How to Hire a Qualified Auditor

As home-energy audits become a more important part of building and owning a home, more and more auditors are enter­ing the field. Free audits are available from local utility companies, but this avenue has its pros and cons (see the sidebar on the facing page). Independent auditors tend to offer various packages that can be tailored to your home’s needs and your goals. Look for
an auditor who has been certified by CMC Energy Services, Building Performance Insti­tute® (BPI; www. bpi. org), or RESNET.

Although they don’t provide diagnostic testing of a home, CMC Energy Services auditors are screened and complete energy — inspector training. CMC-trained auditors pay $300 and spend two classroom days learning about energy fundamentals; they also receive instruction in how to use the company’s proprietary reporting software. Online refresher courses keep inspectors up to date. CMC maintains a searchable data­base so that you can find an inspector in your area.

BPI in Malta, N. Y., trains auditors to use diagnostic-testing equipment. To get BPI accreditation, an auditor goes through "a rigorous, credible, and defensible written — and field-examination process administered to individuals by BPI or its affiliates," according to BPI’s website. BPI affiliates, such as the Metropolitan Energy Center in Kansas City, Mo., are trained to give exams to prospective auditors. Then BPI awards certification to those auditors who pass the tests.

According to Dustin Jensen, associate executive director at Metropolitan Energy Center, a 40-hour auditor-training class costs $1,000, and the examination costs about $500, if there is no government subsidy
involved, which there often is. Affiliates are allowed to set their own prices for training, so they vary across the country. A searchable database of all BPI-certified professionals is maintained on the Building Performance Institute’s website.

RESNET has a similar teacher-mentor system. RESNET trains providers, who then train raters, who are the folks that do the audits. Certification requires a week of class­room time, and the cost varies from $1,200 to $1,500, depending on the provider. A list of providers and raters is available on the RESNET website.

The Department of Energy’s Energy Star program is not involved directly in the certi­fication of auditors, but Energy Star endorses both RESNET and BPI auditors in two sepa­rate programs. In the first program, Energy Star Qualified New Homes, houses must score at least an 85 on RESNET’s HERS-index rating. The second program, Home Perfor­mance with Energy Star, currently has locally sponsored programs in 28 states that help homeowners to improve a home’s energy ef­ficiency cost-effectively. The contractors that participate in the program are BPI-certified and are listed at www. energystar. gov.

Regardless of certifications, ask any audi­tor you might hire for a list of customers that you can contact to find out if they were satisfied with the auditor’s work.