Home Renovation FAQs by Category

Is my home eligible for rebates or an EnerGuide home evaluation?

To access rebates through the CleanBC Better Homes and Home Renovation Rebate Program, or to have an EnerGuide home evaluation completed, your home must meet the eligibility criteria outlined below.

CleanBC Better Homes and Home Renovation Rebate Program

To be eligible for this rebate program, homes must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Be connected with a current residential utility service account to FortisBC and/or BC Hydro. Electrically heated homes served by local municipal utilities within the service territories of BC Hydro or FortisBC (electricity) are also eligible.
  • Home must be a year-round primary residence that is at least 12 months old, and one of the following types of residential buildings:
    • single family home (detached dwelling);
    • secondary suite in a single-family home (detached dwelling); the home and secondary suite must be individually metered;
    • mobile home that is permanently fixed, sits on a foundation and is structurally complete with installed and connected plumbing, heating, electrical, water and sewer services towing  apparatus and axle must be removed;
    • duplex, triplex, row home or townhome, where each unit has its own natural gas and/or electricity meter. Utility accounts must be in the name of the resident and/or homeowner; utility accounts in the name of a strata corporation are not eligible.

Please note: Multi-unit residential buildings (such as high-rises and apartment buildings), vacation homes or premises that are not year-round primary residences, garages, workshops, and out buildings are not eligible for the CleanBC Better Homes and Home Renovation Rebate Program.  See full Program Requirements for details.

EnerGuide Home Evaluation

To be eligible for an EnerGuide evaluation for existing homes, your home must be one of the following home types:

  • single family detached
  • semi-detached
  • row home or town home
  • mobile home on a permanent foundation
  • permanently moored float home

A home must also be in an ‘eligible state’, which means that:

  • The building is resting on a permanent foundation(s) or is a permanently moored float home.
  • There is a space heating system in place at the time of the evaluation that is capable (or was, in the case of a heating system failure) of keeping the interior living space at 21 degrees Celsius.
  • The envelope is intact, including the exposed ceilings, exterior walls, exposed floors, windows and doors, and interior and exterior finishes (e.g., drywall, and exterior siding).
  • Up to one window or door unit can be missing as long as it is temporarily air sealed (e.g., covered with plywood with seams and edges sealed with caulking). Any broken window panes must also be air sealed (e.g., with taped polyethylene) for the duration of the blower door test. If the temporary air sealing fails during the blower door test, the building will be considered ineligible.
  • Any renovations underway only affect interior partitions of the dwelling and do not perforate the building envelope.
  • There must be a supply of standard AC electrical power available. If power is not available from a utility, the homeowner must come to an agreement with the service organization about arranging for a suitable power supply to operate the blower door test equipment.

For more information on eligibility requirements for energy evaluations for new homes please visit Natural Resources Canada’s Homebuilders webpage. For energy evaluations for mixed-use or multi-unit residential buildings, contact a program-qualified energy advisor or service organization in your area.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

Understanding Home Evaluations

What are EnerGuide home evaluations?

An EnerGuide home evaluation is a comprehensive service designed by the federal government to help you improve the comfort and energy efficiency of your home. As part of the service, an energy advisor will come to your home and assess its energy performance. Energy advisors are building science professionals who will provide you with unbiased energy saving information, rather than selling any particular products or recommending particular contractors.

Read more on Natural Resources Canada’s EnerGuide Home Evaluation info-graphic.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

What is an EnerGuide home label?

After an EnerGuide home evaluation, you will receive an EnerGuide home label to affix to your electrical panel or another location. The EnerGuide label provides summarized information from your energy evaluation.

The label includes:

    • Your EnerGuide rating: the modelled energy consumption of your home measured in gigajoules per year. The lower the rating, the less energy you consume.
    • A typical new house reference: the EnerGuide rating your home would have if it had been built to current building code. Your current home’s rating may be more or less efficient than a brand new home.
    • Breakdown of the rated annual energy consumption: A pie-chart breakdown of the major energy uses within the house and an initial overview of where you can lower home energy costs.
    • Greenhouse gas emissions: the estimated GHGs emitted annually as a result of using energy in your home.

