The Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) announced that 2017 broke the record for the number of homes HERS rated in a year. RESNET's executive director noted that "home builders are increasingly seeing energy efficiency as a major selling point for buying a new home. To take advantage of this opportunity, builders across the nation are presenting their homes' energy performance in a way that every home buyer can understand, the home's HERS Index Score."[1]
Both RESNET and RunBrook expect the growth of HERS rated homes to continue. RunBrook is based in Florida, which is the state with the third highest number of homes receiving a HERS Index in 2017. Texas is the leading state, with Arizona in second place. From 2016 to 2017, the number of ratings in Florida increased by 28%, which appears to be the highest rate of growth for any state in the US.
Consumer demand for energy efficient homes is the main factor behind the growth of HERS ratings. Home Builders are readying themselves to meet this consumer demand, stay ahead of the competition, and meet regulatory or other building requirements. At the same time, builders are looking for innovative ways to market energy efficiency to potential home buyers. These marketing efforts will often include making homes' HERS Index scores available to buyers, along with materials explaining the score and the home's energy-saving features. Sales teams also need to be ready to address energy efficiency.
For multifamily and production home builders handling a large number of homes, it is important to work with HERS raters that understand their needs. To better serve this market, RunBrook:
- has efficient processes so that customers receive scores quickly,
- makes scores and other materials easily accessible to a customer's team for sales and other purposes, and
- is skilled at translating building science into value propositions easily understood by realtors, sales teams, and home buyers.
RunBrook has also written A Residential Builder's Guide to Working with HERS Raters, to help builders obtain the most value from their HERS raters.
RunBrook's HERS raters are certified and have years of experience in building science and energy efficiency. In addition, our company helps builders obtain the most value out of HERS by providing marketing and training assistance, as well as quick and easy access to HERS score data. RunBrook's consultants, energy modeling professionals, certified energy raters and field inspectors add more value per square foot by optimizing the sustainable design and construction process. For more information, visit: www.runbrook.com.
[1] Record Number of Homes HERS RAted in 2017; Over 227,000 Homes HERS Rated, http://www.resnet.us/blog/record-number-of-homes-hers-rated-in-2017-over-227000-homes-hers-rated/, January 9, 2018