TOPIC: NACHI Green Inspections

Does anyone here do any NACHI Green Inspections?  If so, how difficult and time consuming are they?  What do you charge in comparison to your normal inspection fees?

I know quite a few of the guys here do energy audits which is the same thing (basically).

Energy audits do essentially that.  I don't know what a "Green Inspection" is really.

Being "green" used to be common sense.  Now it is a fad, and soon a mandate.  Mo' money, mo' gubment control.

When I was a kid, we used to put plastic over our windows in winter, turn down the thermostat at night, fix or replace bad appliances, turn the lights out, not waste - now that's "green."

When there is a profit motive it will happen all over.  For example, aluminum has been recycled for over 100 years.  It is the most recycled thing we have.  Why?  Profit.

Asphalt is the same.  Copper the same.

Plastic bags?  No, <1%.  Cans?  No, <1%.  I look around my neighborhood at the recycle boxes on trash day.  Few people do it.  Why?  The trash company makes money collecting and turning it in (if they even do) but we don't.  When they make it worth our time and effort more of us will do it.

The earth has survived gigantic cataclysms - polar magnetics have shifted completely, huge comets have struck, daily, sometimes devastating, earth quakes, monstrous natural oil leaks deep in the oceans - you name it.  Turning in a few plastic bags, newspapers, aluminum cans, picking up dog poop - that's going to "save the planet?" 

Before energy audits came out, I used to do green inspections as a part of my regular home inspection.  It's common sense - you need to add insulation, replace the fridge, upgrade the AC, caulk, install a storm door and better windows, etc.  Now, people want to pay me to give them a computer print out that says the same thing!  OKAY!!  Pay me!!

Hey, maybe THAT'S why they call them GREEN inspections!!

Here is a link to the check list I am referring to.  www.moveincertified.com/download/greencertifiedchecklist.pdf

I am doing home inspections
Also IR Inspections
Also IR home inspection combo's

I thought about using this form to offer a fourth type of inspection.  A green inspection.  This would be me coming out, doing the check list for a nominal fee sending off the report to NACHI and they would send the owner a cert saying their house is level one or two green.  There is no report or fault finding on my part.  I'm not entirely sure I am going to do this yet.  Basically its a marketing tool.  Go out and say, hey I offer green inspections.  How green is your house?

John

How did you obtain your training for thermal and what type of camera are you using?

How can you do a quality energy inspection without using a blower door?

John
Green inspection is not an energy audit (as per say you don't use blowers or thermal cameras). You just verify the components of the home and assign points to it. You are looking to see if they are using the latest green technologies in manufacturing a home and in the appliances and lighting that they use.

Older homes you'll rip right through because you now they are not going to be built with engineered lumber, etc....The more green technology used the longer your inspection.

Bottom line is you are just verifying what claims are being made on the MLS listing.
I add $150 on top of my regular inspection and as a stand alone I charge $400. For the moment