Home Performance Contracting

Your House Could be the Reason for High Utility Bills

Uncover areas of your home driving up utility bills.

You can’t figure it out. You’ve checked off everything on the list:

• ✔ Energy efficient windows
• ✔ Recently updated HVAC systems
• ✔ Energy Star appliances

So, why do your utility bills still seem awfully high? Why is your spouse shivering in the next room while you’re sweating? It could be because your home isn’t performing well enough to take advantage of all those energy saving steps you’ve taken. Your next question is, “What in the world is home performance?” The General specializes in Home Performance Contracting (HPC). It’s using cutting-edge technology in the quest to reduce energy consumption and make a smaller carbon footprint. The problem isn’t with what you HAVE done. It’s more likely what you HAVEN’T done yet! Think of it like plugging a leak, only to have another leak appear in a new spot. Instead of doing things piecemeal, you need to take a whole-house approach. Most homes lose up to 50% of their conditioned air for the following reasons:

• Poor insulation
• Attic leaks
• Leaks around doors and windows (not necessarily the doors & windows themselves)

When you add up all the cracks and crevices, you often end up with a hole larger than a basketball hoop. Technology has made today’s cooling and heating systems much more efficient, but the technology isn’t worth the proverbial plug nickel if the conditioned air is escaping from your home.

Green Homes America

To help homeowners in the Coachella Valley the General is proud to be a Green Homes America (GHA) contractor. In order to qualify we have to go through a stringent screening process by GHA. It’s your guarantee the General can properly assist you in improving the energy efficiency, comfort, and health and safety of your home. The GHA and its contractors are the most trusted source of unbiased energy efficiency information for homeowners determined to improve or upgrade their homes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a window upgrade, replacing an air conditioner, or adding insulation, homeowners have learned to trust Green Homes America contractors to improve comfort and reduce carbon footprints. Thanks to Green Homes America and contractors like the General, tens of thousands of homes across America now save their owners thousands of dollars in utility costs each year.

Warning Signs to Look For

Have you learned how to “listen” to your house? Your home can give you warning signs it could use a home performance upgrade:

• Outside noise is audible inside
• Some rooms are too hot or too cold
• AC unit or furnace is noisy
• Lingering odors or musty smell
• Drafts
• Condensation on windows
• Humidity
• Mold or mildew

If you have some or all of these problems, it could indicate your house isn’t being a good teammate in the sport of HPC.

Finding and Fixing Home Performance Problems

The first step in upgrading your home’s performance is an energy audit. The General’s energy efficiency specialists, Gold Star Certified by BPI, will use their training and advanced technology instruments to find and identify any problems.

The audit includes a number of high tech tests, including:

Rest assured, when your energy audit is complete, there is no problem General Air Conditioning & Plumbing can’t solve. We’re called “The Best Little Air Conditioning and Plumbing Company in the Desert” for good reason.