Energy retrofit polls: how other homeowners weighed the same decisions

How to read poll results

As opinion, not evidence. Respondents are visitors who chose to answer, which skews toward people actively planning work; by contrast, the EIA's 2024 household energy survey found 37.4% of Southern homes have mostly single-pane windows. Results are useful for seeing which concerns are common and for phrasing your own priorities. They are not useful for predicting what will work in your house, which depends on the attic, the ducts, the windows and the equipment that only a visit can see.

Where a poll touches a measured figure, the service pages give the measured version. ENERGY STAR's estimate that 9 in 10 homes are under-insulated is a national finding; a poll asking where visitors plan to insulate first is a different, smaller population. Keep the two apart when quoting either.

Why these questions

Each poll maps to a decision a pro will ask about. The comfort problem and the audit status shape the assessment request. Insulation location and material size an envelope estimate. Window reason and frame preference size a window estimate. Solar motivation and battery plans size a solar proposal. Budget, incentive check and sequencing decide whether a proposal fits the household at all. Options are neutral and mutually exclusive so results read cleanly, and 'unsure' is a legitimate answer that points to the relevant service page.

Where the polls and the statistics disagree

Expect gaps. Visitors planning work report more draftiness, higher budgets and more interest in solar than the EIA's cross-section of all households, because they are further along. When a result surprises you, check the matching statistic: NAR's finding that 47% of Realtors cite incentives as the top driver of green demand describes the market, while a poll here on whether visitors have checked rebates describes people about to buy. Both are true of different groups.

Using poll answers in a request

Your own answers make a good opening for a request: the problem, whether an audit exists, the scope you want priced, the budget range from the calculator, and whether you have confirmed any rebates. Pros can price that. HomeAdvisor's average blown-in insulation job is $1,661, and ACEEE puts savings at $310/yr when Texas homes swap resistance heat for a heat pump; the owners who spend well arrive with the sequence decided.

Two poll answers deserve special care in a request. If you answered that you assumed the federal credit still applies, say so to bidders and ask them to price without it, because the 25C and 25D credits ended for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. If you answered that you have not had an audit, consider requesting one first rather than three product quotes; the audit report makes every later proposal comparable and is the document a HOMES rebate application will need.