What’s building performance?

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Building performance is a measure of a home’s key health and safety characteristics, as well as an assessment of the home’s performance on environmental standard tests. This field is a topic of interest among builders, renovators and other members of the construction community. You can hire a building performance appraisal technician to assist in appraising an existing home or developing plans for a new home.

In Building Performance, engineers look at a number of characteristics to learn more about how durable, safe and efficient a home is after completion. They examine the materials used to determine if they are durable, climate-friendly and renewable. Issues such as buckling or potentially dangerous design features are a topic of interest, along with the use of hazardous materials in construction. While code compliance is not the focus of this area of ​​the building industry, it can be a concern if non-compliant building components interfere with performance or make certification to a specific performance standard impossible.

A very important aspect of building performance is the energy efficiency of the structure. Some buildings maintain stable temperatures with minimal assistance from heating and cooling systems and use passive measures to conserve energy. They can also be made from renewable materials, such as recycled products. Others may be energy hogs with significant problems such as poor interior design that makes it difficult to control temperatures or single-paned windows with no protective film that allow for rapid heat exchange between indoors and out.

In building design, high performance is often a goal. Contractors want buildings that are durable and stable through decades of use. They may also consider adaptability and designs that are well suited to reuse, such as houses with movable walls that can expand and contract rooms to meet changing needs. Contractors can also think about weathering and efficiency issues to implement measures at the time of construction that will save money in the long run.

For refurbishment, building performance evaluations provide an opportunity to identify the most important issues to be addressed. A consultant can help renovators use their funds wisely to boost performance. Appraisals can also be useful for real estate agents and prospective property buyers who want to know more about a home before moving forward with a deal. An inspector can prove, for example, that a home needs substantial work to meet an energy efficiency standard, and the buyer could use that as leverage in contract negotiations.

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