How to Prepare for Your Home Energy Assessment

The most common question we get after someone schedules their assessment: "Is there anything I should do before you come?" Most people are thinking about it like a home inspection, worried about cleaning up or fixing things first.

The answer is simpler than most people expect. A home energy assessment is not an inspection. Your advisor is not grading your house. They are looking at energy performance, comfort issues, and opportunities for improvement. The house does not need to be spotless, and you do not need to fix anything beforehand.

A few small things help your advisor do a more thorough job and help you get better information from the visit. This guide covers what is actually useful to prepare and what you can skip entirely.

The Short Version

If you are in a hurry, here is what helps:

1. Clear a path to the attic access and basement
2. Gather recent utility bills or fuel delivery receipts if you have them
3. Write down your comfort complaints (cold rooms, drafts, high bills)
4. Be home during the visit (the advisor walks through with you)

That is it. Everything below is additional detail for people who want to be thorough.

Access to the Attic

The attic is one of the most important areas your advisor examines. In many Maine homes, the attic is the single biggest source of energy waste.

What helps:

• Clear anything stored on top of the attic hatch or pull-down stairs so the advisor can access it easily
• If your attic access is in a closet, move anything blocking the opening
• If you have a pull-down stair, make sure the area below it is clear for safe use

What you do not need to do:

• You do not need to go up there yourself beforehand
• You do not need to clean the attic or organize anything stored up there
• If the attic is only accessible through a small hatch and you need a ladder, let us know when scheduling and we will bring one

If the attic is not accessible (some homes have no attic access, or the access is sealed behind drywall), let us know. Your advisor can still evaluate the attic situation from other indicators - ice dam history, temperature differences between floors, and what is visible from the exterior.

Access to the Basement

The basement is the second critical area. Rim joists, foundation walls, sill plates, and the mechanical systems live here.

What helps:

• Clear a path to the perimeter walls, especially the rim joist areas (where the floor framing meets the foundation)
• If areas of the basement are blocked by stored items, try to create enough space for your advisor to see the foundation walls and rim joists
• Make sure the boiler area is accessible

What you do not need to do:

• You do not need to clean the basement
• You do not need to move everything away from the walls - just enough to allow visual access
• If parts of the basement are finished, the advisor will note what they can see and explain what that means for the assessment

Utility Bills and Fuel Records

Knowing how much energy your home uses puts the assessment findings in context. If your advisor can see that you used 900 gallons of oil last winter, that number combined with the visual findings helps estimate what improvements would save.

What helps:

• Last 12 months of electric bills (or access to your CMP online account)
• Last 12 months of fuel delivery receipts (oil, propane) or an annual fuel usage summary from your provider
• Gas bills if you heat with natural gas

What you do not need to do:

• You do not need to dig through filing cabinets. If you do not have bills handy, that is fine. Your advisor can work with estimates based on the house characteristics
• You do not need exact numbers. Even knowing "we used about 800 gallons of oil last year" or "our electric bill runs about $200 a month" is helpful
• If you have no idea what your energy costs are, that is okay too. The assessment still provides valuable information about the house itself

Tip: Most utility companies provide 12-month usage summaries online. If you have a CMP account, you can pull up your usage history in a few minutes. Propane and oil providers will often tell you your annual gallons delivered over the phone.

Your Comfort Concerns

Nobody knows your home better than you do. You live there through January cold snaps, July heat waves, and everything in between. The things you notice about comfort are important data points that a 45-minute walkthrough cannot fully capture on its own.

Before the visit, think about:

• Cold rooms. Which rooms are hardest to heat in winter? Are some rooms always 5-10 degrees colder than the thermostat setting?
• Drafts. Where do you feel moving air? Around windows? At the base of exterior walls? Near electrical outlets on outside walls? Coming down the stairs from the second floor?
• Ice dams. Have you had ice dams on the roof? Which areas? This tells us a lot about attic air sealing and insulation
• Temperature differences between floors. Is the second floor always hotter in summer and the first floor always colder? This points to air movement patterns (stack effect)
• Noise from heating system. Banging, clicking, or constant running from the boiler or heating system
• High bills. Do your heating costs seem high compared to neighbors with similar houses?
• Moisture. Condensation on windows in winter, musty smells in the basement, humidity that feels too high or too low
• Previous work. Has any insulation or air sealing been done before? When? By whom? What was done?

Writing these down beforehand means you will not forget to mention something during the visit. Even a quick list on your phone helps.

Be Home During the Visit

The assessment is a walkthrough, not a drive-by. Your advisor walks through the home with you, and your presence is important for several reasons:

• You can point out specific comfort issues in each room
• You can provide context about the home's history, previous work, and your goals
• The advisor explains what they are seeing as they go - you learn about your home in real time
• You can ask questions on the spot

If you and a partner or spouse both want to be involved in the decision-making, having both people present is ideal. That way everyone hears the same information and can ask questions together.

What You Can Skip

People sometimes worry about things that genuinely do not matter for an energy assessment. Here is what you can skip:

Cleaning the house. Your advisor is looking at insulation, air sealing, and mechanical systems. They are not judging your housekeeping. A lived-in home is a normal home.

Fixing things beforehand. If you have a drafty window or a cold room, leave it as-is. Those are exactly the symptoms your advisor needs to see and understand.

Moving furniture. Unless furniture is blocking the attic hatch or the path to the boiler, leave everything where it is. The advisor works around normal living arrangements.

Worrying about the age or condition of your house. We work in homes from the 1800's through new construction. An old house is not a problem - it is an opportunity. Some of the most impactful projects we do are in older Maine homes that have never been properly insulated or air sealed.

Worrying about being "sold to." The assessment is not a sales presentation. It is a walkthrough and conversation. You receive a recommendation and can decide on your own timeline.

What Happens at the End

At the end of the walkthrough, your advisor sits down with you and talks through what they found. They explain:

• The biggest energy and comfort issues in order of priority
• Which improvements would make the most difference
• Rough cost ranges for each improvement
• Which Efficiency Maine rebates may apply (amounts are income-dependent)
• A recommended sequence if you want to phase the work over time

Within a few days, you receive a written summary with the same information. You can take as long as you want to review it, ask follow-up questions, or decide whether to move forward.

One More Thing

The most common thing people tell us after an assessment is that they wish they had done it sooner. Not because the findings were alarming, but because they finally had a clear picture of what their home needed and what it would cost. The uncertainty was worse than the reality.

If you have been thinking about scheduling but putting it off, the preparation is genuinely minimal. Thirty to sixty minutes of your time, a clear path to the attic and basement, and whatever you know about your energy costs. That is all it takes.

About Horizon Homes

Horizon Homes has performed thousands of home energy assessments in Greater Portland since 2006. We are an Efficiency Maine Top Contractor with 20+ years of experience. The assessment is free, takes 30-60 minutes, and comes with no obligation.

Schedule your assessment. Visit horizonmaine.com/free-energy-assessment or call (207) 221-3221.

Related Guides

• What Happens During a Home Energy Assessment
• Understanding Your Energy Assessment Report
• Common Energy Assessment Findings in Maine Homes
• Home Energy Assessment vs Audit: Which Do You Need