Turn Your High Performance Into Higher Value

Home Performance Rewards

“We now have world-class insulation, and we’re seeing substantial cost-savings, too. I’d estimate that the air-source heat pump alone has offset our reliance on the gas furnace, and the associated costs, by about 40%,” Patrick proudly reports. “At this point, we really only depend on the gas furnace during the dead of winter.”

No small accomplishment, particularly in light of the unique challenges that Maine poses from a home performance standpoint, which Patrick readily acknowledges.

“Maine is a really beautiful place to live, but it also has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, most of which is highly reliant on home heating oil,” Patrick explains, “and that can make the winters here exceptionally expensive for homeowners.”

Fortunately, though, as Patrick himself can attest, that’s starting to change. The state recently announced that it’s a full two years ahead of its goal of installing 100,000 new heat pumps by 2025, for example. Hopefully, what’s more, positive experiences like Patrick’s will help dispel the common misconception that heat pumps don’t operate efficiently in colder climates.

Looking ahead, he said, “I see a huge opportunity for homes in Maine and elsewhere to become much more energy efficient by taking advantage of local contractors, as well as public policies like tax credits and rebates. Personally, I’m happy to say, on behalf of my whole family, that we now feel like we have a much more comfortable and sustainable home to live in.”

Related Post: Is a Heat Pump Right for Your Home?

How Patrick Brought His Vision to Life

No man is an island, and Patrick, for his part, certainly wasn’t alone in bringing to life these initial home performance improvements. Specifically, help came in the form of tools and resources available for free on the Pearl app.

So far, Patrick says he’s primarily taken advantage of Pearl Points, a scoring system designed to help you recognize and track high-performing assets and energy-efficient home improvements. Think of it like a credit score — it translates directly to resale value, after all — reflecting the following asset categories:

• Building shell: insulation, air sealing, windows, and doors

• Heating and cooling: heating, cooling, and distribution systems

• Baseload: water heater, appliances, and lighting

• Home management: monitoring systems, controls, and planning

“The scoring system is sort of addictive,” Patrick says with a laugh. “By that, I mean it’s like the way you want to reach the next level in a video game.”

Reflecting on his experience so far, Patrick said, “A lot of my existing home assets were used and/or fairly old, so I’ve been really grateful to the team from Pearl for being so hands-on and responsive in helping me understand the value of each asset. I’ve been able to be much more strategic in mapping out my investments because of it.”

And for anyone considering undertaking similar projects on their own homes, Patrick had this to say: “Doing so will help you save on bills, for sure, but it can also become fun and a little bit of a hobby. Personally, I hope that, by making these and other improvements over the next decade or so, I can leave my kids — the next generation — in a position where they’ll not only save energy costs and live more sustainably, but also get to see a much higher appraisal value when the time comes, too.”

When homeowner Brian Griego set out to replace his two aging AC units, three or four different companies came out to provide an estimate. “Most of the places were just replacing like for like,” Griego said. His experience with Alex Williams, co-founder of Ideal Energy — a Pearl Contractor Network Partner — was different. “When Alex came out, he was very professional. He did air tests, checked square footage, and used his computer to run all sorts of information. He wasn’t just replacing like for like. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t paying too much for two AC units when I may only need one,” Griego said.

“Ideal Energy wanted to give me exactly what I needed for my house, and I was very impressed with that,” Griego said.

Williams suggested to Griego that he only really needed one AC unit–and that if he combined an updated cooling system with other energy efficiency measures, such as attic insulation, he could greatly reduce the cost of keeping his Phoenix home cool year-round. “The way he showed it, I was going to actually eliminate the problem that I was currently having, which was ridiculous electric bills in the summer because the cold air was escaping. The other places didn’t even mention insulation, but it makes sense. This was the main reason we went with [Williams and Ideal Energy],” Griego said.

During the walk-through and after the improvements were complete, Williams talked to Griego about Pearl Certification, explaining that, when marketed correctly, Pearl Certified homes can add 5% or more to a home’s sale price. Griego – who works as an environmental chemist for the City of Peoria, outside of Phoenix – was impressed by what he learned. “Pearl is really cool. It reminds me of a LEED certification, which I’m familiar with,” he said.

I’ve seen significant savings on monthly home energy costs.

Following the work, Griego’s home was certified by Ideal Energy as a Pearl Silver home. “Now I have a certificate to show how efficient my house is. This is something I’ll definitely bring up with my Realtor if I decide to sell my home,” Griego said.

Griego also expressed confidence in the longevity and quality of the home improvements because of Ideal Energy’s relationship with Pearl. But the real kicker is the added comfort and savings that Griego has already experienced as a result of working with Ideal Energy and Pearl. “I’ve been very pleased. No one likes to spend a ton of money for AC units, especially if it isn’t broken yet. But I knew I wanted to do it,” Griego said.

“Now, after these and many other improvements, I’ve seen significant savings on monthly home energy costs,” he says. “I brag about this [amount of savings] at work, and later people will come up to me and say, ‘Hey weren’t you talking about somebody you would recommend?’ And I tell them, ‘You should at least have Ideal Energy come out and give you a quote.’”