Home Energy Medics

Home Energy Medics sent David to perform an audit of our home's energy consumption and to identify potential areas for improvement. He spent a full day testing the various systems, including HVAC, combustion appliances, air leakage, and other items in order to diagnose energy waste/safety issues. He was incredibly thorough and allowed me to ask as many questions as I wished; it was a good general education for me as the homeowner. The final report, delivered a few weeks later, was detailed, easy to understand, and included clear and prioritized recommendations. David came back and spend another hour and half with us to walk us through this report and addressed all of our questions. We have contracted with Home Energy Medics to perform much of the recommended remediation work and look forward to seeing the results. UPDATE: We contracted with HEM to address some of our insulation problems as identified during the previous audit. Attilio from HEM was the project manager and did a fantastic job coordinating with us on the work. He was extremely responsive and texted updates throughout each day on the job so we knew exactly what was happening. Attilio also worked closely with us to ensure that work was completed on schedule as we needed to be out of the house for application of the spray foam insulation. The total work included: removal of old insulation under two room additions and replacement with closed-cell spray foam; removal of attic insulation and replacement with new cellulose and spray foam; and, installation of a low-level CO2 monitor. Attilio then came back a week later to complete a blower door test (to measure the change in airflow after remediation) and the reduction was in line with the original estimate provided by David during the audit phase. Attilio has since gone the extra mile and followed up with us to see if we've noticed a change in feel for the better (we have!) and to answer any follow-up questions. I highly recommend HEM for your home energy audit and remediation needs!

They did an energy audit on the house, which revealed insulation needs and air leakage issues that they then offered to provide the services to fix those problems. That's where I got into some insulation work. I've already recommended it to a neighbor, who is taking them up on it.

When I first called, the office manager, Diane Sharp, was very friendly, explained the audit procedures and about the company, and helped me schedule the audit. The timing of the audit fit perfectly in our schedule. She followed up by email with the paperwork she promised that helped us prepare for what to expect during the audit, provided forms for us to complete ahead of time and answered our questions about the process. David was thorough and knowledgeable. His initial discussion with us along with the audit took about 7 hours. He started with a detailed review of the intake form we had completed in advance, ensuring he addressed all of our concerns, needs and comments about the home. David listened to us. We felt that everyone was on the same page from the start. That was important to us. The audit could then be tailored to those items we highlighted. Of course, David also remained objective so as to measure other aspects of our home and point out things that we could not necessarily see or had not known (or even thought about) prior to his visit. David kept us in-the-loop throughout the audit, telling us what he was going to be doing or which area/s he would be focusing on next. He showed us pictures and measurements he was taking and told us what they meant. We were glad to be involved. The exchanges were helpful in us better understanding our home as well as being prepared for what to expect in the report. There was complete accountability and transparency during the audit. He even vacuumed up some insulation that got on the carpet from opening our attic hatch and brought in a package dropped off at the front door that he noticed was out there when he had to go to his vehicle for more equipment. Very nice! We received a preview report by email and then ultimately met with David in-person at our home, to review the entire audit report. It was comprehensive. It had great photos, visuals, quantifiable information and recommendations for improvements as well as how much they would cost. It was exactly what we had hoped to receive in terms of the description regarding the audit results, broken down and prioritized. David's report covered how to make our home more safe, healthy, comfortable, energy efficient and just plain better. We appreciated the great customer service that David provided and his clear explanations of technical items. You can tell that David really enjoys his job and has an eye for detail. He scanned our home thoroughly and provided an expert perspective. The audit, report and auditor expertise were well worth the cost. We feel that we received a great value. We would highly recommend that other homeowners use Home Energy Medics to get a full home energy audit done. If your intuition tells you that things are wrong with your home (ours did!) and that things could be better, find out for sure so you can make an informed decision and don't have to keep living and putting up with inadequate conditions. After living in our house for over 5 years, we knew that key improvements could be made to enhance our comfort in our home, but we didn't know what our problems were specifically. David diagnosed them, gave us the evidence and a plan to handle them. We have scheduled Home Energy Medics to complete the work that was recommended to fix our problem areas. We can't wait to feel the difference! Once this work is complete and a few months have gone by, we'll need to post again about the results.

