Indoor airPLUS: Building Safer and Healthier Homes Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) 2022 EPA Indoor airPLUS Leader Award Rater Application APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS Overview: The Indoor airPLUS Leader Awards were created to recognize outstanding indoor airPLUS Program partners who construct and verify Indoor airPLUS homes, designed and built for improved indoor air quality (IAQ). This annual award acknowledges market leading builders and raters that promote the benefits of enhanced IAQ protections and educate consumers on the value of safer, healthier, and more comfortable homes with the Indoor airPLUS label Benefits: As an Indoor airPLUS Leader Award recipient your organization receives the following benefits: • Customized Leader Award marketing collateral; • 2022 Leader Award Winner banner; • Award, presented at ceremony hosted at the EEBA High Performance Home Summit; • Recognition and web linking on the EPA website; • Email and social media promotion; and • Opportunity to earn EPA's Indoor airPLUS Leader of the Year A ward[ awarded to just one builder and rater). Eligibility: To be considered eligible for the award, a rater must: • Have verified and reported at least ten (10) Indoor airPLUS homes in the previous calendar year (2021). • Be in good standing as an Indoor airPLUS partner and with EPA regarding compliance with ail applicable regulations. • Be in good standing with your applicable verification oversight organization. • Submit a valid, complete application for the award. Note, only one organization will be awarded per application. If your organization worked collaboratively with another Indoor airPLUS partner on a project or development and each organization wishes to be recognized as Award Winners (e.g., a rater along with a builder and/or developer partner working on a project together), each organization needs to submit unique applications. EPA 402/B22/002 Page 1 of 10 ------- What you need to submit: • Complete all fields below. Responses to each narrative question must be typed. • Submit a dated final verification checklist for each builder's "first IAP labeled home in 2021" (if applicable). See Criteria Details for more information. • Submit at minimum 4 high resolution images with descriptions to be included in featured profiles of the winners. Examples images can include Indoor airPLUS labeled homes (under construction or finished), marketing and sales materials, trainings (internal and external), and/or presentations at conferences. Supplemental materials such as additional photos or illustrative examples are strongly encouraged. • When finished, submit via email to Indoor airPLUS@epa.aov. Once you have submitted the completed application, the Indoor airPLUS Program will provide a linkto your own online folder where you will be able to easily submit all images and supplemental materials. When you need to submit: • Applications are due by 8 pm EDT, June 3,2022. What to expect after you submit: • Confirmation of Receipt: A confirmation email will be sent to the email address listed in your application within 2 business days of its submission and will contain further instructions on how to access and submit all supplemental materials via your online folder. If you do not receive confirmation within this timeframe, please contact Indoor airPLUS@epa.gov. • Notification: You will be notified of the status of your application by August 12,2022. Ceremony Details: The Indoor airPLUS Leader Awards will be publicly announced on or before August 15,2022 and will be formally presented during the EEBA High Performance Home Summit. September 20-22,2022. EPA will also be presenting the Indoor airPLUS Leader of the Year Award to just one outstanding builder and rater partner, selected from the pool of Leader Award winners. The winning builder and rater will be chosen based on their achievements with Indoor airPLUS in the previous year, showcased by the quality of their Leader Award application. These two Leader of the Year winners will be announced during the award ceremony at the EEBA Summit. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your great work at a nationally recognized conference for high performance building! We strongly encourage you to review the Indoor airPLUS 2022 Leader Awards scoring criteria, located in the Appendix, prior to completing your application. EPA 402/B22/002 Page 2 of 10 ------- Required Information: Organization Name: Contact Name: Phone Number: Email Address: Physical Address (for award distribution): Company Website: Company Social Media Pages: Facebook: Twitter: Other: Number of Indoor airPLUS labeled homes verified in 2021: Number of ENERGY STAR certified homes verified in 2021: Number of Indoor airPLUS builder clients actively building and labeling Indoor airPLUS homes in 2021: Number of builder clients who built their first Indoor airPLUS labeled home in 2021 (see scoring criteria): Number of Indoor airPLUS labeled homes verified in 2021 that qualify as affordable housing, if known: Commitment to Continued Participation: ~ By checking this box you acknowledge your intention to remain actively involved in the verification of at least one Indoor airPLUS home in the next 12 months. EPA 402/B22/002 Page 3 of 10 ------- Narrative Questions: See additional streamlined instructions for "Repeat Award Recipients" on page 10. 