Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Indoor airPLUS: Building Safer and Healthier Homes 2018 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. This annual award acknowledges market leading builders and Raters that promote the benefits of enhanced indoor air quality 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 2018 Leader Award Winner logos and 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 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 year (2017). Be in good standing as an Indoor airPLUS partner and with EPA regarding compliance with all applicable regulations. Be in good standing with your applicable verification oversight organization. Submit a valid, complete application for the award, Page 1 of 6 ------- What you need to submit: Complete all fields below. Responses to each narrative question must be typed. Supplemental materials such as photos, images, or illustrative examples are strongly encouraged. New this year: We're looking to builders for their best Indoor airPLUS home. If your builder clients are applying for an award, consider assisting them with photos, videos, and/or construction details to supplement their Best Indoor airPLUS Home Showcase submittal. When finished, submit via email to Indoor airPLUS@epa.gov. Once you have submitted the completed application, the Indoor airPLUS Program will provide a link to your own online folder where you will be able to easily submit all supplemental materials. When you need to submit: Applications are due by 8 pm EDT, June 29,2018. 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 31, 2018. NEW THIS YEAR: The Indoor airPLUS Leader Awards will be publicly announced in September 2018 and will be formally presented at the EEBA High Performance Home Summit, October 16-18, 2018 in San Diego, California. We will also be presenting a new award this yearthe Indoor airPLUS Leader of the Year Awardto just one outstanding builder and Rater partner, selected from the pool of Leader Award winners. The builder winner may be selected from any of the builder categories. 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 publicly announced in-person 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! EEBA will also be offering reduced registration fees for Leader Award Winners. Contact Indoor airPLUStcb.epa.gov for more information. Page 2 of 6 ------- Required Information: Organization Name: Contact Name: Phone Number: Email Address: Physical Address (for award distribution for winners not attending the EEBA ceremony): Company Website: Company Social Media Pages: Facebook: Twitter: Other: Number of Indoor airPLUS qualified homes verified in 2017: Number of ENERGY STAR certified homes verified in 2017: Number of Indoor airPLUS builder clients actively building and labeling Indoor airPLUS homes in 2017: 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. Page 3 of 6 ------- Scoring Criteria: Criteria (see details below) Maximum Points Number of Indoor airPLUS qualified homes 25 Number of Indoor airPLUS builder clients actively building and labeling Indoor airPLUS homes 25 Indoor airPLUS web presence (company website, social media, etc.) 25 Use of Indoor airPLUS brand in company marketing, education, and outreach (email communications, collaterals, training materials, etc.). Attach examples and links. 15 Review of Narrative Questions 10 BONUS: Video Submission 10 Total (110 possible w/ bonus) 100 Criteria Details: Number of Indoor airPLUS qualified homes Rater with the most Indoor airPLUS homes verified 25 points 1st quartile (as a percentage of #1) 20 points 2nd quartile 15 points 3rd quartile 10 points 4th quartile 5 points Number of Indoor airPLUS builder clients actively building and labeling Indoor airPLUS homes in 2017 Rater with the most Indoor airPLUS builder clients 25 points 1st quartile (as a percentage of #1) 20 points 2nd quartile 15 points 3rd quartile 10 points 4th quartile 5 points Indoor airPLUS web presence o A strong web presence includes: ¦ The Indoor airPLUS logo featured prominently on the company website as an indicator of partnership; ¦ A description of the program features and benefits; ¦ Links to applicable and current Indoor airPLUS web pages; ¦ Social media activity including original posts/tweets about Indoor airPLUS homes being constructed, verified, or recently occupied; and re-posts/re-tweets/likes of Indoor airPLUS social media content; ¦ Homeowner testimonials and/or videos about their experience in Indoor airPLUS homes. Page 4 of 6 ------- Examples of Indoor airPLUS in marketing, education, and outreach o Examples of the following can be provided as electronic attachments in a single PDF, and, where appropriate, website URLs with a description of the linked material. o The applicant utilizes the Indoor airPLUS label as a marketing tool in recruiting builders to the program. ¦ 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 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 to homebuyers, tenants, and the general public. o 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. o NOTE: Please describe and upload marketing examples that have been utilized by your company only within the last 12 months. Review of Narrative Questions o Please respond to the Narrative Questions in the text boxes below, fully addressing each part of the question. If desired, please provide any supplemental materials to your answers in your online folder referenced above. Video Submission (Bonus, but strongly encouraged) o 10 Bonus Points are possible for applicants who provide a video submission. o Examples of video content include, but are not limited to: ¦ Testimonial from a company representative discussing Indoor airPLUS and how it has benefited the business ¦ A short tour of a home ¦ Indoor airPLUS focused testimonial from a builder and/or homebuyer ¦ Discussion of how you are collaborating with your Indoor airPLUS builder and/or design team to spur innovation and offer an exceptionally healthy and safe home for homebuyers. o Please do not submit content that is largely self-promotional. Applicants can use their name, company, and logo in the video, but they should also highlight the indoor air quality features of the homes or benefits to homeowners and insights they've learned as an Indoor airPLUS partner and/or homeowner. More traditional video advertisements are also welcome, but will be considered under the criteria for Marketing Examples. o Builder and Rater partners are permitted to submit a video together for separate applications in their respective categories, but each partner's substantive contribution should be readily apparent to the viewer. Joint videos should be noted in the application. o The video submission is optional for Leader Award achievement: however, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a video to receive top recognition from EPA. o Please utilize your online folder provided by EPA to upload your video submission. Page 5 of 6 ------- Narrative Questions: 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. Have any of your builder clients made the Indoor airPLUS 100% Commitment for 2018, intending to label all of their homes this year? ~ YES ~ NO a) If yes, did you play a role in their decision to commit and how did you encourage them? b) If no, what barriers do you see for builders in making this commitment? 3. How can EPA help you and your builder partners to make more of an impact in providing healthier homes for families? Please feel free to describe programmatic changes that could be made, potential improvements to the Construction Specifications, or additional marketing tools that would be helpful. What do you envision as a new and exciting step the program could take? Page 6 of 6 ------- |