An example of an EnerGuide home label, including a meter with GJ/year, rated annual energy consumption, breakdown of rated annual energy consumption, and a QR code for further details.

For a more detailed explanation of the EnerGuide Label, please view the EnerGuide Label Example and the Guide to the EnerGuide Label for Homes.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

What is an EnerGuide Label?

The EnerGuide label on a newly constructed home is the document which summarizes the home’s energy performance information from the EnerGuide home evaluation completed after the home was constructed. The EnerGuide label should be permanently posted in a visible spot in the home, for example in the home’s mechanical room or on the electrical panel.

The label includes:

  • Your EnerGuide rating – the modelled energy consumption of your home measured in gigajoules per year. The lower the rating, the less energy you consume.
  • A typical new house reference – the reference point that shows the estimated energy consumption of a home that is the same size, location and design as yours and built to the current new construction energy efficiency requirements of the National Building Code.
  • Breakdown of the rated annual energy consumption – a pie-chart breakdown of the major energy uses within the home.
  • Greenhouse gas emissions – the estimated GHGs emitted annually as a result of using energy in your home.

For a more detailed explanation see the Natural Resources Canada Guide to the EnerGuide Label for Homes.

When should I have an EnerGuide Evaluation?

There are two EnerGuide Evaluation Services for new homes. The pre-construction evaluation, which is completed during the design stage of the project, and the post-construction evaluation, which is completed once the house has been built.

Pre-Construction EnerGuide Evaluation (Construction Upgrade Service)

Contact a registered energy advisor to perform the pre-construciton EnerGuide evaluation  when you are in the design and planning stage of a new home project.

This service is especially useful when builders are trying to build to minimum performance levels as required by BC Energy Step Code, and other green building certification requirements.

Post-Construction EnerGuide Evaluation (Basic Service)

The post-construction EnerGuide service can be completed for a new home anytime after construction is finished up until it is six months old, based on the date of occupancy by the first homeowner.

To read more about EnerGuide evaluations and their benefits, visit our EnerGuide Home Evaluation FAQs.

What are EnerGuide home evaluations and what are the benefits?

An EnerGuide home evaluation for residential new construction is a comprehensive service designed by the federal government to help builders and developers understand how a home uses energy and what steps you can take to improve the building plans and construction process to maximize the energy efficiency of the home built. The service involves a registered new homes energy advisor assessing your home’s energy performance by collecting information on the following components of your home:

  • Size and geometry of your home
  • Type and efficiency of space and hot water heating systems
  • Insulation levels
  • Windows and doors
  • Ventilation systems
  • Air-leakage (using a blower-door test)

This information is used to generate a pre-construction and as-built EnerGuide rating for the home and a pre-construction builder upgrades options report to outline the options and opportunities to improve the efficiency of the home during the construction process. Registered energy advisors are building science professionals who provide unbiased energy saving information, rather than recommending any particular product.

The key benefits of consulting an energy advisor for your construction project are:

  • Energy Modelling to Improve Design – energy advisors conduct energy modelling to verify how much energy a proposed building is expected to use. Energy advisors also use energy modelling to provide detailed information on how each upgrade option to your building plans can improve the efficiency of the home you are building. This allows the builder to select the upgrade option that best suits the construction budget, the design of the home or the preferences of their clients.
  • BC Energy Step Code Verification Services – energy modelling can confirm the home meets the minimum requirements of the BC Building Code or any step of the BC Energy Step Code. Registered EnerGuide Rating System energy advisors are authorized to provide builders with the service to complete the BC Energy Compliance Report for Part 9 buildings complying with Subsection 9.36.5. or 9.36.6. of the BC Building Code.
  • Access Incentives – using a registered energy advisor can support you to access financial incentives and rebates for building to a higher level of construction. Check out the incentive search tool for information about incentives and rebates.
  • Access a Home Energy Label – a home energy label is an information tool, produced by a trusted and recognized third-party, and designed to provide consumers with recognizable and comparable information about the modeled energy consumption of a home. Having a Home energy label produced for each home constructed represents a marketing opportunity for industry to differentiate themselves as builders of high efficiency homes. The home energy label validates the builder’s investments in energy efficient construction and provides the consumer with the information to make an informed choice when purchasing a home.