1. How do you engage with builders and encourage their participation in the Indoor airPLUS Program, and in what ways do you educate other stakeholders and community members about IAQ and Indoor airPLUS? In particular, please provide details of any new efforts or activities that you have undertaken in the last year to promote enhanced IAQ in homes. 2. For your builder clients that have made the Indoor airPLUS 100% Commitment for 2022, what key factors contributed to their commitment, and what role did you play (if any)? EPA 402/B22/002 Page 4 of 10 ------- 3. For your builder clients that have NOT made the Indoor airPLUS 100% Commitment for 2022, what barriers do you feel are preventing them from committing? 4. (a) What do you think is the most impactful IAQ feature that your builders are including in their homes? (b) What features or practices would you like to see more of from your builders? 5. How can EPA help you and your builder partners market and promote your work in providing healthier homes? Please feel free to describe potential improvements or additional marketing tools that would be helpful in your efforts. EPA 402/B22/002 Page 5 of 10 ------- Media Submission Form This form is required by all applicants, including Repeat Award Recipients. Please provide at minimum 4 media assets, including both technical (2) and marketing (2) assets. Supplemental materials such as additional photos or illustrative examples are strongly encouraged. These details and images will be used to create featured profiles of the winners. This is your opportunity to showcase the ways your organization helps clients meet the Indoor airPLUS standard through innovative construction techniques, attention to detail, and commitment to IAQ. Examples of technical assets can be, but are not limited to, images from home inspections, technical trainings, and/or IAQ testing and monitoring reports. Examples of marketing assets can include, but are not limited to, marketing and sales materials, trainings (internal and external), and/or presentations at conferences. See the Scoring Criteria section for further examples on marketing and outreach. ^Required Asset 1 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: ^Required Asset 2 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: ^Required Asset 3 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: ^Required Asset 4 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: EPA 402/B22/002 Page 6 of 10 ------- Optional Asset 5 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: Optional Asset 6 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: Optional Asset 7 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: Optional Asset 8 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: Optional Asset 9 - File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: Optional Asset 10- File Name: Description of asset/feature(s) shown in image: EPA 402/B22/002 Page 7 of 10 ------- Appendix i. Scoring Matrix Scoring Criteria: Criteria (see details below) Maximum Points Number of builder clients who built their first Indoor airPLUS labeled home in 2021. 30 Indoor airPLUS web presence (company website, social media, etc.) 25 Use of Indoor airPLUS brand in company marketing, education, and outreach (mass email, collaterals, training materials, podcasts, etc.). Attach examples and links. 25 Review of Narrative Questions 20 BONUS 10 Total (110 possible w/ bonus) 100 ii. Scoring Criteria Criteria Details: Number of builder clients who built their first Indoor airPLUS labeled home in 2021. Indoor airPLUS verifiers have a unique opportunity to support the program by recruiting new builders and helping them understand and implement the program specifications to earn the label. The four rating companies who have excelled in this area with the most Indoor airPLUS labels for new builders will earn the following points. Date of final verification must fall in calendar year 2021. Please submit a dated final verification checklist for each builder's "first IAP labeled home". Each builder division is counted separately for corporate builders. 1st place 30 points 2nd place 20 points 3rd place 15 points 4th place 10 points EPA 402/B22/002 Page 8 of 10 ------- Indoor airPLUS web presence • Website: a strong web presence can include but is not limited to the following: o The Indoor airPLUS logo featured on the company website as an indicator of partnership; o A description of the Indoor airPLUS program features and benefits; o Link(s) to Indoor airPLUS web page(s); o A page dedicated to Indoor airPLUS and/or healthy homes and IAQ; o Indoor airPLUS videos, publications, and other applicable media; o Original material created by the organization to showcase Indoor airPLUS homes, such as a photo gallery, educational materials, and videos; o Relevant keyword tags for improved search engine optimization (SEO). • Social Media: Raters are strongly encourage to follow and interact with Indoor airPLUS social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook). and to post