| The Next Era of HERS® Raters: Expanding Services Without Adding Burden
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At this year’s RESNET® Conference, raters are hearing a consistent message: the industry is moving beyond energy alone. Embodied carbon, resilience, and broader consultative services are becoming part of the “next era” of HERS®.
The opportunity is real—but so is the risk: expanding scope can easily become extra burden, extra coordination, and extra time that isn’t clearly valued. The goal should be the opposite: add value without adding friction.
GreenPoint Rated is a trusted third-party green building certification program originally developed in California and now supporting residential projects nationwide. It delivers practical, independently verified performance across energy efficiency, electrification, resilience, and healthy building practices. For HERS Raters, it provides a natural extension of existing expertise— allowing raters to expand services in a structured, verifiable way, differentiate in competitive markets, and offer builders and homeowners a more comprehensive certification framework.
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Why builders care (and why raters are central)
Most builders don’t pursue third-party verification for a label alone—they pursue it to reduce risk and improve delivery. When third-party inspections and testing catch issues early, builders see fewer surprises after move-in. DOE Building America profiles have documented production builders crediting third-party HERS inspections and testing with lower call-back rates and stronger quality control.
ENERGY STAR builder materials similarly highlight that third-party verified programs can reduce customer callbacks and warranty claims—because verification surfaces problems that are otherwise easy to miss.
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At the industry level, warranty costs are real: U.S. homebuilders reported paying $1.071B in warranty claims in 2024 (Warranty Week). And in California’s energy-code ecosystem, the building industry has explicitly advocated for using the HERS program as a third-party verification mechanism for measures prone to installation defects—because local departments often don’t have the time or equipment to verify quality at scale. In short, third-party verification reduces downstream risk — and raters are central to that value proposition
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Where GreenPoint Rated v10 fits
GreenPoint Rated has a long California track record in residential building, and has grown into a nationally applicable framework. Version 10 is designed to build directly on rater expertise—energy verification discipline, field documentation, and QA thinking—and extend it into areas builders increasingly value: resilience, embodied carbon, and healthy-home practices.
Just as important: GreenPoint is not intended to create a parallel workflow. It is designed to leverage work raters already do, and provide a credible structure for documenting whole-home quality and outcomes without turning projects into bespoke processes.
Much of the value comes from engaging early—when decisions around assemblies, materials, durability, and resilience still have high impact and low cost of change. Bringing structured verification into planning and design helps prevent expensive corrections later and supports stronger outcomes from the start.
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GreenPoint Rated’s Version 10 strengthens three areas aligned with what raters are hearing now:
- Embodied carbon assessed in a standardized, reviewable way (including pathways aligned with RESNET Standard 1550).
- Resilience + durability practices that support long-term performance and reduce downside risk.
- Health/wellness fundamentals that strengthen occupant outcomes and reduce complaints.
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| GreenPoint Rated follows a clear, disciplined project workflow that aligns with how raters already engage projects.
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Single-family homes: making “better homes” legible
For single-family homes, the challenge is often not knowing what was done—it’s proving it, communicating it, and making it repeatable. A builder that can reliably deliver a stronger, healthier, more resilient home has a better product, a better story, and fewer downstream problems.
GreenPoint Rated helps make that performance legible to builders, homeowners, and jurisdictions by pairing practical measures with credible third-party verification—so the “better home” story is backed by documentation, not marketing.
Industry momentum is here-nowEmbodied carbon and resilience are already influencing residential standards and program expectations. Raters are being asked to respond in measurable, verifiable ways. GreenPoint Rated v10 provides a structured framework to do so—without adding parallel workflows or unnecessary burden.
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Next steps - RESNET 2026 offer
Expand your role in a structured, verifiable way — and strengthen your position as a trusted resource to builders and homeowners.
As the role of the HERS Rater continues to expand, becoming a GreenPoint Rater is a natural next step. It builds directly on the expertise you already bring to energy verification and extends it into resilience, embodied carbon, and healthy home practices that builders increasingly value. Rather than adding complexity, it strengthens your position as a trusted consultant, helps deepen builder relationships, and creates new opportunities to differentiate your services in a competitive market.
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Habinex | Stewards of GreenPoint Rated Program
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| SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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Partner with RESNET as a 2026 Conference sponsor! Exhibitor spaces are nearly sold out- claim yours today.
The 2026 Sponsorship Prospectus features new exclusive branding opportunities, complimentary registrations, and more!
Sponsoring the 2026 RESNET Conference offers unparalleled value for organizations in the residential energy sector. Your brand will gain significant visibility among your target audience of industry leaders, HERS® Raters, home builders, and more.
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