Build It Green is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy and resource efficient homes in California. They have a program called the Green Point Rated (GPR) distinction which which is a scoring system that takes into account your homes energy consumption, indoor air quality, water conservation, community and resources used during construction to assign a score to your home. The more upgrades and the greener your construction process the higher your home will score. There are two Green Point Rating levels: Elements (25 points) and Whole House (50 points). Most homes will qualify for the Elements level after going through the Energy Upgrade CA program. The Whole House level is more difficult to attain and requires many water saving measures and usually renewables.
The Green Point Rating is now listed on the Los Angeles County Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Your home's GPR score will be posted in the form of a leaf with your homes score inside the leaf. Similar to how car dealers are required to post the miles per gallon (MPG) on their cars. This differentiates your home from another perspective home on the MLS if you were ever to sell it or refinance.
Last year a study was commissioned at Cal State Berkley to see if homes that have a Green Label due to energy efficiency upgrades sell at a higher price than comparable houses without a label. I’m happy to report that the study showed that the homes with the Green Labels sold at 9% higher price in our California real estate market.
Click Here an article in the LA Times about it.
Last year there was a Green Labeling Program where LA County gave a rebate to homeowners and Build Green waved their submission fee, essentially covering the cost of the Green Point Rating. This was an enormous success for Southern California with well over 750 home getting the Green Point Rating certificate. Due to this success they have decided to wave their Green Point Rating submission fee of $400 for rating submitted between June 1, 2013 and June 1, 2014.
The only cost would be to cover the cost of the Green Point Rater that would need to visit your home to score it and submit the paper work to Build it Green. The Elements and Whole House levels requires different amounts of testing, documentation etc. The Green Point Raters fees are normally between $1000 to $2000 depending if you went for the Elements or Whole House distinction but we can do it for $300 to $500, respectively. Again, for the next year Build It Green is waving their $400 processing fee to register the project. We are able to give you the rating at such a reduced rate because we do everything in house and the documentation is aligned with the other work we are performing at your home.
The math is pretty simple on most home here in Los Angeles. Even if your home values went up just 5% it would more than cover the costs of the upgrades. I highly recommend that you take advantage and have us perform a Green Point Rating to acknowledge the work that you have already done and to insure that you realize the premium price point your home will command with the energy efficient upgrades you will have completed.
Please us me know if you are interested so we can get you on the schedule to get the start the process of having your home Green Point Rated. If you have any question please let us know.