their own Indoor airPLUS content regularly. Applicants will be scored on: o The number of posts related to Indoor airPLUS and/or healthy homes and IAQ; o The distribution of their posts across the calendar year - raters who post related content evenly throughout the year will be scored higher; o Posts that include content specific to Indoor airPLUS. not just IAQ. For example: posts or tweets about Indoor airPLUS homes being constructed, verified, or recently occupied; o Interactions with the Indoor airPLUS social media accounts: a higher number of likes, comments, shares, and retweets will positively impact your score. Examples of Indoor airPLUS in marketing, education, and outreach • The applicant utilizes the Indoor airPLUS label as a marketing tool in recruiting builders to the program. o Marketing examples include collaterals, fact sheets, case studies, testimonials, or other materials explaining the benefits of building an Indoor airPLUS home to the builder (i.e., outlining the growing consumer demand for IAQ and healthy housing), o Hosting training programs and presentations related to Indoor airPLUS and IAQ as a method to recruit builders to the program. • Rating company provides training activities for builder client(s) on best practices for design, construction, and verification processes, as well as sales, marketing, or promotion of Indoor airPLUS. For example: o Encouraging staff and builder clients to attend external training programs and conferences relating to healthy homes and IAQ; o Holding in-house training or educational sessions for staff and builder clients to learn more about construction best-practices and techniques for IAQ or specific Indoor airPLUS requirements; o Encouraging staff and builder clients to register for, view, and actively participate in Indoor airPLUS-hosted webinars. • Rating company provides evidence of concerted outreach efforts to grow market share of Indoor airPLUS labeled homes, including distribution of collaterals or program resources, promotion at trade shows, or coordination with designers, trade contractors, real estate agents, housing finance agencies, and/or other stakeholders. For example: EPA 402/B22/002 Page 9 of 10 ------- o Hosting educational events, such as presentations, community films, or gatherings with the goal of educating stakeholders and others about Indoor airPLUS and IAQ; o Meeting and partnering with local industry professionals with a shared goal of promoting Indoor airPLUS and building for IAQ. • NOTE: Please describe and upload marketing examples that have been utilized by your company only since the last award cycle. Review of Narrative Questions • Please respond to the Narrative Questions in the text boxes provided above, fully addressing each part of the question. Provide any supplemental materials to your answers in your online folder referenced above. • Simplified Instructions for Repeat Award Recipients: If your organization received a Leader Award last year, your narrative responses may be streamlined. If you are eligible, in questions 1,2, and 3 please enter in these fields, "We affirm that we are continuing to undertake the Indoor airPLUS related activities as described in our last application," and describe any changes to your Indoor airPLUS activities since your last application was submitted. • Please note applications that highlight the use of new and innovative approaches to promote Indoor airPLUS are viewed favorably during the application scoring process. Media Submission Form Response This form is required by all applicants, including Repeat Award Recipients. Provide at minimum 4 media assets, including both technical (2) and marketing (2) assets. Supplemental materials such as additional photos or illustrative examples are strongly encouraged. Technical assets can include images from home inspections, technical trainings, and/or IAQ testing or monitoring reports. Images from home inspections can be from the same or multiple homes. Images that specifically showcase Indoor airPLUS related features or construction specifications are preferred. Marketing assets can include marketing and sales materials, trainings (internal and external), and/or presentations at conference. See the preceding sections for further examples. Use the space provided on the form to provide any relevant context for each image. It does not need to be overly detailed but sufficient to clearly understand the reason it was submitted. Bonus Materials (MAX 10 extra points) o Did we miss something you'd like us to consider? Applicants are encouraged to submit additional examples and materials they would like us to consider towards their score, along with a brief justification for the additional submission, if necessary. o Please provide any supplemental materials in your online folder. Examples of bonus materials include, but are not limited to: o Informational or promotional video related to Indoor airPLUS; o Technical or informational packets for your Indoor airPLUS builder partners; o Letters of recommendation from builder or trades aboutyour Indoor airPLUS homes; o IAQ testing or monitoring results; and/or o Energy modeling and/or monitoring results. EPA 402/B22/002 Page 10 of 10 ------- |