afkama
July 8th, 2010, 12:53 AM
There are several magazine subscriptions that I get each month.
I usually keep them in the bathroom and gradually work my way through them.
Remodeling is one.
Today I finally ran across an article in this month's issue titled:
Back to School
By Leah Thayer.
http://www.remodeling.hw.net/green-policy/back-to-school.aspx
The first quote is by The Paul.
“Certifications are as good as the organization that gives them out,” says Paul Lesieur of Silvertree Remodeling, in Minneapolis. “They hand them out like candy at Halloween at some places.” He makes no apologies for his many certifications, including CKBR and CAPS, “but the only one I display is EIEIO,” he says, referring to his just-for-kicks abbreviation for “Excellence in Everything I Offer.”
Yet even Lesieur, whose RemodelCrazy.com website specializes in poking fun at industry conventions, believes there’s a legitimate need for home performance certifications specifically. “As our industry moves forward, science should play a bigger role,” he says. “Building involves physics, math, and art — what a difficult group of sciences to master.”
On this, contrarian Lesieur is in the majority, at least among remodeling pros who know their way through a detailed home energy audit or a deep-energy retrofit.
What the hell.
Where have we failed.
The Paul and Remodel Crazy both being referred to in a way that makes them sound credible and dangerously close to mainstream. At the very least made to appear as if they are a relevant source of information.
I was a little disoriented by this. As I stumbled out of the bathroom my wife stopped me with a look of concern on her face. Or anyway I thought it was a look of concern.
"Get back in there and flush the toilet." she said.
I read a little further and then I run across this, which just capped it as far as I was concerned:
Making sense of it all is “confusing as all get-out,” says remodeler Sean Lintow of SLS Construction, in Cullman, Ala. Besides sorting out the pros and cons of the various certifications, different training providers (separate from the certifying organizations) have different fees and criteria.
Undeterred, Lintow sees home performance as a growth opportunity. So he is getting certifications from both BPI, which will teach him how to conduct energy audits and do performance work, and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), which will teach him how to model those homes based on their thermal characteristics.
His cost for becoming a RESNET Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rater alone will exceed $3,000. That includes $1,375 for 40 hours of classroom training through the Southface Energy Institute, a RESNET-accredited training provider, $900 or so for actual ratings in the presence of a trainer, and the better part of a week in an Atlanta hotel, at $160 a night. He’ll spend thousands more on the equipment for performing home energy audits and verifying the effectiveness of work. This equipment can include a blower door kit, gas combustion analyzer, moisture meter, and infrared camera.
On the bright side, as a BPI- and RESNET-trained expert, Lintow will stand out in his market for knowing how to use specialized energy-efficiency software to analyze homes and improve them to high-performance standards.
Has it really come to this?
Three RC members being quoted in one month in Remodeling?
First Holly, and then Paul and Sean.
And RC being mentioned by url as if we were to be taken seriously.
Have we become "Remodel Not really Crazy But Just Slightly Eccentric"?
My congratulations to both Paul and Sean.
And Leah.
In spite of it's consequences, it was a worthwhile read.
I usually keep them in the bathroom and gradually work my way through them.
Remodeling is one.
Today I finally ran across an article in this month's issue titled:
Back to School
By Leah Thayer.
http://www.remodeling.hw.net/green-policy/back-to-school.aspx
The first quote is by The Paul.
“Certifications are as good as the organization that gives them out,” says Paul Lesieur of Silvertree Remodeling, in Minneapolis. “They hand them out like candy at Halloween at some places.” He makes no apologies for his many certifications, including CKBR and CAPS, “but the only one I display is EIEIO,” he says, referring to his just-for-kicks abbreviation for “Excellence in Everything I Offer.”
Yet even Lesieur, whose RemodelCrazy.com website specializes in poking fun at industry conventions, believes there’s a legitimate need for home performance certifications specifically. “As our industry moves forward, science should play a bigger role,” he says. “Building involves physics, math, and art — what a difficult group of sciences to master.”
On this, contrarian Lesieur is in the majority, at least among remodeling pros who know their way through a detailed home energy audit or a deep-energy retrofit.
What the hell.
Where have we failed.
The Paul and Remodel Crazy both being referred to in a way that makes them sound credible and dangerously close to mainstream. At the very least made to appear as if they are a relevant source of information.
I was a little disoriented by this. As I stumbled out of the bathroom my wife stopped me with a look of concern on her face. Or anyway I thought it was a look of concern.
"Get back in there and flush the toilet." she said.
I read a little further and then I run across this, which just capped it as far as I was concerned:
Making sense of it all is “confusing as all get-out,” says remodeler Sean Lintow of SLS Construction, in Cullman, Ala. Besides sorting out the pros and cons of the various certifications, different training providers (separate from the certifying organizations) have different fees and criteria.
Undeterred, Lintow sees home performance as a growth opportunity. So he is getting certifications from both BPI, which will teach him how to conduct energy audits and do performance work, and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), which will teach him how to model those homes based on their thermal characteristics.
His cost for becoming a RESNET Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rater alone will exceed $3,000. That includes $1,375 for 40 hours of classroom training through the Southface Energy Institute, a RESNET-accredited training provider, $900 or so for actual ratings in the presence of a trainer, and the better part of a week in an Atlanta hotel, at $160 a night. He’ll spend thousands more on the equipment for performing home energy audits and verifying the effectiveness of work. This equipment can include a blower door kit, gas combustion analyzer, moisture meter, and infrared camera.
On the bright side, as a BPI- and RESNET-trained expert, Lintow will stand out in his market for knowing how to use specialized energy-efficiency software to analyze homes and improve them to high-performance standards.
Has it really come to this?
Three RC members being quoted in one month in Remodeling?
First Holly, and then Paul and Sean.
And RC being mentioned by url as if we were to be taken seriously.
Have we become "Remodel Not really Crazy But Just Slightly Eccentric"?
My congratulations to both Paul and Sean.
And Leah.
In spite of it's consequences, it was a worthwhile read.