These days, homeowners all over Northern California are looking for ways to improve the overall comfort and efficiency of their houses. In the HVAC industry, we call that a home’s performance. Some homeowners are doing it in response to skyrocketing energy costs, while others are looking to decrease their house’s carbon footprint as a way of slowing climate change. Still more want to increase their family’s comfort and provide a clean and healthy indoor environment for them. What many don’t know, however, is that there’s a dedicated certification system that can help homeowners measure their progress toward those goals. This is called Pearl Certification. As a certified Pearl Contractor, Environmental Heating & Air Solutions offers services aimed at helping homes achieve Pearl Certification. Here’s everything you need to know about the program and why it’s worth pursuing for your house.
What’s the Pearl Certification Program?
Pearl Certification is a home ratings program. You can think of it as a seal of approval that’s given only to high-performing houses. This includes properties that are energy-efficient and comfortable as well as those that support a healthy indoor environment. It’s aimed at helping homeowners make targeted upgrades to their residences that serve all of those goals simultaneously. As a homeowner, you can use the system as a useful measure of your house’s performance as well as proof that you’re making the best home upgrade investment choices for you and your family.
Within the system, every part of your house receives a score based on its performance toward the above-stated goals. For evaluation, the parts of your home get divided into five distinct categories:
- Building Shell – Includes walls, roof, windows, and foundation
- Heating and Cooling – Includes HVAC systems and other climate control systems
- Baseload – Includes all devices and appliances used in the home year-round
- Home Management – Includes smart devices like smart thermostats and energy usage dashboards
- Renewable Energy and Storage Systems – Includes solar panels, batteries, inverters, and EV chargers
To make the scoring system as useful as possible to homeowners, it’s weighted to reflect the real-world utility of your home’s components. For example, a house here in Northern California would receive a higher score for an ultra-efficient air conditioning system than a similar home in Michigan would get for the same system. That’s because the Pearl Certification program takes a holistic approach to home performance, weighting individual factors according to their contribution to the house’s total performance.
It’s also important to note that the quality of the installation work for your property’s assets matters, too. That’s where Environmental Heating & Air Solutions comes in. As a Pearl Contractor, we understand the exacting standards required for Pearl Certification and can perform work in your home that meets them. We’re also pre-vetted by the Pearl Certification program, so you know you’re working with a partner that performs high-quality work. That places us within the top 5% of all HVAC contractors in the whole of the United States.
Plus, we can work directly with the Peal Certification organization as you work to upgrade your property. We’ll handle the evaluation process and make sure your home receives the recognition it deserves after each upgrade. So, if you’re interested in earning a Pearl Certification for your house, we’d make an ideal service partner for you.
What Are the Pearl Certification Levels?
Another important aspect of the Pearl Certification program is that there are multiple certification levels your home can achieve. This means it’s not an all-or-nothing process. As you make incremental upgrades to your house, you can chart its overall progress as it reaches each of the four Pearl Certification levels, which are:
- Pearl Asset – Signifies a home with noteworthy high-performance individual systems
- Pearl Silver – Signifies a house with either an upgraded building shell or HVAC system compared to an average home
- Pearl Gold – Signifies a home with a high-performance building shell and HVAC system compared to the average house
- Pearl Platinum – Signifies a house with high-performing systems in at least four Pearl categories
The multiple levels of Pearl certification serve both as an inducement and a roadmap for homeowners like you to make targeted improvements in your house’s performance.
The Value of Pearl Certification
The most obvious benefit you get from owning a home with Pearl Certification is a more comfortable, healthy, and efficient household. It means you’ve provided the best indoor environment for your family and have done so in a way that’s environmentally friendly and cost-effective. However, that’s not the only benefit you’d get from a Pearl Certification.
A Pearl Certification is also an excellent way to increase the value of your home. As your most important asset, every major upgrade you invest in can increase its potential resale value. However, not every upgrade does so. Pearl Certified homes sell for an average of 5% higher than comparable houses without certification. The reason is that the upgrades that contribute to Pearl Certification levels represent tangible value because they’re features that homebuyers would want in a new house.
As Pearl Contractor, we can evaluate your property to create a home investment plan that includes certifiable upgrades. By mapping out such upgrades in advance, you can chart a path toward each Pearl Certification level. And you’ll know that you’re increasing your home’s potential resale value every step of the way.
On top of that, we’ll provide you with a Pearl Certification report that documents and details each upgrade. We provide those reports to the Pearl Certification organization, so they can update your house’s official record. You’ll also receive a copy of each report for your records.
Your Pearl Certification Partner
Now that you know how the Pearl Certification process works and how it can benefit your home, we’d bet you’d like to know where to get started. The experts here at Environmental Heating & Air Solutions can help you with that. We’ll evaluate your home to help you identify which parts of its performance need improvement. Then, we’ll help you design an upgrade plan that provides maximum benefit while remaining within your family’s budget.
The best news is that there’s virtually no aspect of your house we can’t help you with. We’ve served homeowners in the Northern California area with pride since 2010 with a complete range of high-quality services. We install, maintain, and repair HVAC systems, including the latest in heat pump technology. We also provide comprehensive plumbing services, including installing and servicing all kinds of water heaters. Plus, we offer air quality, insulation, and home automation services. In other words, if it can make your home more comfortable, efficient, and healthy, we can do it!
If you’re interested in finding out how to earn a Pearl Certification for your Northern California home, contact Environmental Heating & Air Solutions today.