The tech was very professional and on time. he went over exactly what he was going to look for in regards to the Home Energy audit. The audit took a number of hours and was very through. A few days later I received my energy report and ws ciompletely impressed. There were a number of areas in my house that really need to be addressed. The Flir heat sensor gun he used pin pointed my main issues. i am getting ready for the winter.

I cannot say enough about the quality of the work done and the skill and professionalism of the staff. They are truly superb and extremely knowledgeable but do not laud it over those of us for whom this is not our business! They are so patient with questions and addressing challenges, they even followed up with an estimate for an alternative solution and did this on Sunday! These are truly folks of the highest quality and I cannot say enough about them. Truly A++!

We moved into a three floor townhouse in November, and throughout the Winter we discovered certain rooms on all three levels were too cold. Despite a warm setting on the thermostat, the white wine in our wine rack in the north corner of the basement was fully chilled without even putting it in the fridge. Home Energy Medics provided thorough inspection, testing and remediation work that solved our problems. They were professional, timely and even stopped by to address some follow up questions several months after the work had been completed.

Attic foam is quite toxic, but they handled it professionally and did a thorough job, then Lauren tested everything.

Our experience working with Home Energy Medics was fantastic. The initial energy audit of our condo was impressively thorough, and Scott, the owner of the company and auditor for our job, was always willing to stop and answer our questions as he identified new leaks and easy fixes to increase energy efficiency. Following the more than 5 hour audit, Scott produced a detailed report that included a clear description of the process used in the audit, the volume of air we were heating/cooling relative to the volume expected for a home our size, a comprehensive list of leaks in the house, and an itemized list of the repairs that would be necessary to seal the house. Following the audit, we opted to move forward with selected repairs from the list provide. Scott and a partner then quickly turned around the repairs on our condo within a few days. Their work was exemplary. We were especially impressed with the work done to improve the air flow from our bathroom fan. This piece of the job turned out to be much more complicated then originally assessed, and required significant time and effort to both figure out how to fix the problem and then see it through. This single repair took most of the first day of work, and was out of the original contract scope. However, we were only charged a small additional fee to cover the cost of the dry wall repair. This one example is representative of the attention to detail Scott and his team kept throughout the process. Once the repairs were completed, Home Energy Medics repeated the blower door test to determine the reduction in air flow into the house. Unfortunately, the test revealed that a previously unknown source of air leaking into the utility room of the house. After determining what would be needed to fix this new leak, Scott immediately offered to make the repair at no additional cost to us. When one of his team came make the repair, he discovered the problem required significantly more work to repair than originally thought (and at a cost to Home Energy Medics nearly 4 times the original estimate). However, rather than pass the entire cost on to us, he generously offered to split the difference with us. Following this repair, the blower door test showed a reduction in air leakage of more than 50%! Over the next few years this should easily lead to savings in excess of the cost of the repairs, while helping to set our condo apart from those in our neighborhood. In summary, we could not be happier with the experience we had with Scott and Home Energy Medics. They were extremely professional, courteous, and detail oriented. The work completed was of very high quality, and they easily met, if not exceed, their goals of improving the efficiency of our condo through a combination of easy fixes (low flow faucets, water heater insulation, etc.) and more extensive repairs to seal our home. I would recommend Home Energy Medics to anyone looking to reduce their energy costs and improve the air quality in their home.

I liked how they explained everything the day of the audit. They had instruments that showed where energy was leaking. They did a thorough job. However, I found their cost estimates to fix everything (over $14K, too high to proceed.) I later spoke with someone from LEAP (Local Energy Assistance Program) who came out to the house and determined that a vent sealing that I had paid for the previous summer had not actually been done properly. I then called company who supposedly did the sealing and they came over, agreed that they had not done the job, and immediately redid it. This has been big help in stopping the energy loss found by Home Energy Medics. If it had not been for Home Energy Medics finding the substantial energy leakages, I probably would have never known that the vent sealing had not been done properly. I have recommended them to others.

