centers across the country will offer these pilot exams from August through the end of September 2018.
Participating in the pilot program is a great opportunity for you to help shape the new exams and provide immediate feedback on the pilot questions. Please see the pilot webpage to review the following:
- Home Energy Professional (HEP) Pilot Application
- Map of BPI Test Centers offering the exams
- Links to relevant documents
- Updated Certification Scheme Handbooks
- It's officially Atlantic hurricane season, which means it's time to consider building your post-disaster skills. Consider taking the online-only Healthy Home Evaluator exam at a BPI Test Center offering the exam. Learn how to ensure that homes are dry, safe, and healthy environments for families after disaster strikes.
- Do you want to receive updates on new jobs posted on BPI's Job Pages? Join this email list and we'll send you 1-2 emails per month with updates.
BPI Spotlight
Product Spotlight: Southeast Energy Solutions
By BPI
Quarterly, BPI will feature a manufacturer and product from its Product Listing program, which highlights tools, products, and materials that meet industry standards for diagnostic evaluation and installation of energy upgrades to the home.
Southeast Energy Solutions manufactures products that insulate and air seal the attic access areas of a home. Their products include the: Pull Down Ladder Jacket, Scuttle Hole Jacket, and Vertical Knee Wall Jacket. Southeast Energy Solutions has been in business since 2016 and has sold around 20,000 units of their 3 products.
Benefits of SES products:
- Under 10 minute installation time
- Can be used in all climate zones in the U.S.
- Patented insulation chamber in the zippered top allows for installation of up to an R-49 batt of insulation
- Eliminates the need to build big, bulky boxes in the attic
- All products reflect 97% of radiant heat away from the attic access areas
Pull Down Ladder Jacket
The ladder jacket is the answer for insulating and air sealing the attic pull down stairs. This product will dramatically lower the temperature at the pull down stairs by the reflective properties of the radiant barrier material. Also, installing insulation in the insulation pocket in the zippered top will allow you to bring the R-value to the same R-value as the rest of your attic. The insulation pocket will allow for up to a R-49 batt to be installed, and with the R-value being 4.5 per layer, this will produce an R-value of up to R-58.
Scuttle Hole Jacket
The jacket provides a great way to air seal and provide proper insulation in these areas. This product eliminates the need to weather strip a piece of sheet rock for air sealing, since the scuttle jacket does this for you. It also has the insulation chamber in the zippered top that allows for proper insulating of this area.
Vertical Knee Wall Jacket
This product solves the problem of a thermal break in your knee walls. It allows you to insulate to the same R-value as the wall assembly. The radiant barrier reflects 97% of the radiant heat away from the knee wall door. This will eliminate the hot spot on your walls.
Stump the Chump
Let's Play Stump the Chump!
By Quinn Korzeniecki, BPI
We took a break from Stump the Chump last month to bring in some more submissions from the field. We're sure you have witnessed something strange, something that made you scratch your head, or a situation that took a few attempts to solve. Earn the easiest 2 BPI CEUs ever by submitting your stumper to marketing@bpi.org.
Can you solve July's stumper?
This month's stumper comes from John Herring of CLEAResult in Westborough, MA.
John explains the interesting situation:
I have a friend who decided to simply stop cooking in winter. She lived alone in an old Victorian home and was in the habit of entertaining friends and family at holidays, special personal days, really good TV shows, etc. The problem now was, every time she cooked in winter, the first floor of the home became quite chilly. It was costing her a lot more in gas heating charges and was ruining her friendly visits.
She had recently upgraded most kitchen appliances: New larger refrigerator, oven/range with vent hood, dishwasher, wall cabinets, and kitchen sink. Her first complaint to me was that her dishes were extremely cold that first winter. They had always gotten somewhat cool in winter, with the cabinets being attached to the wall, but she had insulation in every exterior wall and decent air sealing elsewhere, so it wasn't a big problem.
After cooking one recent winter holiday meal for friends, her dinner plates actually chilled the meal, and everyone had to microwave their meals. Then a 2nd floor water pipe froze and burst in the center of the 1st floor ceiling. This was the first time this had happened in all her time there.
So, was it a strange series of polar vortex events at holidays, a recurring phenomenon only recently noticed, or some other irremediable problem? Or was it an entirely fixable issue?
Send In a Stumper and Earn 2 BPI CEUs!
The Stump the Chump segment in BPI’s newsletter is the most popular part of the monthly publication. If you submit a Stumper, you'll get: an opportunity to share your technical knowledge, free individual and company advertising with a link to your company website, and 2 BPI CEUs. For more information, please contact marketing@bpi.org.