Home Energy Assessment & DOE Home Energy Score · Bay Area

What it is

The DOE Home Energy Score is a national rating, 1 to 10, that tells you how efficient your home is and what it would take to improve it. Think of it as a miles-per-gallon number for a house. A one-hour walkthrough produces the score, a written report, and a ranked list of upgrades by impact and rough cost.

I run the audit myself. We are set up to deliver the Home Energy Score, and we work with BayREN, the regional program that backs this audit for Bay Area homeowners. When a BayREN cycle is funded, the score is usually covered or heavily discounted. We confirm what is actually paying before we book, so you are never guessing about cost.

What the walkthrough covers

The audit is non-invasive. Nothing gets opened up, nothing gets cut. In about an hour I walk the home and record the things that drive your energy use:

• Building envelope: insulation levels, windows, and the air-leakage paths that let conditioned air escape.
• Ducts: condition, connection, and leakage, which is where a lot of Bay Area homes quietly lose a third of their heating and cooling.
• HVAC condition: the age, type, and state of the furnace, AC, or heat pump, and whether it is sized and running right.
• Combustion safety: on gas furnaces and water heaters, a check that nothing is back-drafting carbon monoxide into the house.
• Water heating and major loads: the rest of the picture the DOE scoring tool needs.

Thermal imaging is a handheld camera that reads surface temperature to find missing insulation and leaks. A blower-door test is optional and pressurizes the house for a few minutes with a calibrated fan in a doorway. The score and the written recommendations land in your inbox within a couple of days.

Rebates we help you reach

The reason the audit matters is that it unlocks money. We work with BayREN, MCE, PG&E, and EBCE/Ava, plus manufacturer instant-rebate programs on equipment. Eligibility, amounts, and program funding change through the year and depend on your utility territory, so we do not quote a dollar figure off a webpage. We confirm what is actually paying when we write your estimate, and we file the paperwork.

If the score points to HVAC upgrades, we can scope and quote those directly: a right-sized heat pump, duct sealing, a furnace replacement. Insulation and weatherization items go to a specialty contractor, and there is no obligation to do any of the work to keep your score.

Who it helps

Sellers add a recent score to the MLS listing so buyers see a verified efficiency number instead of a guess. Owners use it to spend the upgrade budget where it actually moves the bill, not where a salesperson points. We often run the audit on the same visit as a quote or a seasonal tune-up when it makes sense, so you are not paying for two trips.

Our HVAC division

Energy work and HVAC installation run through our division, Bay Area HVAC Service, with full Manual J load calculations and Title 24 documentation. Same owner, same EPA and CSLB credentials, same technician.