We hired Home Energy Medics to preform an energy audit of our home after our pipes froze in during the polar vortex. There was also a huge temperature discrepancy between the first and second floors, the upstairs was much warmer than the ground floor. Preston conducted our energy audit and served as the project coordinator. He was very responsive to our emails and calls. The repairs were completed in a timely manner and the contractors brought in preformed quality work and cleaned up after themselves. At the end of our project, a senior contractor came through the house with Preston and pointed out issues (undersized duct-work) that were not addressed in the audit or included on the list of suggested repairs. We were upset that this was dropped on us at the end and felt like a senior staff member should have consulted with us about this development. It has been about a year since the project was completed and we are happy to report that the temperature discrepancy in our home has been greatly reduced. Our energy bills have also decreased notably and we have not had our pipes freeze again.

We are planning to use HEM to do the work to make our home more comfortable.

Home Energy Medics auditor was excellent, a wealth of information on potential issues, and other things I didnt need to worry about. Some issues located, but they prioritized them and also suggested which I could do myself if I wanted to save some money.

My wife and I moved into our home a little over a year ago. Last winter we noticed that several rooms were very drafty and during the coldest month our heating bill exceeded $300. We contacted Home Energy Medics hoping to identify ways to improve the comfort of our home and potentially reduce our energy bill. They were able to schedule the audit on the weekend which was great given my wife and I both work. Scott Donelson, company founder, performed the audit. He's got an engineering background and I think has been in this business for five years. As a first time home owner I was interested in following him around and learning. He was happy to have me tag along and to educate me on the details of the inspection, the tests that he was running, and the issues discovered as we encountered them. I was impressed with how thorough a job Home Energy Medics did and all the testing equipment used throughout the process. I was suprised to learn that we had a small gas leak and a leaky water heater, things that need to be addressed immediately. It was very apparent that the company brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the job and I was comfortable that the issues identified and recommendations made were not subjective, but based on imperical data. With the onsite portion of the audit complete, the next step is for them to prepare a detailed report of the issues and recommendations. Based on our budget, Scott said he can help us prioritize our options. We've had a great experience with Home Energy Medics thus far and would defintely recommend them to our friends. Will try to update this post if additional work is performed.

We started with an energy audit. Lauren performed the audit. She explained everything as she was performing the audit. She compiled the results and emailed it to us. Later she came to explain it and gave her recommendations and other options. She helped prioritize items. We later selected the projects we wanted. We used their company to provide the services. They got the permits. They arrived when they said they would and completed when expected. They were very professional. Lauren came back for the final inspection to make sure that everything was up to their standards. The only thing that I didn't like was the smell when the insulation was installed. She warned us beforehand, so it wasn't a surprise. The insulation we chose is installed in two steps. After each step you have to stay out of the house for 24 hours. They provided a good exhaust to ventilate the house and remove the smell. After the insulation was installed, the first day we kept the thermostat set at the regular setting. Even though the outside temperature was higher, inside was noticeable cooler. We were able to turn up the setting right away. Yes, we are very happy.

Great! Lauren was knowledgeable, willing to listen, thorough, and took several hours to complete the house inspection. Not only do they perform audits, but are able to perform the work based on the audit. Lauren took her time and was very thorough in performing the audit. She came with an infrared camera and offered us advice on energy efficiency. They took two weeks to do the report, but it was very thorough. The review of the audit pointed out several areas that could be improved to reduce energy use, safety and comfort. Unfortunately we could not afford the overall project at this time, but Lauren was understanding and willing to be patient with us until we're able to do so. Regards to the audit, I would say in this case you get what you pay for... a good value for a quality report.

Along with the professionalism and quality of their work, we also valued the time and energy both Scott and Lauren spent with us to explain what they were doing, to answer any questions we had, and to give us feedback upon completion of their work. We were out of town when work was done and Lauren gave us daily detailed reports of their progress, and presented us with options when problems arose. We really appreciated their attention to details and their concerted effort to educate us about our home. We are very happy with the quality of their work and have noticed a significant difference in the temperature and comfort of second floor following their work.

Lauren Kuhn managed these different projects expertly. She was knowledgeable, and offered sensible solutions to remedy the townhouse's severe insulation problems. In addition she was a pleasure to work with. The crews she managed were skilled and professional. Projects started on time and ended on budget. I would unreservedly and enthusiastically recommend Lauren Kuhn and Home Energy Medics.

