Sierra Green Builders

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s a new home owner with intentions to improve the energy efficiency of my older (1961) home, I felt lost. Prioritizing improvements when practically everything needs work is taunting. I found Paul's business on the general internet and he not only provided an excellent, high quality energy audit but orchestrated projects such as attic insulation, duct sealing, and crawl space improvement. He helped connect me to great painting services and to general contractors in the future. His audit left me with a good knowledge base with which to plan future projects. He is a great service provider and a really nice person too.

The test went very well, it was the follow up that lacked greatly! They were suppose to send us a detailed report and give us complete list of advise on what was reasonable to repair/ address. I tried to contact them a couple of times and only thing I was told was they would follow up with me shortly. It has been over a year and I have yet to hear from them!

When we bought our first home in fall of 2012, we knew we wanted an energy-efficient mortgage (EEM). Most lenders don't offer an EEM, but we lucked out with ours. With an EEM, an energy audit is scheduled and green upgrades to the home are recommended. The total cost of the upgrades are rolled into the mortgage, so you don't pay a dime up-front. Sierra Green Builders was selected to do the work. After we purchased the home, Sierra Green Builders coordinated with us over the following weeks and discussed the project in-depth. The home was severely lacking in insulation, which impacts your power bill. We were given an estimate and they were very flexible with any changes we wanted to make. Needless to say, we had a great experience with Paul, Travis, and the crew from SGB. They are very trustworthy. At the time of the work, we were still living in our former apartment down the street. We gave them full access to our new home, key and all, so they could arrive early in the morning before we got there. The work was done very quickly and professionally. Paul is so knowledgeable about energy-efficiency and will happily answer any questions you have. There are no stupid questions. One thing that caught me by surprise: he will talk you away from costly upgrades that you don't really need. That's rare. The upgrades have made such a huge difference. The home is so much more comfortable and our power bill has dropped significantly. They reduced the HERS rating enough to qualify the project for a $3,000 rebate from EnergyFit Nevada. We used that rebate to upgrade our entry doors, an installation that SGB helped coordinate. Paul has reached out to us since the work was completed to make sure we are satisfied and to check on the repairs.

I contacted Sierra Green Builders after reading positive reviews on Angie's List to discuss air sealing and improving my attic insulation in my 2800 SF attic which I knew had inadequate insulation and many gaps around pipes and holes from electrical work although the house was built ~2007. Paul Taylor (Sierra) responded and agreed to meet at my home. I also invited my HVAC company to attend, Dirk Roper of Fallon Heating & AC, so I would get a complete understanding of what best to do. I had already been working with Dirk to improve my HVAC in many areas. Paul explained that there was a rebate program available from HomeFree Nevada's EnergyFit program that I could probably take advantage of, depending on the outcome of an energy audit. Rob Ernst of Certified Structural Inspector www.homecsi.com was contacted by Paul to do an independent audit before and after Paul's work. Rob's audit was necessary in order to take part in the rebate program. Rob's audit determined that my house was already tight enough that I required mechanical ventilation to meet current standards and that I should increase my attic insulation. He also did some worst case ventilation testing for my gas water heater. Rob checked air leakage in many parts of the house including door, windows downlights , heat registers, etc.. Even though my house was already relatively tight I wanted it tighter because I knew there were some leaks when the wind blew which is rather often. The plan was to add R30 on top of what I already had for insulation. I wanted more insulation and eventually had ~R50 when all was said and done. Paul Taylor sent his crew of two to do the air sealing. They completed the work in one day using fire resistant foam sealant. Paul subcontracted the insulation work to Gale Products/Insulation. Paul had Travis, one of his team, work closely with Gale and I to make sure the insulation was exactly what I wanted. Rob's final audit showed a significant improvement in air sealing and he confirmed the amount of insulation.The blower door test showed that the fan required less than half the CFMs to depressurize the house - the air sealing really did its job. Adding a mechanical heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is now high on my list for 2013 - I want to control the air flow, not have it leak in where it wants to penetrate. Along the way, during this project, I had significant re-ducting and re-zoning work done by Fallon which is working out very nicely.. Sierra Green Builders/Paul Taylor & team gets a thumbs up for attentiveness, responsiveness (many emails and telephone calls answering my questions), follow thru all at a fair price. I do recommend them for this type of work.

They responded to my concerns quickly, and I was happy with their audit.

I recently had an energy audit done on my home (performed by an independent 3rd party) after which Paul Taylor of Sierra Green Builders, provided a detailed assessment of where energy was being wasted or could be improved to save on water, electrical and gas. I was provided detailed photos of all areas: attic, crawl space, appliances along with an air-leakage report during my initial meeting with SGB. Paul did a fantastic job of explaining the itemized report and summarized projected energy savings for various upgrades, some of which I was able to do myself. At no time did I feel pressured to commit to work; in fact, he encouraged me to do some on-line research of any upgrades I might be considering and take time to decide if the investment made sense given the time I expected to remain in the house. After doing some homework and reviewing price estimates, I hired SGB to seal the crawl space under the house, insulate the attic and garage. I could not have been happier with their work! The entire job took 4 full days during which time the entire crew was always prompt, hardworking and extremely professional. Following completion of the work, they brought back in the 3rd party auditor to inspect the house and do a re-check of energy leakage (I also have photos of work performed for my records). Turns out SGB did such a great job, my 18yr old house is now matching the energy codes for newly built homes. My energy savings is going to be well over 30% for which I'm thrilled! I highly recommend their services :)

The service was prompt and excellent. It took approximately 2 weeks to complete all the improvements, and Sierra Green Builders was very accommodating to my schedule and needs. Sierra Green Builders also identified a $1000 rebate I was eligible for!