Learn more about EnerGuide Evaluations through the other related FAQs on the CleanBC Better Homes website.

What happens during a pre- and post upgrade EnerGuide home evaluation?

During a pre-upgrade evaluation, your energy advisor will:

  • Ask you about your goals for your home and any efficiency or comfort issues you’d like help solving
  • Measure the size and heated volume of your home
  • Document the existing insulation levels throughout your home
  • Record the make and model of your space and water heating systems
  • Perform a blower door test to identify air leakage problems and calculate your air changes per hour and your home’s equivalent leakage area (how big a hole the air leaks in your home would make if all combined together)
  • Use HOT2000 to build an energy model of your home
  • Explain relevant rebate programs
  • Provide you with a Renovation Upgrade Report which gives you customized recommendations about which energy saving upgrades make the most sense for your home, and what energy savings you can expect from each upgrade.
  • Issue you an EnerGuide rating, which demonstrates the energy performance of your home, and the EnerGuide Label which is the proof of that energy rating.

During a post-upgrade evaluation, your energy advisor will:

  • Return to your home and check your home’s energy performance after completing your upgrades and renovations
  • Document the changes in your home since your pre-upgrade evaluation and calculate your new EnerGuide rating. The data will be used to create an updated label and Homeowner Information Sheet.

If you are planning to access rebates, ensure that you have all of the necessary documentation for your application at this stage. If you are selling your home, consider including your EnerGuide rating in the MLS listing for your home to show a third-party verified confirmation of your home’s energy efficiency.

For more details or to schedule an energy evaluation, contact a program-qualified energy advisor.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

Benefits of Home Evaluations

What are the benefits of an EnerGuide home evaluation?

An EnerGuide home evaluation is the first step in a smart home energy renovation. An evaluation will help you make informed decisions about which upgrades would work best for your home, how to prioritize them and which will save you the most on energy costs.

Solutions for your home

  • Lower your energy use and your energy bills
  • Improve indoor air quality and comfort
  • Lower your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
  • Explore solutions for drafts, mold, stuffiness, and outside noise

Prioritized upgrade options

  • Speak with a professional energy advisor about the best options for your home to meet your specific goals to improve your home. Tell your energy advisor your goals and let them help you identify upgrade options for accessing rebates, reducing energy bills, improving home comfort, reducing your carbon footprint, improving home resale value, insulating your home from outside noise, or addressing other home issues related to energy efficiency.

Receive money for your upgrades

If you plan to apply for rebates, carefully read the terms and conditions for each rebate. Some rebates require a pre-upgrade EnerGuide home evaluation before installing upgrades and a post-upgrade EnerGuide home evaluation after your upgrades have been completed.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

Should I get an EnerGuide label if I’m thinking of selling my home?

If you’re thinking of selling your home, it might be the perfect time to get an EnerGuide evaluation. Home sellers pro-actively obtain EnerGuide ratings for their homes and display the rating online. If you reside in Metro Vancouver, you can post your label on Metro Vancouver’s RateOurHome.ca website and link it directly to your property listing.

If you have an energy efficient home, here’s why you might want to tell potential homebuyers about your EnerGuide label:

Set your product apart from the rest

Displaying an EnerGuide label will set your home apart from the rest. Homes that rate higher than typical should be proudly displayed. This tells the buyer that a new home was built beyond building code requirements in terms of energy efficiency. And for older homes the EnerGuide label can prove the home energy improvement investments made in the home.

Transparency

Consumers may request that an evaluation be conducted as a condition of sale. Taking the initiative to get an EnerGuide label and displaying it on your listing demonstrates transparency. Buyers appreciate listings that provide full disclosure of any potential issues or concerns. Displaying your EnerGuide label answers questions before they are asked and can speed up the transaction process.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

Benefits of the EnerGuide Rating Service for REALTORS®

As interest in energy efficiency upgrades increases, there is an increased demand for REALTORS® to have an understanding of the value of the EnerGuide rating system. This is an opportunity for real estate agents to build their brand and differentiate themselves amongst REALTORS. Understanding the energy efficient features of a home elevates conversations with prospective buyers beyond the home’s aesthetic.