Everything went really well and we would use them again! We primarily worked with Lauren and she was very honest, reliable and friendly, exactly the type of person you would want working in your home!

Lauren Kuhn, our project manager, did a fabulous job, as did Jose Chavez, and his crew, who did all of the reconstruction and electrical work. Lauren stayed on top of all of the energy-related subcontractors that had to be utilized given the extent of our work. I'm very detail oriented, and I have to say I couldn't have felt more comfortable having Lauren as our project manager. She went over the top to ensure that all of the things you never see, but are critical ? were done, and done correctly. If something wasn't to her standards, she had the subcontractor come back out and do it again. Jose directed and kept an eye on his immediate crew as well as the subcontractors he had to bring in to accomplish the reconstruction end of things. I trust him to do any job related to my house and know it will be done well. Given a house like ours, it was to be expected that there were a few issues that baffled all of us as things went on, or where something turned out to need tweeking after the fact. In every instance, HEM has been there when I've asked and immediately stepped up to the plate and resolved the issue. The only thing I am somewhat reluctant to give an opinion on is pricing ? and only because with a project my size, it was impossible to compare prices and so I can't say how their prices compare with other contractors. I knew that I was paying a premium over what I could have paid had I just hired the foam company directly for the portion of the work they did (which was the only thing I had other estimates on), but given the work that Lauren did to ensure that the subcontractors performed to such a high standard, and fixing anything they didn't do perfectly, and the work Jose and his crew did to facilitate all of the energy improvements (ceiling cut-outs and repair, etc.), I am happy that I had them in charge. If you are considering having any energy-related work done in your house - I feel confident you won't find anyone better than Home Energy Medics!

Dave Daly took his time and was very thorough in performing the audit. The review of the audit pointed out several areas that could be improved to reduce energy use, safety and comfort.

cleaned and sealed air ducts added insulation to the attic sealed soffits installed air barrier between house and garage sealed and added insulation around top of foundation wall installed two bathroom fans swapped out air registers We are very happy with Home Energy Medics. I would recommend them to anyone. Have them do a home energy audit before you replace your windows.

Details are pretty straight forward: Work crews came on time, took care to limit intrusion of dirt and movement of supplies and equipment, came and went on time, very pleasant folks. What made the work they did most valuable, in my view, was the meticulous attention the manager, Lauren Kuhn, gave, first, to acquaint me with the technical options we had to deal with the several problems we had, and then to make absolutely sure that the work was done properly. She even came back twice to correct or finish herself what had already been done. She also rigorously tested the effect of the work, both before and after. The work was not cheap. I'm sure I could have had someone simply blow new insulation into the attic and not bothered with sealing all the leakage - I was convinced of the need when I watched her scan our upper floor with an infra-red camera. In short, this was high quality work, and I believe we got what we paid for.

They came with an infrared camera and advice you on energy efficiency. They took two weeks to do the report.

