Very few homes optimally perform.
New construction energy codes have improved significantly the last decade, but are far from perfect. With each passing year, homes' energy systems deteriorate and suffer in air quality, safety, comfort and efficiency.
If your home feels drafty, uncomfortable, if it has a hard time retaining conditioned air, if you suspect mold or other air quality issues, or if you have high utility bills, you need an energy assessment to determine where the issues are coming from and how to eliminate them.
There are some utilites and companies that do "free" energy audits. when you look into the depth of those audits you will soon find whats included. Typically it's just a guy coming out to look at your energy bill, tell you its high, and peak his head in the attic. There is usually no detailed safety, air quality, and comfort testing and little efficiency reporting to go along with it.
We will never do an incomplete energy assessment because it doesn't tell the full story.
Our assessments will always include:
-Blower door test to quantify air leakage
-Combustion Appliance Zone Testing for Carbon Monoxide (C02)
-Formaldehyde and Volatile Organic Compound testing for air quality
-Weighted R-Value of Attic Insulation to see how good the attic is at keeping unconditioned air and heat out of the house
-Lighting performance assessment to see how much money you'll save by switching to LEDs. We will have an exact $$ savings amount because lighting is solely based on wattage and time used.
-Pool pump assessment (if applicable)
-Ventilation testing
-Zone pressure testing to see if theres imbalances in HVAC duct performance
Ultimately we are determined to find important, relevant issues in the home and fix them immediately. We have the vetted the best partners in each trade to ensure the highest quality retrofit. Plus, there are new federal and utility rebates avaliable that we help you qualify for, further reducing the cost of the energy assessment and retrofit.
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), duct work, insulation, air sealing, lighting, and appliances contribute to the bulk of a homes utility bill, comfort, safety, and air quality.
They are the foundations of building performance.
Ideally, a home is built with extremely heat resistant and resilient materials, designed with all systems working together, but that is rarely the case. New home builds typically are pieced together by trade, with little communication between plumbers, HVAC, electricians, and general construction. It is this lack of communication that contributes to poor air sealing and lazy building protocol that requires most homes to be retrofitted with additional efficiency measures.
the most common insulation materials are fiberglass batts, blown-in, spray foam, and cellulose. Each material has different qualiites and are necessary for different applications.
The reason not to hire the cheapest contractor is the quality of installation is more important than the material. If you were wearing a jacket on a cold day, and someone lifted the jacket an inch off of your skin, it wouldn't work very well, would it? Buildings are no different. They require an airtight and consistent thermal boundary (or jacket) around conditioned space to be effective, or else you could just be wasting money installing new insulation without any benefit.
Our energy assessments include a weighted R-Value calculation, so you know how well your insulation is really performing.
Most often, the "low hanging fruit" of efficiency is attic air-sealing, but that requires the insulation removal to be able to access each air sealing opportunity.
Lighting can also be high return, but you would need to know the difference between lightbulbs and wattages to determine the return on your investment. Our Energy Assessments include a simple ROI on each energy asset upgrade and we determine together what needs to be done based on your goals.
We vet and hire only the best subcontractors in every market to execute energy upgrades/retrofits. We subcontract masters of their craft to keep our overhead low and ensure better service at a better price. Elite Home Performance is a General Contractor and ensures a smooth retrofit and experience.
in Austin TX, our primary market, We work only with City of Austin approved contractors with established businesses.
Our primary market is Austin, TX. We also can operate in the rest of the U.S. with proper scheduling and preparation.
Not YET!
Solar should only be installed once the home is performing the best it possibly can. Most people believe solar is an energy efficiency upgrade. It's not. Solar is unrelated to home performance and is just a power plant that produces energy from the sun. Solar is generally a great option if you plan on being in the house over 5 years, have decent federal tax liability, and you have addressed the other issues in your home that could save money and improve air quality and comfort first.
The Owner of Elite Home Performance, Davison Kirchmyer, ran a successful solar dealer called Ori Energy in FL for 3 years. The problem he noticed in the solar industry is that almost nobody knew anything about home performance and would make empty promises left and right.
Becoming an expert in builidng performance was the only way for him to ensure he was serving his customers properly.