I offer:
- assessments of existing homes owned or rented by you,
- advice on new-build projects,
- advice to people purchasing a home.
Home Assessments
What?
A typical full home assessment includes:
- Goals. A clear dialogue with you about your concerns, goals and budget;
- Inspection. I’ll go over your home in detail from top to bottom and try to help you see your own place through my expert eyes. This will include assessment to:
- Weak-link analysis. Identify the dominant pathways for uncontrolled heat flow in your home;
- Passive solar situation. Assess it’s current overall merit (or lack) in regards to passive solar configuration and potential;
- Heating and cooling. Assess the state of the heating and/or cooling systems;
- Hot water. Is your hot water up to scratch?
- Solar potential. What potential does you home have get rooftop solar PV?
- Energy bills. I’ll take a look at your energy bills to see if you’re paying a fair price from a quality retailer.
- Analysis and recommendations. I’ll give you a prioritised list of recommendations to improve your home. Where appropriate (depending on what I find) I would normally expect to:
- Draught-proofing. Fixing the draughts is usually the low-hanging fruit. I’ll identify issues with draughts and how to fix them;
- Insulation upgrade. I’ll assess the state of the insulation and describe recommend approaches to upgrade ceiling and underfloor insulation;
- Glazing upgrade. I’ll assess your home for its suitability for secondary glazing upgrade;
- Systems upgrade proposals. Where appropriate I’ll make recommendations for upgrade, installation or repair of heating, cooling and hot water. I’ll make suggestions about what to choose and, where appropriate, suggested providers.
- Declaration of interest. In regards suppliers, I’ll be completely up-front if and how I may have a vested interest;
- On-site review. Before I leave your place I’ll take you through my tentative findings;
- Report. I’ll prepare a report containing all this.
By prior agreement I’ll increase or reduce the scope as required to meet your needs and budget.
Where?
I’ll travel to you within Victoria to perform the assessment in your own home. Travel of more than two hours (return) will be charged extra.
How long?
Time with you in the home is normally 3- 5 hours. Then I’ll spend time as required to prepare the report etc.
How much?
Full assessment is $700. A charge for extended travel may be required depending on where you live. Shorter/cheaper assessments possible, depending on your circumstances.
New-build projects
What?
If you are working with a builder / designer / architect with the goal of a new build, then I can help you achieve improved results in regards to the new home’s performance in energy and comfort.
For best results, it is important to engage as early in the design process as possible to avoid locking in sub-optimal design decisions.
A typical engagement would involve two to three hours of my time:
- For me to review your stated goals and plans etc;
- To have a session via Zoom etc to go through the steps in achieving the best results and avoiding common problems.
If you like I can visit you on your land to get an enhanced sense of the the site and the project.
Another option is for me to prepare a spreadsheet model that to estimate energy and emissions associated with different build scenarios. This can be useful to help assess the relative impact of solar, hot water, passive improvements.
How much?
I charge $150 per hour for the consultation, plus time for travel as required.
Buying a home
What?
If you are buying an existing home, I can inspect and advise on likely issues with regards to energy performance of the premises.
How much
charge $150 per hour for the consultation, plus time for travel as required.
Contact
Contact me at richard@newenergythinking.com.