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When you subscribe to Weatherize America, you pay only $109.95 for the first year or you can subscribe to four quarterly payments of only $32.95. Discounted rates are then charged for each additional year when you renew your membership. Once you become a member you are provided with the resources necessary to perform home weatherization inspections and repairs. To best see how our program works, we're going to look at a typical inspection and repair.
Getting Ready For Your First Home Weatherization and Energy Optimization Inspection
Upon joining Weatherize America, you will be given your own web site and access to our membership area where the following resources are available:
- a weatherization and energy optimization inspection training manual (a downloadable PDF file that we update often)
- pre-designed weatherization and energy optimization inspection checklists (downloadable PDF)
- pre-designed weatherization price sheets and MS Excel spreadsheets that are fully editable (downloadable XLS, PDF and INDD formats)
- a weatherization installation and repair manual (downloadable PDF)
- editable versions of our checklists and price lists (requires Adobe InDesign or a PDF editor)
- a monthly coupon number to receive a 5% discount on all product purchases from our Best Energy Saving Products web site
- a link to your ShareASale affiliate account to track any product sales generated through your web site
- links and explanations on how to access your e-mail accounts and web site control panel
With these resources in hand, the weatherization and energy optimization inspection training manual provides you with all the insight and information necessary to set up your business and walk into your customers home with full confidence. You'll be able to perform a great weatherization inspection and will appear totally professional to the customer.
Your only additional expense would be for a few common items necessary to perform inspections, such as a good flashlight, an inspection mirror, some common hand tools and a tote bag. We provide a complete list of everything that would be helpful to have on hand. It's very likely you already have most of these items.
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Finding Home Weatherization and Energy Optimization Work
Your potential clients are those who live within a five to ten mile radius of your location. This means that you can utilize any and all local means to advertise your service, such as newspapers, restaurant place mats, local radio, local television and local magazines.
Since weatherization and energy optimization inspections and repairs do not require certification or expensive blower door kits or expensive infrared cameras, you have the capacity to keep your prices low enough for almost anyone to afford. So now, tenant and homeowner alike can contact you to help them weatherize a home they are paying to heat and cool.
To simplify your message and to make sure you do not have to explain everything you do in detail, we provide you with a fully functional web site, valued at over $500, ,that is already designed to provide the details of your weatherization and energy optimization service. See our Sample Web Site.
As you can see from the sample site, you are totally set to use the site as a reference. Your web site includes:
- a service page that explains your weatherization topics and also provides your phone number and web site address. This page is specially designed to be printed at 70% to 80% scale and used directly as a flier.
- a contact page that provides the means for a visitor to request a job via e-mail or to simply ask questions. Your web site includes unlimited e-mail addresses, but we already set up two for you right from the start that you could check via web mail or POP3
- a products page of energy saving devices that we sell through our Best Energy Saving Products web site. The products listed on your web site are coded with an affiliate link account we create for you through ShareASale. This entitles you to an 6% commission on anything a person may purchase while visiting your web site.
- article pages that help to establish your web site with search engines. Even though you are not looking to attract customers from more than fifty miles away, you must still get recognized by search engines so that even local people can find you. By us adding the content of these articles to your web site, we dramatically increase your visibility within the search engines.
- a home page which provides an overview of what the web site offers.
- your own domain name and web hosting for the entire year
- Note: we do not provide any web site design support or web master assistance with your membership since the site is ready to go, but for advanced users or for those who wish to hire a web master, the web site options include:
- 120 MB of disk space, 1GB of bandwidth, FrontPage extensions, unlimited e-mail boxes, CGI access, up to six parked domains, unlimited sub domains and more
- a control panel interface that provides many helpful programs such as Wordpress, Joomla, phpBB, OScommerce, Coppermine and dozens more
- a web site that is fully accessible via control panel interface or FTP. Using a professional web master, you can add to the site design, change the site design or totally eliminate the site design and start from scratch
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Performing Home Weatherization and Energy Optimization Inspections
With your weatherization checklist in hand, you will simply walk from room to room, selecting items that need attention and noting any special care that should be taken. Also, depending upon the budget level your customer expressed, you can simultaneously perform an energy audit as you walk through the home and note those items on that section of the checklist as well.