I recently worked with Home Energy Medics (HEM) to do some pretty serious insulation work in my house. We live in a 4 story townhouse that had some renovation work done prior to my purchase that involved changing/re-routing some of the ductwork. The company that did the work clearly didn't know much about duct distribution or the potential side affects of making serious shifts/curves in AC/Heating ducts. The short version is that my recently renovated home had many issues with duct condensation on the interior of the house. The primary cause for this in addition to poor duct design was massive air leakage, specifically in the area between floors (the joist bands) and the new fireplace added during the renovations. This massive amount of leakage caused both cold air to infiltrate the house in the winter and more importantly - hot, humid air to infiltrate in the summer. This hot humid air would find its way to the interior of the house causing duct sweating in places where it should NEVER occur. The straw that broke the camel's back was a frozen/busted pipe on the interior of my house that was the result of cold air infiltration during the cold snap of January 2014. I first contacted HEM on a Thursday. Barbara was super nice and immediately scheduled her husband to come out two days later on Saturday to perform an audit. Scott arrived and quickly began a blower door analysis of our house and a full inspection of our home with an infrared camera along with other high tech tools. He found many problems during his time at our house and was still diagnosing issues 7 hours later. I don't think he had any intention of spending that long analyzing our issues on a Saturday but I think the problem ended up being larger than we thought. The final analysis indicated that I needed serious work done to seal not only the joist bands around the exterior of the house but also several other problem areas identified by the infrared scans. At the time, my wife was 8.5 months pregnant so we decided to move forward with the repairs ASAP to try and beat the birth of our child. HEM was super flexible about scheduling and they were able to get things started very quickly. The work was conducted in phases - Phase 1 was what I called the prep-phase - their crew came in and cut appropriate access points in all necessary places throughout the house. This involved a lot of prep-work on our part (moving furniture, etc...) but HEM was very flexible and understood that we can move only so much. Phase 2 was the "sealing" phase where they came in and used special material to form a complete air seal in all necessary places. Once phase 2 was complete they came back in with the blower door test to perform a quality assurance check ensuring that everything was sealed up as tight as they thought. Once the work was complete phase 3 involved repairing all of the drywall, etc where they had cut access points. Overall phases 1 and 2 were complete within 72 hours. The phase 3 repair work took a bit longer but that's the nature of repairing drywall - it takes time. The total amount of time was absolutely within their promised timeframe which worked out well since my wife ended up delivering our child early! Along the way, they found a few other small things that needed attention; In a couple of cases they just went ahead and took care of it at no charge (such as cleaning up my crawl space as a result of the aforementioned pipe break). In other cases, additional material was needed to complete the work and we worked together to complete appropriate change orders to incorporate the new things into the contract. All in all I felt extremely well informed throughout the whole process and I felt totally comfortable that my home was in good hands. The end result was a house that looks even better than it did before they did their work - they even repaired a few pre-existing dings in ceilings and walls at no extra charge. Much of the positivity of my review is due not only to Scott's initial time spent here but also the work, organization and attention to detail of our assigned project manager - Lauren. As is the case with any job of this nature, there are a lot of moving parts and we always felt like she had her eye on everything. She kept us informed throughout the entire process and made sure that the various pieces of the project were completed as promised. Both Lauren and Scott are clearly very passionate about their work and they believe in what they do. I absolutely recommend their services to anyone else having any sort of home energy issues - they eat, live and breath this stuff! Thanks again! PS - the only area where they did not get an absolute A+ is on price but to be honest this is one of the many cases in life where I believe that you get what you pay for. You can absolutely find someone to do it cheaper but I don't believe they would do as good of a job.

From the moment I called the office, I knew we were working with a unique and wonderful company. The co-owner Barb took a lot of time with me by phone and couldn't have been nicer about picking up where I'd left off six months prior with another company - specifically in taking a look at my previous energy audit and coming out to provide their own quote on the work. Home Energy Medics sent one of their auditors, Lauren, within a couple of days. Lauren was a joy to work with - clearly knowledgeable, very responsive by email or text, a great listener about our home's challenges, and explained everything in an easily understandable way and without any pressure whatsoever. Although Medics did not provide the cheapest quote we received, we had the most confidence in them based on these initial interactions, and were sure that their responsiveness mean that they would be easy to work with (not always the case with contractors, as we all know). They were also wiling to work with us to scope the project within our budget, and didn't blink when we decided that we would need to delay some items until later. As expected, Lauren provided a multi-day work plan and followed up in the days beforehand to confirm. She was also willing to accommodate my and my husband's work schedules (which meant completing the project over non-continuous days). When the work crew arrived, they were very careful to lay down plastic sheeting over everyplace that they might end up walking, which included two full flights of stairs, two hallways, and our bathrooms. Lauren was clearly acting as the crew chief and inspector, and she came in and out throughout the day as her bathroom fan and insulation contractors did their work. Though we couldn't really see the air sealing and insulation (it's very challenging to get up into the attic itself), the visible work - like moving the bathroom fans and repainting the ceilings - were done flawlessly. Even better, when it turned out that there was a minor snafu with the bathroom fans -- the contractor realized he would need to move them a couple feet to allow enough room for the new duct work -- we weren't charged anything extra. When it was all done, there was absolutely no question that the upstairs of our house is immensely cozier. We also don't have to worry about the bathroom mirrors fogging up when we take showers anymore - an unexpected and surprisingly rewarding bonus. We highly recommend Home Energy Medics and loved working with Lauren. In fact, we're now thinking about using our tax return for phase 2 of improving the comfort and energy efficiency of our home.