What to Expect During Your Free Home Energy Assessment

You Booked an Energy Assessment. Now What?

You’ve been thinking about it for a while. Maybe your heating bills have been creeping up. Maybe the upstairs bedrooms are always cold in January. Maybe you just want to understand where your home stands before making any big decisions about insulation or heat pumps.

Whatever brought you here, you’ve scheduled a free home energy assessment with Horizon Homes — and you’re wondering what actually happens during one.

Fair question. The unknown is the biggest reason people put off scheduling, so let’s walk through the entire process from start to finish. No surprises.

Before the Visit: Scheduling

You can schedule your assessment by filling out the form on our website or calling us at (207) 221-3221. We serve the Greater Portland area — Westbrook, Portland, South Portland, Scarborough, Gorham, Windham, Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Yarmouth, Freeport, Brunswick, Saco, Biddeford, and Kennebunk.

We’ll find a time that works for your schedule. You don’t need to do anything special to prepare — just make sure we can access your attic, basement, and mechanical systems. If there are boxes stacked in front of your furnace or insulation hatch, it helps to move those ahead of time, but it’s not a dealbreaker.

When We Arrive: The Conversation

Your energy advisor will arrive at the scheduled time, introduce themselves, and start with a conversation. We want to understand what’s bothering you about your home. Is it comfort? Cost? Both? Are there specific rooms that are always too hot or too cold? Do you notice drafts? Is there moisture in the basement?

This conversation matters because every home is different, and your experience of living in it tells us things that no instrument can measure.

The Inspection: A Thorough Visual Assessment

From there, we’ll walk through your home together, doing a thorough visual inspection of every key area. This is what our assessment is — an experienced set of eyes going through your home systematically, identifying every opportunity for improvement. Our advisors have seen hundreds of Maine homes, and they know exactly what to look for.

The whole process takes about an hour, depending on the size of your home. Here’s what we’re checking:

The Attic

Heat rises, and in Maine, your attic is often the single biggest source of energy loss. We’ll check the current insulation — what type it is, how deep it is, and whether it’s been installed correctly. In many older Maine homes, we find attics with just a few inches of fiberglass batting, well below current standards. We’re looking for gaps, compressed areas, and spots where warm air from the living space can leak into the attic.

The Basement and Foundation

The basement is the other major source of energy loss, and it’s where moisture problems often start. We’ll look at the foundation walls, the rim joist area (where the house frame sits on the foundation), and any existing insulation. Many Maine basements from the 1950s through 1980s have little to no insulation, and the rim joist is often completely exposed — essentially an open gap to the outdoors.

Exterior Walls

We’ll assess your wall insulation. In many older homes in the Portland area, walls either have no insulation or have degraded fiberglass that’s settled over the decades. We can often tell a lot from the exterior siding type, the age of the home, and visual inspection of accessible wall cavities.

Windows and Doors

We’ll note the condition and type of your windows and doors — single-pane, double-pane, storm windows — and check for air leakage around frames. While Horizon Homes doesn’t do window or door replacement, understanding their condition helps us prioritize where insulation and air sealing will have the biggest impact.

Heating and Cooling Systems

We’ll look at your current heating system — whether it’s an oil boiler, furnace, propane system, electric baseboard, or something else. We’ll note its age, condition, and efficiency rating. If you already have heat pumps, we’ll check those too. We’ll also look at your hot water heater and any ventilation equipment.

What We’re Really Doing: Identifying Every Opportunity

The goal of the assessment isn’t just to make a list of problems — it’s to identify every area where your home can be improved, prioritize them by impact and cost-effectiveness, and give you a clear picture of what’s possible.

An experienced advisor rarely needs diagnostic testing at this stage. The problems are almost always visible: thin or missing insulation, obvious air leakage paths, aging equipment, moisture issues you can see and feel. The assessment is about methodically checking every area and connecting the dots into a whole-home picture.

How Long Does It Take?

Plan for about an hour. A straightforward ranch or condo might be quicker. A larger Colonial or a home with multiple additions might take a bit longer. We’ll be thorough, but we won’t drag it out.

What You Get Afterward

After your assessment, you’ll receive a clear plan that includes:

• A prioritized list of recommended improvements — what to do first, second, and third, based on cost-effectiveness and impact
• Estimated costs for each improvement, so you can plan and budget
• Available rebates and incentives — including Efficiency Maine rebates and federal tax credits
• Estimated energy savings — what you can expect to save on heating and cooling costs
• Photos from the assessment, so you can see what we found

The plan is yours to keep whether or not you decide to move forward with any work. There’s no expiration date and no pressure.

What We Won’t Do

Let’s address the elephant in the room: we will not try to sell you anything during the assessment.

No high-pressure tactics. No “sign today and get 10% off” offers. No guilt trips. Your energy advisor is there to assess your home, answer your questions, and give you honest information. The recommendation plan comes later, and the decision is entirely yours.

We’ve been doing this in Maine since 2006. Our approach has always been the same: give people good information, do quality work when they’re ready, and let the results speak for themselves. That approach has kept us busy for nearly 20 years through referrals and repeat customers.

Common Concerns We Hear

“My house is old — is it even worth assessing?”

Older homes often benefit the most from an assessment. A 1960s Cape in South Portland or a 1940s farmhouse in Gorham typically has significant room for improvement, and the savings potential is substantial. Age isn’t a problem — it’s an opportunity.

“We’re not ready to do any work right now.”

That’s perfectly fine. Many homeowners get an assessment months or even a year before they’re ready to start a project. Having the information lets you plan, budget, and make decisions on your own timeline. Some people do the work in phases — air sealing and attic insulation this year, basement and heat pumps next year.

“Do I need to be home the whole time?”

Yes — we need someone home during the assessment. You don’t have to follow us around (though most homeowners find it interesting and want to), but we need access to all areas of the home and may have questions along the way.

“Is this really free? What’s the catch?”

It’s genuinely free. The assessment is how we build relationships with homeowners in our community. We’d rather spend our time showing you the real condition of your home than running TV ads. If we can help you, great. If your home is already in good shape, we’ll tell you that too.

Ready to See Where Your Home Stands?

A home energy assessment is the single best step you can take toward lower heating bills, better comfort, and a plan that actually makes sense for your home and budget. And it costs you nothing but about an hour of your time.