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Become a Participating Comfort Home Contractor

 

The Comfort Home Pilot provides incentives for installing standard load reduction packages focused on envelope improvements, educating customers about heat pumps and referring interested customers to a qualified NYS Clean Heat Link opens in new window - close new window to return to this page. - air source or ground source heat pump installer. Participating contractors may elect either to provide comprehensive services (Comprehensive Service Contractors)—envelope improvements and heat pump installation—or only perform envelope improvements (Load Reduction Contractors) to make the home heat pump ready, followed by passing a referral to a qualified NYS Clean Heat - air source or ground source heat pump installer. 

The objectives of the Comfort Home Pilot are as follows: 

  • Encourage customers to make efficiency improvements for greater comfort and reduced energy use in their homes
  • Install air sealing, insulation, and ENERGY STAR windows in the home, preparing it for heat pump installation by reducing heating and cooling loads to enable use of smaller capacity equipment
  • Support best practices in delivering clean energy heat pump solutions
    Follow this process to join the Comfort Home pilot.

Step 1: Attain Acceptable Credentials

Assessments: To participate in the Comfort Home Pilot, each employee who will be completing assessments must hold one or more of the following certifications:

  • ASHRAE Building Energy Assessment Professional
  • BPI Building Analyst
  • BPI Building Analyst Professional (BA-P)
  • BPI Energy Auditor
  • BPI Multifamily Building Analyst
  • HERS Rater
  • Investor Confidence Project (ICP) Quality Assurance (QA) Assessor
  • LEED Rater

Load Reduction Contractor: In addition to the certification above at least one staff member must hold ONE of the following certifications:

  • Shell/Envelope
    • BPI Building Analyst Technician (BA-T)
    • BPI Crew Leader
    • BPI Energy Auditor 
    • BPI Envelope Professional
    • BPI Quality Control Inspector
    • BPI Retrofit Installer Technician
  • Window/Insulated Panel/ Storm Window 
    • Manufacturers’ training

Comprehensive Services Contractor: A Load Reduction contractor who is also a qualified NYS Clean Heat - air source or ground source heat pump installer.

Step 2: Read the Participation Agreement, Pilot Manual and Sign Application

Read the current Participation Agreement and Pilot Manual in their entirety. To apply for participation, you will need to complete the online Contractor Application for Residential Programs and submit with required documentation to [email protected] OR mail to the address listed in the application. NYSERDA will contact you within 2 weeks of your application to confirm if you have been accepted or not.

Step 3: Attend Mandatory Comfort Home Trainings

Once approved to participate, all Participating Contractors are required to have a minimum of two attendees participate in all Comfort Home trainings below as part of the on-boarding procedures. All training is required to be completed within three months of award and before any projects can be brought through the pilot. 

  • Comfort Home Pilot Overview Training
  • Comfort Home Platform Training
  • Comfort Home Heat Pump Trainings

Step 4: Market your services and sell Comfort Home Packages

Once the mandatory Comfort Home Trainings have been completed, you may begin to offer Comfort Home Assessments and Package Incentives to customers. While it is the ultimate responsibility of the participating contractor to recruit customers, NYSERDA invests in marketing outreach throughout New York. This helps generate leads for participating contractors—which come through listings on NYSERDA’s Comfort Home website.

If you have questions about applying or participating in the Comfort Home Pilot, you can contact [email protected] or call 1-888-406-4009.