When should you use the residential energy assessment service?

There are many factors to consider when you are trying to determine if it is appropriate to have a Carson Dunlop energy assessment completed on your home -

Q - Does your home have comfort problems such as drafts, cold spots and frosted windows?

A - Find the source of these problems and get information about repairing them.

Q - Renovating or retrofitting?

A - Energy advisors use state-of-the-art evaluation practices and can advise on the best modern techniques and types of products.

Q - Upgrading your heating and cooling system?

A - Energy efficiency improvements can make a difference to the size of the heating and cooling system that your home needs.

Q - Selling your house?

A - After you've made energy efficiency upgrades and comfort improvements to your home, the energy efficiency rating label shows potential buyers how much you've improved your home's energy efficiency and how it compares to other homes in your area.

How the grant and incentive program works

Follow these Five easy steps to get your ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes grant

1. Hire a Carson Dunlop energy advisor to perform an energy evaluation of your home.
2. Select the improvements from your home energy action checklist.
3. Implement the recommended energy upgrades within 18 months.
4. Call your energy advisor to perform your post-retrofit evaluation, to confirm your new energy rating and to submit your application on your behalf.
5. Wait for up to 90 days to receive your cheque based on the eligible upgrades performed!

Who is eligible for grants?

Here are the main criteria:

You can apply for a grant for a property that you own and live in or rent out. This includes detached, semi-detached and row houses and low-rise residential buildings of three story's or less (with a footprint of less than 600 square metres), as well as mobile homes on a permanent foundation.

Grants are available for work done within a specific time frame, so it is important to talk to your local service organization about the eligibility of your house as soon as you are ready to plan and undertake your energy efficiency retrofits. You have 18 months from the date of your pre-retrofit evaluation to complete the work and qualify for a grant.

Only homes that have undergone a pre-and post-retrofit residential energy assessment service by an NRCan-licensed advisor will be eligible. You will be able to apply only once per property.

Homeowners must carry out specific improvements in order to qualify for a grant. NRCan-licensed energy advisors will be able to tell you which retrofits have the greatest impact on your home's efficiency. The greater the improvement, the more the grant will be.

It is you – the property owner – who decides what retrofits recommended by your energy advisor you wish to undertake. You are responsible for choosing a contractor and for ensuring that the work is performed properly. It is important that you get a detailed written contract between you and your contractor in order to prevent problems later on. The residential energy assessment service does not assess the quality of the work performed – it evaluates only the retrofits impact on the energy efficiency of your home.

How do you apply for a grant?

It's easy. Your energy advisor will apply for the grant on your behalf after you have completed the energy efficiency retrofits and your home has been re-assessed. Your advisor will prepare the paperwork for you to sign and will be able to tell you exactly how much you can expect to receive. Your energy advisor will then forward your application to NRCan.

A table of retrofits has been established to show the payment for the completion of each recommended upgrade. The grant amount has been determined by the relative effectiveness of that particular upgrade in reducing energy or water use, and not directly on the cost of the upgrade, which will vary depending on location, local pricing and labour costs, size of house, etc. Note: Refer to "Retrofit Your Home and Qualify for a Grant!" for grant amounts related to retrofits.

A grant application must be submitted to NRCan no later than 18 months after the date of the pre-retrofit evaluation. You can expect to receive your cheque within 90 days of your follow-up evaluation.

Schedule your evaluation today!