Upcoming deadlines for the ecoENERGY Retrofit program

By Doug White, At Home and Play Inspections - www.athomeandplayinspections.com

On January 29, National Resource Minister Joe Oliver announced that registrations for the ecoENERGY retrofit for homes program had closed due to a 250,000 participant limit. This solidifies suspicion that the ecoENERGY Retrofit program will not be renewed again. If you already have a Natural Resources Canada registration number, you can still add these quick jobs to your list to get the most possible out of the final 40 days of the ecoENERGY retrofit program.

If you already have your approval and number, the structure of the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program is set around the following key dates, which changed in the announcement on January 29:

1.            March 31, 2012: All work must be completed.

2.            June 30, 2012: The post-renovation evaluation must be completed.

If you already have your number, this change in dates actually extends the time you have to get the last bit of work completed in your home because only the work has to be completed by March 31, and the inspection can be done later. This means there is still time for you to add a few ecoENERGY rebate-qualified updates to your home. Click here to see the revised wording on the Natural Resources Canada website. This is likely your last chance to make the most out of tax savings to retrofit your home, so make sure you don't miss out.

Before deciding to make some additions to your planned retrofit renovations, there are two key components to the process you should consider.

1.            How much of the renovation cost will be covered by the retrofit? Take into consideration the cost of the materials, labour and potential savings.

2.            How long will this renovation or addition to your plan take? Consider what type of preparation you can do yourself, and what guarantees you can obtain from the contractor doing the work.

Although there are quite a few major projects that you probably don't have time for, the ones listed below can be completed within your timeline have the potential to make a noticeable difference in your home and have a strong upfront cost to ecoENERGY rebate ratio.