BPI's Marketing Hub
How BPI Engages with Homeowners
By Hannah C. Wood
We hear you! Often at BPI we get asked, "What does BPI do to reach out to homeowners?" First, BPI's principal purpose is to develop standards and certifications to serve you, our network of BPI GoldStar Contractors, Certified Professionals, Test Centers, Proctors, and other stakeholders. Admittedly, also as a nonprofit, BPI has a limited budget for homeowner outreach. However, having said that, there's an undeniable need to engage with homeowners about the importance of BPI certifications and why homeowners should find, and hire, you.
As you can guess, the best marketing is done when consumers don't feel like they're being sold to. Instead, BPI, and through you and your work, aspires to be more of a consultant or subject matter expert for homeowners. To that end, over the past 16 months, BPI staff has developed a blog for homeowners. BPI staff, and other contributors, have written over 43 blogs about various home performance topics. We answer homeowners' questions that come up daily about their homes, such as: "How often should I change my air filters?" and "Why am I always having to run my dryer two times?" This blog also helps drive website traffic to our find a contractor (locator) tool and to you.
Speaking of the locator tool, we are redeveloping it now to make it more user-friendly and mobile-responsive. This past weekend, BPI staff participated at a 3-day home show near our Malta, NY headquarters. We went to solicit homeowners' feedback on images of the draft locator tool. We surveyed passing booth visitors and received responses from 45 homeowners on their likeliness to use the locator tool, its usability, and clarity. Now, we can incorporate this homeowner feedback and improve it!
Also, last week, BPI hosted a webinar with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) program. HPwES offers free, well-designed collateral materials and infographics that participating contractors can use today to educate homeowners. To download the recorded webinar, please log on to your Candidate or BPI GoldStar Contractor Account.
Looking forward to collaborating with you further on homeowner outreach and engagement!
Cheers,
Hannah C. Wood
Industry News
Building Performance News and Discussion
By Quinn Korzeniecki
BPI News
Don MacOdrum of the Home Performance Guild of Oregon received the 2017 Tony Woods Award at HPC National in Nashville on March 20th. Larry Armanda, Joe Lstiburek, Mike Rogers, and Art Rosenfeld were also inducted into the Building Performance Hall of Fame.
BPI and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) released a step-by-step checklist to help sell home performance jobs through word-of-mouth marketing, including pre-retrofit, during, and post-retrofit tips for online and in-person interactions.
The First Annual Jon Siemen Memorial Scholarships were awarded to Anndra Jackson and Kanit Jacobs, whose online and field exam costs for BPI certification will be covered.
Industry News
President Trump's "skinny budget" proposes to eliminate ENERGY STAR and DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) while also applying large budget cuts to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and other government agencies integral to the home performance industry.
The Home Performance Coalition is hosting the new Home Performance Forum, which replaces the RESNET BPI - Energy Audit and Home Performance LinkedIn Group, offering a platform for discussion for all home energy professionals.
According to AccuWeather reports, all areas of the country, aside from the Northwest, will experience above-average temperatures, meaning a greater demand for air conditioning and HVACR services.
Federal, State, and Local News
According to PACENation, Residential PACE (R-PACE) programs have created 36,500 jobs resulting in 148,000 home upgrades since its inception in December 2011.
An ACEEE report found that energy efficiency and demand response could level Southeast electricity demand for a decade if solar electricity, electric vehicles, and heat pump technology are pursued on an accelerated basis in the region.
Tech Talk
Ever dealt with an HVACR compressor burnout? Learn the causes and tips for preventing or fixing a burnout in this article.
Sarah Gray, an engineer with RDH Building Science Labs, discusses using roof ventilation to keep unwanted heat and moisture out of your roofing system.
About the Author
Quinn is the Senior Communications Associate for BPI. Would you like to write articles to engage homeowners about home performance? Contact Quinn to contribute to BPI's Homeowner Blog.
Partner News
Opportunity to Help Preserve Energy Efficiency Funding
By E4TheFuture
The deadline for an opportunity to sign on to a letter urging Congress to continue funding residential efficiency initiatives and funding including the Weatherization Assistance Program, ENERGY STAR Homes, and Home Performance with ENERGY STAR has been extended through April 21st. You can read the letter by clicking here.
If this issue concerns your work or your business, this is a way to let elected officials know that these DOE and EPA initiatives help our industry serve our customers.
Reauthorization of these programs ensures residential energy efficiency continues to remain strong. If you want to participate, you can sign the letter here.
For more information on this topic, please see the following articles:
Stump the Chump
Let's Play Stump the Chump!
By BPI
We had a bunch of different answers for the last stumper!
Occasionally, we like to toss a somewhat easy issue your way and see how you handle it!
As a reminder, our last stumper came from real estate brokers in San Francisco, CA, who stumbled upon nasty, black stuff all over furnace pipe insulation in the garage of a home they were selling.
The most detailed and accurate response came from Tim Couture, BPI Quality Control Inspector or Inspector/Auditor/Process Manager at Community Resources Weatherization Assistance Program. Tim states, "It appears to me that the ductwork under the insulation has not been air sealed properly so the insulation is acting as a filter and has collected year's worth of dust and debris. At the top, near the ceiling where it is darkest tells me there is a stack effect of air leaking up through the ceiling and dirt is collecting here also. I would almost bet that you would find the same thing in the attic in places where unsealed cavities come up through the ceilings."
Thank you to all who sent in responses!
Let's Play April's Stump the Chump!
April's stumper comes from a homeowner interested in DIY.
He says, "I have a question pertaining to condensation/frost that has been accumulating in my attic above my 4-season room. As you can see in the picture (I'm not the best artist), the 4-season room extends about 6" into my existing attic. (The 4-season room was added about 10 years after the house was built). The roof is metal, but has 4" of foam in the roof. The issue I'm having is, when heating this room, I find frost in my attic space."
What's the issue here and how can he remedy it?