A high-performing home isn’t just energy efficient. It also protects your family’s health, provides quality indoor air, withstands weather-related complications, and maximizes comfort. The journey to high performance is different for every home and every homeowner. Some seek to make many small-to-medium upgrades over time, while others go for the biggest bang for their buck right away. Whether they’re starting a marathon or a sprint, what most homeowners find out sooner or later is that their homes are as unique as they are, which makes creating a plan — or even knowing where to start — a puzzle, to say the least.
To help homeowners find the starting line, Pearl Certification created the Pearl Home Investment PlanTM, or HIP, in our free award-winning Green Door app. Homeowners can utilize the HIP to identify home performance improvements from a list of customized recommendations based on existing home assets, plan the full performance journey (or journeys), and connect with Pearl Network Contractors for Pearl-certified installation. But there’s more to it than that.
Understand Your Home Performance Options
Before you can plan for home performance improvements, it’s critical to understand your own goals, what you’re already working with, and how much potential your unique home has for increased performance. Answering just a few questions about your home and your performance priorities enables HIP to identify energy-efficiency, air quality, temperature, cost-saving, and/or value-add upgrades for your residence. The more information you can provide about your home, the more specific the recommendations will be. You will likely receive multiple improvement suggestions — different paths to high performance — to choose from (or feel free to choose all).
Recommendations may include installing a new heat pump, an air filtration system, humidity monitoring and control, or smart home devices for maximizing operational efficiency. HIP will also provide the building science behind the recommendations, so you’ll have the total picture.
For example, based on the age of your home and R-value of the existing insulation in your attic, your HIP may include a recommendation to upgrade to insulation with an R-38, R-49, or, for stretch goals, R-60 to maximize comfort, air quality, and energy savings. HIP will also provide additional recommendations around air sealing and adding baffles. This is all available to you right in the recommended task.
Build Your Home Investment Plan
Ultimately, no one knows your home and your goals better than you do, which is why a Pearl HIP gives you a wide choice of recommendations across both Target and Stretch goals. You choose which tasks make the most sense for your goals, schedule, and budget. If you’re already working with a Pearl Network Contractor, they can provide their own recommended HIP, and you can choose to add one or all of those tasks to your own customized plan.
Planning to sell or refinance or simply want to increase the value of your home with a Silver, Gold, or Platinum Pearl Certification? Most HIP recommendations come with estimated potential Pearl Points, so you can plot your path to the next tier.
Connect with a Contractor
Once your plan is in place, it’s time to execute. Reconnect with your existing Pearl Network Contractor or find new ones right for you in Green Door. After installation, they’ll provide you with certification documentation, and you’ll start to see those Pearl Points accumulate.
You’ll also rest better knowing your home is now healthier and more efficient. Enjoy — until the next upgrade!
Get Your Roadmap to Home Performance
Begin your journey to a healthier, safer, more comfortable home by obtaining a Pearl Home Investment Plan tailored to your goals. Login to Green Door and click on the Home Investment Plan tab to obtain your roadmap to a high-performing home.
