It’s been a year in the making, but it’s finally done! We partnered with the Department of Energy last year to become the first home inspection software to include the ability to generate home energy scores. It’s taken a year of coding and testing but we’ve finally cleared all their tests and have the software certified so that all Home Inspector Pro users can enter the scores directly in Home Inspector Pro.
Version 4.5 of HIP will be in beta for a couple more days and then publicly released. If you’d like to test it out now, let me know.
Why bother?
Generate an official Department of Energy report for your clients
Generate more revenue from your inspections!
Data from your HIP inspection pre-populates part of the form to save you time!
USP - Unique Selling Point. Stand out from your competition
Score fields are being added to MLS Listings in CA, CO, MO, AL, AR, AK, IL, DC, VT, NH, RI and other areas
Will be in MLS nationwide by 2017/18
Buyers can get a larger FHA loan with a score of 6, or include the upgrades to get a 6 in their loan
InterNACHI is helping their members become Department of Energy Assessors which is awesome!
Start the process NOW of being an Energy Score Assessor and contact Michelle Thakur via InterNACHI at michelle@internachi.org to become qualified and participate in the Home Energy Score national program.
There are no costs or fees for qualified inspectors to participate in this program.
To become a Home Energy Score Assessor with InterNACHI’s help, an individual must:
be a member of InterNACHI;
be a Home Energy Inspector (free & online for members);
complete the 3D-house training (free & online for members); and
participate in a Quality Assurance Program with other inspectors (free for members). InterNACHI staff will assist members in the program.
Chris, that’s only if you’re following the path to have InterNACHI help you, which is the only complete inspector related path right now.
Basically, DOE rules are you must be a member of a qualified inspector organization which also includes ASHI and CREIA. Neither of those associations are quality control partners with the DOE yet though. Only InterNACHI has partnered with the DOE for that. So technically you can fulfill the membership requirement through another association but the quality assurance would have to be through InterNACHI, BPI, etc. We are working on something with the DOE to help make this process even easier along with InterNACHI’s help as well.
While Homegauge is busy working on their “Secret Weapon” that equates to something to make the REALTOR happy, HIP is over here making improvements that are practical and beneficial to the HOME INSPECTOR.
I don’t own HIP, but I must say this is impressive and certainly in the right direction. Good job!
Thanks Joshua, I appreciate the compliment! It took a heck of a lot of work to get done but we’re super excited about it. I’ll be giving a talk with the Department of Energy at the InspectionWorld conference next week and working with them to make the process even easier for inspectors.
That’s cool.
I finished the education requirements with Internachi last year and have the DOE materials. This may be a wonderful thing for some inspectors.
Pleasant surprise to hear HIP is onboard with that. I think the more you can offer the better you will do.
An individual interested in becoming a Home Energy Score Assessor must choose a partner to work with. InterNACHI is one of those listed that provides everything you need to become an Assessor and work within a program that includes a QA plan (a DOE requirement).
That is accurate. To become a Home Energy Score Assessor, you have to choose a DOE partner to work under. If you choose InterNACHI, you must be a member of InterNACHI.
Alright, whose ready to start testing out HIP 4.5.1? We’ve had beta testers using it for the last week but I wanted to get a few more guys in there before making it public in the next day or so. Let me know!
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