BUILDING PERFORMANCE CONSULTING OF NY

If you are having a free home energy audit as part of the NYSERDA program, beware of this company!!
 
I contacted Howard at the end of Sept 2012 for a free home energy audit. I had initially called someone else to do the audit, but that contractor said he didn?t participate in the NYSERDA program and gave me Howard?s name. I checked the NYSERDA website to make sure that Howard?s company was approved to do the free home energy audit. Howard and I agreed on a date two weeks later, and he sent me some paperwork to complete ahead of time regarding appliances and lighting.
 
When he arrived, I gave him a copy of my letter from NYSERDA, approving me for the free home assessment. I told him that I was concerned about the need for more insulation in the basement and the extreme temperatures on the second floor (very humid in summer; very chilly in winter). I thought the audit went well, and he did a fairly good review of the house.
 
As we were wrapping-up. I said ?So, I guess we?re all set?? At that point, he caught me off guard by asking me to pay him for the audit. When I reminded him that this was supposed to be free, he told me that he wouldn?t be making much money from my situation because I didn't need a lot of work done. Although I felt extremely uncomfortable, I ended-up paying him the $150 that he asked for. By the way, he had me make the check out to himself, not his company.
  
Because I paid Howard, NYSERDA has no record of my audit. When NYSERDA sent me a reminder in the mail two months later about having a free home energy audit done, I decided to call and tell them that I was asked for payment. I don't want anyone else to be as dumb as I was and pay for something that is supposed to be free.
 
If you are having a free home energy audit as part of the NYSERDA program, I urge you to consider using a different company! If I wanted to pay someone to review the energy efficiency in my home, I would have gone with the initial contractor that I called prior to Howard, who would have done all of the work afterwards, too!

We knew there were issues with the heating system when we purchased our home 1.5 years ago. The 80-year-old oil GE boiler was original to the home and the house lacked insulation. I looked into the Green Jobs Green NY home energy audits and I went with Howard Vics after receiving a recommendation from our heating oil company. We couldn't have been happier.

Howard was on time and very professional. He used a infrared camera and showed us areas of the home that need more insulation. He recommended we go with a new high-efficiency gas boiler and water heater. We already had gas going to the house so it was an easy switch. Howard also helped with installing 2 bathroom fans. Since we were new to the area, Howard helped us find great contractors to perform all the work. He volunteered a lot of his time to interviewing companies and making sure the work was completed on time and in our budget. He even showed up early and helped me prepare the house for the insulation work. After all the work was completed, he came back and ran a blower door test. He also gave the house a final inspection and checked for carbon monoxide and air flow.

I am amazed with how much time he spent with me and the contractors during the install of the boiler and insulation. I am so happy with the contractors we went with and the attention Howard gave to the project. I've been telling everyone in need of an energy audit and/or heating systems about Howard. Our home is very comfortable now and the heating bills are much lower. Hiring Howard was the bet thing we've done for our home.

Very unpleasant experience. He rushed out of the assessment when he received a call from someone else who insisted he meet immediately. Mr. Vics was late in his delivery of the report which he was paid for in full, in advance. He only delivered the report after several calls and emails. There was always a very personal reason for not doing his job. He finally delivered what I considered to be an incomplete report. For example, during the inspection, he took infrared pictures to show heat loss/gain through-out the house. He followed each of the infrared pictures with a digital shot so they could be looked at together later. The report had a few of the infrared pictures without the matching digital, making them worthless and incomplete. I wanted to insulate based in part on those picture. I also asked for a digital version of the report. I was told that it could not be done.

Howard was prompt and thorough. He spent over 5 hours going over the entire house and was good at explaining both what he was doing and what results he expected. I felt that he took great care to be accurate and complete with his work so that the actual contractors would have good information when it came time to insulate the house.