[MEL]

Has anyone taken a BPI course?
Anyone do just blower door testing?
Im curious and looking to see if you guys stay busy doing it or not.

BPI Certification

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Hey brush. I got my cert. in 2013. First of all it was an extremely difficult certification to pass. I did some training/class work at Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn.. passed the testing with if I remember correctly a 92%. We had 16 in the class and if memory serves me, me and one other guy passed. all others failed.
I worked for a company who was a contractor for several utilities including DTE and Consumers so they paid for my additional training. Keep in mind I was already a licensed builder and certified home inspector.
Once I got my certification I went out and started looking for a job. Wasn’t much out there. Mostly with insulation contractors and contractors who did
contract work with the utilities. That was no good as the pay was bad and they will often loose their three year contracts, then lay you off. Did that since like 2010. Got old fast. Everyone says they want you to work for them, then only pay $20. Hr and you use your blower door and thermal camera
So if you do get certification and catch on with a good well paying company, good for you. I stuck it out as an inspector, made better moneyand tried to do some part time energy audits but wasn’t worth the effort. I’m in south Oakland county so right in the middle of the population center. I imagine if your not in this area then you have a much smaller base.
I think perhaps part time would be the way to go if you have contacts or a related job.

BPI. Once you pass and pay your money your certified. Then they demand you take and pass additional work to keep up to date. You have to have x amount of add training and pay some more to keep current. It’s not like once your certified you keep your certification, nope. Keep certifying, keep sending money.

 

[MEL]

I'm mainly looking for a part time gig when I retire. Thinking of blower door testing and home inspections to pay for my AK trips.

who’s your customer base? Why would someone want a blower door test? Where are your customers coming from? Will you advertis? where?
what area do you live in/ service?
Only blower door test? No thermal imaging cameras? No smoke sticks? When you do a blower door for someone what do you hope to accomplish for them? What do you do with the results?
a blower door test will tell how much air is leaving a conditioned space. It won’t tell why or where. So what good is the information if you can provide a Solution? Now a thermal imaging camera comes in to play. And smoke sticks to use during the testing. Are you able to fully access and inspect attics? If you can’t do an attic “properly” then no need to even think about it. How about crawl spaces. Yep, really need to get down and dirty in a crawl.
Building science and recent energy codes. Up to date on those?

 

[MEL]

How much are they getting to do that up there? I had a guy want me to do some for his company down here but the money just wasn’t worth it. I went in another direction.

 

[MEL]

I hear reports of 350 per test

You hear reports of $350. I’d suggest doing some homework and talking directly with some home builders in the area you wish to service and talk directly to them what they pay and what they are willing to pay. If $350. Let me know, I’ll blow the dust off my certification and get a new system and be right up.

 

[MEL]

If I remember correctly mine was like 2,500.00 complete. It’s was just a basic model. But it does what you need it to do. You can go up to 3500., 5.000 and higher depending on what bells and whistles you want.
the BPI certification was I think around $300. Class work at HFCC Dearborn was another $300. I think. This was in 2012/2013 so prices im sure will be changed.

Personally, I’d never take what a inspector tells me before I make that commitment. Unless dropping 3grand and a semester or two at Northwest Michigan College for course work dosent bother you. I’d check with those who would be paying me before I did that. Find out who your builders in the area you want to cover and get hold of a couple, few and ask them straight up What’s the real rate and would/could they use another energy Auditor or is it “crowded”.
if it’s a small, select few builders and one or two guys are getting the action, when you become involved and start taking a piece of the pie, prepare for that 350. Per to start going down.