The energy performance improvements made to a home and an EnerGuide label to prove it can be an important selling point to prospective buyers. It may show the home’s performance has been improved which in turn reduces the utility costs for any future occupants. An EnerGuide label is an official record of the home’s energy performance, and has potential to increase building value, resulting in a potentially faster sale at a potentially higher price.

Prior to listing, learn about any upgrades made to the home:

  • Has your client had an EnerGuide Home Evaluation done? Did they take steps in improving the energy efficiency of their home? Add their EnerGuide rating to the listing!
  • Give buyers what they want. An improved EnerGuide rating can help your clients improve their comfort, save money on energy bills, and reduce their environmental impact.
  • Find out what these improvements mean. Many energy efficiency upgrades can translate into benefits for the next homeowner.

The benefits of an EnerGuide label go beyond utility costs and energy savings. High-performing homes offer quality of life benefits that buyers can emotionally connect to. For example, energy efficiency upgrades can improve the overall comfort of the home, including noise reduction, temperature regulation, and indoor air quality. These improvements can be important selling or purchasing features for a home.

See our FAQ ‘What is an EnerGuide home label?

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

Blower Door Test

What is a Mid-Construction Blower Door Test?

A mid-construction blower door test is a diagnostic test which depressurizes or pressurizes the home to identify unintentional leaks and issues with the air barrier. Importantly, the mid-construction blower door test needs to be scheduled at a point in the construction when it is not too late to effectively remedy identified air leakage issues.

A mid-construction blower door test service may include the following:

  • Measurements required for volume and area calculations;
  • Performing the airtightness test using a blower door fan;
  • Locating and documenting the air leakages – while the home is depressurized or pressurized you can walk around the home and feel air being drawn into the house through unintentional gaps in the building envelope;
  • Determining preliminary blower door metrics using HOT2000 or other software;
  • Air changes per hour (ACH) and/or;
  • Normalized leakage area (NLA) and/or,
  • Normalized leakage rate (NLR)

The mid-construction blower door test service can also include:

  • Blower door guided air sealing (where the energy advisor is on site with the blower door while a crew is conducting air sealing. This allows the builder to benefit from the expertise of the energy advisor and the confirmation that the air leakage target is achieved);
  • Providing a formal mid-construction blower door test report (with narrative and images of air leakage areas);
  • Other tasks agreed to between the two parties (e.g. repeated test to check for improvement).

Benefits of a mid-construction blower door test include:

  • A mid-construction blower door test helps your company avoid surprises and helps you to meet energy efficiency targets early in the process.
  • A home built with minimal levels of air leakage (and right ventilation) can reduce heat loss and energy bills in the winter, keep the home cooler in the summer, improve home comfort, enhance air quality, protect the building structure and other materials from moisture damage, and help prevent dust, noise, and insects from entering from outdoors.
  • A well-built and air sealed home can also shrink the environmental footprint of the home by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by using energy to heat and cool your home.
  • The cost of addressing air leakage issues at the right time in the construction process can be negligible. If you wait until construction has been completed to identify air leakage issues, fixing the problem may be time consuming, expensive, or nearly impossible.
  • The mid-construction blower door test can be a practical teaching tool for your crews and sub trades. Involve them in the process: the test can be an opportunity for them to learn how to identify and address air leakage issues many builders have called the mid-construction blower door test more educational than weekend-long workshops on air tightness.

Contact a professional energy advisor to request a quote for a mid-construction blower door test.Currently, new homes energy advisors can be found on https://energystepcode.ca/energy-advisors/.

Booking a Home Evaluation

Where can I find an energy advisor?

To find an energy advisor and schedule an energy evaluation, use our list of program-qualified energy advisors. Select your Town or City from the drop-down list and the contact information of nearby energy advisors will be displayed.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

What are the costs of an EnerGuide home evaluation?

