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Comment by Andrew Aliferis on April 3, 2013 at 4:38pm

Thanks Andy and Ted. My observations are that the way low income utility weatherization programs are run now the tax payers and paying utility customers are being fleeced and they are literally hurting the homes and families we are trying to help.

Comment by tedkidd on April 3, 2013 at 10:57am

Oh wow, that's a unique and valuable perspective.  

The customer get's the shaft because nobody tracks results.  Therefore, excellence has no reward, only added cost, causing competitive disadvantage.  They typical race to the bottom in the desperate bid to stay "cost competitive".  

Until we start measuring results, the deliverable will remain crap and administrators will continue to attempt to "manage and regulate" quality. 

Unfortunately history proves that regulating quality means what you get tends to hover around the line of "worst quality allowed". 

Did you give any thought to the ranking I proposed?  How it might change incentive to performing the best possible work, rather than the worst allowable?  

Comment by Andy Simms on April 3, 2013 at 10:30am

Hi, in response to your comment, I am a QA inspector for a utility program and we are not allowed to talk to the owner of the home regarding our inspection results. The utility's are more interested in the number of jobs completed then the quality of the work and they are afraid that if they come down on the big HVAC contractors that are doing the lions share of the work, they will leave the program. So my comments are more out of frustration then solutions, sorry 

Comment by tedkidd on April 3, 2013 at 9:55am

Andy,

Let me know if you can see this perspective - 

If the incentive to do shoddy work is greater than the disincentive, shoddy work will continue to be the norm.  

If the ability to differentiate quality does not exist, people make decisions on price.  Ironically this tends to create a lot of pressure to cut corners on quality.  

The idea you can "root out" a systemic problems by painting a few players, on the playing field they did not create, as being "bad" seems fantasy.  

How about instead simply measuring results.  Making results public.  Allowing contractors to be rewarded for "better" by having higher ranking changes the playing field.  It rewards the little extra effort instead of rewarding avoidance of that effort.  

For more on this idea, check this out: http://bit.ly/febcontractorupdate

Comment by Andy Simms on April 3, 2013 at 9:40am

Hi Andrew, sorry to say that the work that you discovered in the attic pull down stairs is not that uncommon in the weatherization programs. When there is a financial incentive given to homeowners for energy upgrades every tom dick and harry becomes a home performance contractor. The program that was to help homeowners save energy, provide better comfort and air quality is being turned into a rebate program by these opportunist. We as home performance professionals need to expose the hypocrisy of these so called contractors and for the sake of the industry root them out like the weeds that they are. 

I hope I was not being to strong in my wording? 

Comment by tedkidd on April 2, 2013 at 2:55pm

Norm.  Norman.  Normal. 

People tend to call their work "the best".  Unfortunately, without tracking or accountability, while it may be "the best", it still has a tendency to be terrible. 

We need to track energy results and turn results into a competition.  Then, not only will there be reward and recognition for "the best", there will be DISincentive for this crap.  

Comment by Andrew Aliferis on April 2, 2013 at 2:50pm

This is what weatherization is looking like on jobs I audited for a local utility. This passes for a Pull down stairs cover. It's a single piece of thermax with huge gaps where it sits on the osb. The contractor got paid $350 to do this. The job passed because no one ever looked at it until I did a couple of days ago. My question to anyone willing to answer; for the past 4 years, from what I've seen, this is what utility programs are passing off as work, it this an anomaly or the norm?

Comment by Doug Krahl on March 31, 2013 at 9:36pm

Oops they must have run out of disposable foam can from the big box stores. Let along blower door for conformation of air seal or CAZ test.

Comment by Doug Krahl on March 31, 2013 at 9:28pm

Client had a window/weatherization company do a FREE energy audit with only a laser thermometer in their toolbox. They promised a 50% reduction in energy savings with this type of air sealing in rim joist. Did nothing with the attic or address the whole house box fan. I’ll be adding more Pixs soon.

Comment by Kent Mitchell on March 25, 2013 at 6:34pm

Wood is good!  More wood is even better!!! :D

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