Mark MaGrann, MaGrann Associates interview
Title: Indoor airPLUS Verifier Perspectives
We felt that as an energy consulting company we needed a label, a third party credential, where we could tell our customers that there’s truly a process, there’s truly a qualification and there is some value to the work we are performing for them. We got involved with Indoor airPLUS last year as part of our original involvement with EPA and the ENERGY STAR homes program for New Jersey, and looking for some added features to give to our builders in New Jersey, we thought the airPLUS would be a good, valuable choice for them. This is my 27th or 28th year in the business. It’s always exciting with things that are new and coming forward. To any new rater who’s just starting out or anyone just involved with the program, it’s extremely important to build your business step-by-step, layer-by-layer. And the airPLUS offering adds to that, that’s what it does for the rater. In New Jersey, we have relatively high levels of asthma. Perhaps it’s because of that, I’m not a medical doctor, but I do know that there is a high concern about the quality of life in our state. It’s a very crowded, very highly populated environment and so indoor air quality, as well as exterior air quality, is important to our buyers.  We built a house in Hillsdale, New Jersey, that was a very high quality house, high quality in a number of ways, how it was constructed, and in terms of its energy performance, the home eventually, when we finished it, rated a 21 on the HERS score. So, we are very, very proud of that. It’s the most energy efficient house that my company has been involved with, but more importantly we did do airPLUS in that house. And this is a returning vet who is a quadriplegic who was injured in the war through a head injury, so the quality of his environment indoors is extremely important, because that is where he spends most of his time. So, we coupled ENERGY STAR and we coupled airPLUS for this particular individual, and the result was terrific. I think the building industry is much more aware and sensitive to the need of indoor air quality, so the sell is not as hard as it used to be. Are all of our builders doing it? No, they’re not. Are they looking at it? Yes, they are. We want to make sure that we build in quality, we build in performance, and that has an upfront cost. But the cost over time is less. Anyone can say they’re green. Anyone can say they’re energy efficient, but it really takes a professional who knows what they are doing who can, with a national recognized standard, can verify that the house will perform the way that the builder says it will perform down the road.