The range of cost for EnerGuide home evaluations for new construction is broad and depends on many factors:

  • Location of the construction
  • Energy advisor or service organization
  • Size and complexity of the home
  • Project timelines
  • Additional building bylaw requirements
  • Additional services requested, i.e. thermal imaging, mid-construction blower door test, etc.
  • Requirement of multiple blower door tests due to the layout of the building
  • Travel distance / mileage fees

Due to the many factors that affect the cost of an EnerGuide evaluation, we recommend contacting different energy advisors or service organizations in your areato obtain an accurate quote and to ensure that they are able to work within your time frame. Currently new homes energy advisors can be found on https://energystepcode.ca/energy-advisors/.

What can I do if there are no new homes energy advisors currently servicing my location?

A majority of the work involved in delivering an EnerGuide evaluation for new home construction can be completed remotely. If there are no energy advisors located in the area you are building the home, try to connect with an Energy Advisor nearest to your city/town and ask if they’re willing to visit your location to conduct a final site visit after the construction of your home.

Currently new homes energy advisors can be found at https://energystepcode.ca/energy-advisors/.

Not satisfied with your energy advisor or the EnerGuide home evaluation?

Contact your energy advisor’s service organization to provide feedback on your experience. The service organization is responsible for managing its energy advisors, including providing technical support and ensuring Natural Resources Canada procedures are followed.

The contact information for the service organization can be found on the program-qualified energy advisor database.

What are the costs of an existing homes EnerGuide evaluation?

The cost of an energy evaluation ranges and highly depends on your location, the energy advisor or service organization you choose, the size and complexity of your home, whether or not you have a secondary suite requiring a second blower door test, additional services requested (thermal imaging) and other factors. We recommend calling at least 3 different service organizations to obtain a quote and ensure that they are able to work within your renovation time frame. Please note that GST and applicable fees may apply.

For an accurate quote, contact a program-qualified energy advisor that services your area.

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

What types of homes are eligible for EnerGuide home evaluations?

These requirements are specifically for existing homes, for example: single family detached homes, mobile homes on a permanent foundation, permanently moored float homes, low-rise, semi-detached, and row houses.

In order for an EnerGuide evaluation to be conducted in your home, it must be in an eligible state.

According to Natural Resources Canada’s guidelines, an ‘eligible state’ means that:

  • The building is resting on a permanent foundation(s) or is a permanently moored float home.
  • There is a space heating system in place at the time of the evaluation that is capable (or was, in the case of a heating system failure) of keeping the interior living space at 21 degrees Celsius.
  • The envelope is intact, including the exposed ceilings, exterior walls, exposed floors, windows and doors, and interior and exterior finishes (e.g., drywall, and exterior siding).
  • Up to one window or door unit can be missing as long as it is temporarily air sealed (e.g., covered with plywood with seams and edges sealed with caulking). Any broken window panes must also be air sealed (e.g., with taped polyethylene) for the duration of the blower door test. If the temporary air sealing fails during the blower door test, the building will be considered ineligible.
  • Any renovations underway only affect interior partitions of the dwelling and do not perforate the building envelope.
  • There must be a supply of standard AC electrical power available. If power is not available from a utility, the homeowner must come to an agreement with the service organization about arranging for a suitable power supply to operate the blower door test equipment.

For more information on eligibility requirements for energy evaluations for new homes please visit Natural Resources Canada’s Homebuilders webpage; for energy evaluations for mixed-use or multi-unit residential buildings, contact a program-qualified energy advisor or service organization in your area.

For additional home eligibility requirements to access rebates see What types of homes are eligible for the Home Renovation Rebate Program?

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.

What can I do if there are no Energy Advisors currently servicing my location?

Try to connect with an Energy Advisor nearest to your city/town and ask if they’re willing to visit your location to conduct an energy evaluation. In addition, there are a number of energy upgrades and rebates available that do not require an energy evaluation:

Did you see a building science or energy efficiency term you did not understand? Check out our glossary.