After having walked through the entire home and having tested those items the inspection manual taught you to test, you can now sit for a few moments and easily determine the costs to perform the necessary weatherization repairs and/or energy improvements.
Using either a laptop along with our MS Excel pricing spreadsheet or a hardcopy price sheet, you simply count the number of items indicated on the checklist and use this information to indicate quantities on the price sheet. Your results include material and labor costs along with profit margins you can adjust. The profit or a portion of the profit is what generally goes towards paying for the inspection.
You present the client with the price or prices if you also performed an energy audit and you provide a total price for the job. Using a basic triplicate order book available at any office supplier, you enter the individual prices for the weatherization repair and the energy optimization (if chosen by the client) and provide an overall total. You request a minimum of one-third down and then indicate the customers actual down payment on the sales slip. Indicate the balance due and provide an estimated installation date or a contact date when the customer will be scheduled. Finally, have the customer sign the form and the inspection is complete.
Later, back at the office, the inspector completes his part of the process by taking a few moments reviewing his notes and filling out the parts list section of the checklist so that the installer will know just what is needed when it's time to do the job.
If you want to keep your hands clean, then your focus in each home would be on just performing the inspection and the selling of energy saving devices such as smart power strips, whole house fan covers, dryer vent seals, water saving shower heads and an array of other items easily installed by the occupants themselves, whether they rent or own the home.
Then, while in the home, if you do identify weatherization repairs that can further help them save energy, tell the occupants you will send a professional to take a closer look at those items. Later, call the contractor(s) you have made connections with and inform them of the job and either charge them for the lead or earn a commission if the contractor gets the job.
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Performing Home Weatherization and Energy Optimization Installations and Repairs
We use the terms "installations and repairs" since some of the work you'll do is a permanent installation that may not have to be performed again and other things are repairs to items that are in their present condition due to neglect or specific damage.
Often, the weatherization inspector is also the weatherization installer and this simplifies communication issues, however this is not vital. An inspector who will not be installing needs only to do a good job providing good notes the installer can use to prepare for the job.
With a copy of the completed checklist, notes and parts list in hand, the installer gathers the items indicated that he will need to perform the job and then sets out to meet the customer on time or even a few minutes early. Six to eight hours are often necessary to perform most jobs, so it's best to start early in the morning if possible.
Using the information provided in the weatherization installation and repair manual, the installer performs the work as described on the checklist and notes. He seals windows and doors, bleeds heating systems, seals ducts, wraps water heaters and boilers, caulks cracks, insulates openings and so much more.
When completed, the installer receives the final payment for a finished job and returns to base, which is generally his home.
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Additional Revenue Behind The Scenes
While performing the weatherization inspection, you may have concluded that the customer could use a Drier Vent Seal or an Energy Saving Smart Strip. These are items we can provide to you at a 5% discount, plus you get an 6% commission through our affiliate program for a total savings of 11%. You simply log into your membership account at Weatherize America, copy the discount code of the month and order what you need from our Best Energy Saving Products web site. As you finish the order, you provide the coupon code and viola, you made an 6% commission and also just saved an extra 5%. You now have the option of making money by charging the customer retail price or you use the savings to lower your pricing and entice the customer to give you the job. Either way, you are a winner here.
In addition, include your web site on your business cards and suggest to your customers that if they have need of any energy saving products in the future, to please check out your web site to see what is offered. When the customer visits and makes a purchase of the products currently listed, you will receive an 6% commission on all sales through the affiliate account we set up for you. Any month where you balance exceeds $50, you get a check.
This is your web site and you can add other affiliates as well or sell anything of your own. We have no demands or requirements that you use our products or affiliate program. We are just doing our best to give you a great start. Feel free to add Google Adsense or banners and text links through Commission Junction. That's all good stuff. This is your web site. Make money with it in any way you can...but do keep it clean.
