LIGirl, you got an average price. If you are unsure which contractor to pick, ask to speak to the crew leads, they are the boots on the ground and you want to make sure your crew knows what they are doing.
Duct and air sealing will make a comfort difference in your home. Unsealed ductwork will leak air pressure, if your air handler is in the attic and its unsealed you are essentially blowing a portion of your A/C into the attic and not your living space. Picture your ducts as a straw and your'e trying to drink through it, if its got holes in it you're going to lose most of the drink before it gets to your mouth. Same with duct work, duct seal it and its keeping a higher air pressure, making it more effective. Air sealing is basically caulking around your windows/doors/floors/etc to stop drafts. The catwalk to your air handler is to enable service men to reach it. I think 4 hours of air sealing and 2 hours of duct sealing are the only things listed that seem a bit extensive. Maybe 2 hours of air sealing and 1 of duct are more realistic, then again I don't know the size of your house or the difficulty of the work, so they might know something I don't.
Fiberglass batts are terrible for air sealing and only mediocre for insulation. Spray foam is best at both insulation and air sealing... but it's expensive and might not be the best solution in all cases. Cellulose is cheap and effective, the middle of the road solution. I recommend spray foam over anything as far as effectiveness goes, but some folks just don't have the cash for that, even though it will pay for itself over time.
Slacker is correct in that if you keep the space (whether attic or not) with your air handler in it temperature regulated it obviously wouldn't have to struggle against the extreme temperature ranges that might occur in your attic. Spray foaming a roof is great, but if the roof is not ventilated it will get extremely hot and you will wind up with the tar shingles melting. Any spray foam contractor should know that, it's a very particular and technical job so those guys usually know their stuff.
Rocafeller, "OP, you def got ripped off". Really? That's funny because it appears you have no knowledge whatsoever regarding weatherization work. You paid for $10 a roll fiberglass batts and paid a total of $400, I'm sure you got what you paid for, terrible air sealing and mediocre insulation. If you read the rest of the improvements that LIGirl listed you'd see what they are doing that costs that much.
Why do contractors charge what they do for weatherization work? Contractors in this line of work can drop over a quarter of a million in equipment alone before they even do their first job. While the work can be profitable, like anything else its not as much as you might think.
As far as pricing.... LIPA has general prices that almost all BPI contractors use, if they do alter the prices its not by much. Prices are built into the LIPA software, so every contractor in the home performance program has a general idea of what everyone else is charging. It's one of the few kinds of work where contractor prices are not going to vary much. It's also one of the few kinds of home improvements you can do to your home that will eventually pay for itself in savings versus what you were paying previously.
Let me be clear on this, your chances of being ripped off under the home performance programs is extremely low, unless you are really just a terrible person and the contractor gives you an "eff you" price. LIPA, NYSERDA, and Conservation Services Group look at every job to an extent, they have to approve the rebates remember since they are paying for 50% of it. They don't want to waste their money any more than you do. Oversight groups from LIPA, CSG, and NYSERDA will examine and in some cases re-audit a percentage of BPI contractors work to ensure quality control. If you screw up or get caught cheating someone you are out of the program, which means as a company you're probably out of business.
Your only concern should be that when you have your initial audit done that contractor is giving you all the available options to you as a homeowner to decrease your utility bills and not just focusing on services they particularly provide (like insulation).
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocafeller05
The quoted insulation can be bought at Home Depot for $10.00 a roll and it covers 31 sq ft. I just did mine in October.
I still dont see what they are doing costing that much. Why not just shop it around? I did my whole attic for $400.
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