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Looking at the Big Picture
With enough research, time, money, trial and effort, you could possibly choose to perform weatherization, winterization or summerization work without becoming a member of Weatherize America, but why go through all that trouble? Why throw away $700 plus dollars to build this on your own when we have established a way you could do it for almost 7 times less? Not only have we figured out many of the procedures, but we have created many of the tools you need to perform a professional job, such as the checklists and price sheets.
Another great advantage is that you will become part of a collective. What this means is that as more and more members experience unusual or undocumented situations, we upgrade our manuals to include this information. You will be perpetually updated to new circumstances for as long as you choose to stay a member, which, by the way, is an extremely low price considering all that is offered.
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Common Membership Questions and Answers
Q. Can anyone do this? I have no construction or maintenance background.
A. Anyone can do this, but not everyone can do all of this. If you lack a construction or maintenance background, but you can sell, then your focus in this business would be to promote and sell the products associated with saving energy in the home and let the occupant install them. In addition, we recommend that you create a partnership with multiple construction trades, such as electricians, insulators, window installers, etc so that when you do find this kind of work needed in the home, you could refer them to the job and get paid either for providing the job lead or get a commission on the entire job. Bottom line, if you could sell anything and if you could take a few days to read over the manuals and references provided, you will do fine.
Q. How fast will this really make any money?
A. You could be generating an income within 2 weeks. Let's say it takes 4 days to get your web site and information all set up and running, then add 2 days to allow yourself to dig through the information and get comfortable with how things could work. We'll even add 2 days to account for a weekend. On the 9th day, you begin your campaign to attract customers. The web site includes a page that is intended to be printed out as a flier. Print this page and place it in as many store and restaurant foyers as possible. You can also place an ad in the classifieds and update your facebook status to let your friends know you are looking for people who need this work done. On the 11th day you begin to get calls and by the 14th day, you should be in someone's home performing your first inspection.
Q. How much work is really available to make this a full time job?
A. The availability of work does depend upon where you live. The closer you are to a town or city the better, since this is where you generally find older homes in need of weatherization and energy optimization work. However, you could find this work even within newer home developments by focusing more on the energy optimization end of the business. In addition, the larger the radius in miles you are willing to travel will also increase your potential customer base. Once you read the manuals, you will also see that some of this work will need to be repeated each year for certain customers, ensuring some future work will already exist.
Q. But how do I actually find this work? How do I generate leads?
A. First let's look at Free Advertisement methods:
- Use the flier that is built into your web site to get yourself started.
- Call friends and family to see if you could help any of them and to see if they could refer you to anyone.
- Take advantage of social media, aka facebook and twitter. You don't want to bombard your friends with business stuff, but it's perfectly fine to place a post to say you are starting this new venture. Ask if anyone would like to have this work done for them, and ask also if they would post your message to their friends as well.
If you do have a few dollars to spare:
- place a small classified ad in your local paper. Some papers have a 'Handyman' or 'Service' section already in place for businesses like this.
- Find restaurants who use those place mats with ads and get the name of the company that makes them. You can generally spend under $100 to get your ad placed there. The great thing about place mat ads is that they not only provide the occasional lead, but they give you a lot of exposure.
Q. How is this different from other 'Programs' to make money online?
A. Well, to start, this business would be real, and not some web site sitting online, hoping and waiting for somebody to click on a link. This business takes advantage of the internet to promote itself and provide you with a professional appearance, but the money and the work exists in the people and the cities and towns around you. In addition, this business does require work and effort to build and maintain and is not based upon luck or hope. This means you have a real chance to make this work and the only thing that could prevent you from not making money with this program is you, but that's a good thing because this means your capacity to succeed is real.
Q. How flexible is the web site? What if I just want to use this for hosting my own business online, that may or may not include weatherization?
A. Although we provide a working and functional web site for your business, you will have full access and full control of the web site Cpanel. This means you could do anything you want. You can build a completely different and unique site if you desire. You can add more email addresses, sub-domains, check stats, use MySQL, use cgi and anything and everything you would get if you hosted this site anywhere else. We made it so that you do not need any web design knowledge, but if you do, Go For It!
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