How San Diegans are Saving Money with Home Retrofit Program

Energy Savings, Cash Rebates and Comfort

Insulation when done right will save you money and help keep your house comfortable

Energy Upgrade California
The Energy Upgrade California program promotes a ” whole house” approach that focuses on the many different elements within a home that affect energy use, how they interact and influence health and safety.

Two key components of Energy Upgrade California are home energy assessments and incentives for efficiency improvements that are based on the energy savings a home energy upgrade can achieve. And here’s the best part! Participating homeowners may be eligible for up to $4,000 in SDG&E incentives as well as additional local municipality rebates and federal tax credits.

BPI Contractor
If you’re a San Diego homeowner you need a qualified BPI (Building Performance Institute) contractor to perform specific energy-saving improvements so you can receive your cash rebates under the statewide home retrofit program. This is where we at Berkley Construction can help you. On November 11th, the Berkley Construction team completed the Energy Upgrade California Basic Building Performance Education. With this knowledge we can help you get money back for a basic home retrofit.

Basic Home Retrofit

These basic measures include:

• Insulation of Hot Water Piping
• Duct Sealing
• Air Sealing
• Thermostatic Shower Value
• Combustion Safety
• Attic Insulation

Imagine, a comfortable home, lower energy bills and rebate money in your wallet. If you’d like to learn more, give us a call at Berkley Construction Inc. 619 981 4582

Solar Power! What is it good for? Absolutely everything!

Solar power produces zero emissions. And the conversion process doesn't harm the planet like oil and coal.

You hear it from a friend, ” I just put a photovoltaic solar power system on my house and cut my electric bill in half.”   You read it on the web, ” I got a rebate from the state that paid for 40% of my solar installation costs.” You hear it on the news,” Solar power is clean energy, I’m saving the planet baby!.”  Information regarding solar is very prevalent these days but often times it can be confusing or just flat out  overwhelming.  Here are some of the  benefits of solar power and you can see for yourself why solar power is good for you, me and the panda bears.

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight to electricity to do the things we need or want such as heating or air conditioning  your house or business. Heating your shower or swimming pool, cooking your dinner. The best part is its renewable. We don’t use up the sun by utilizing its energy.

• We can generate our own source of electricity from our solar panels helping us to become less dependent on our local public utility companies for our power.

• Shhhh.  Did you hear that? Me neither.  Solar power is a silent producer of energy.  The conversion of sunlight to energy from photovoltaic panels makes no noise.

• Little maintenance and  no moving parts. Once the system is installed, up and running, there’ s not much else to it.

• The benefits of solar power are recognized by our State and Federal governments. California will give you a generous check that can cover part of the installation costs of your system. Then our Federal government will drop a nice tax credit in your lap. Hello family vacation!

• Solar power is unobtrusive.  Especially photovoltaic systems where the panels lie on top of your roof lookin’ slick.

•  It is great for the planet ! Solar power produces zero emissions. And the conversion process doesn’t harm the planet like oil, coal, etc

As you can see there are a lot of benefits to solar energy. These are just a few to get you started.  If you are interested in more information contact  Berkley Solar

Keith Berkley introduces California Senator at North Park media event

Keith Berkley introduces Senator Barbara Boxer at the newly renovated North Park Theatre

Yesterday Keith Berkly, owner of San Diego based Berkley Construction, Inc,  attended a media event at the newly renovated North Park Theatre to discuss California laws effecting small business owners. At the event he introduced  California Senator Barbara Boxer.

Before Keith spoke, he was introduced by Assembly Woman Lori Saldana who presented him as her “2008 Small Business of the Year” choice.

California Senator poses with Keith Berkley’s son Calvin, along with a group of other small business owners and political leaders in San Diego.

Keith spoke about how recent California small business initiatives have helped Berkley Construction, Inc grow and continue to hire new skilled employees.  He then introduced California Senator Barbara Boxer who went on to speak about her political plans to help small business owners.

Current Projects: New Construction Commercial

The beginning stages of framing

Current Project: Mixed use spec building

One of our projects is a new construction ground up mixed use building.  It is the first of its kind on Imperial Ave.  The building is noteworthy as it will have 3 floors, with a restaurant and retail on the first floor, the 2^nd floor will have offices and also share with the downstairs of the two residential units, and the 3^rd floor will serve as loft style master bedrooms for the rental units.

view from rear of building

Challenges:

-Permitting anything with the City of San Diego is an expensive and arduous task even for cookie cutter jobs.  This process had to get approval from the City Council and took over 6 years to design and permit.

-The other challenges involved building on a zero lot line, draining the site properly, and framing two separate buildings that connect.

foundation of mixed use

Status:

-We are currently in rough framing, electrical, and plumbing.  Project scheduled for completion summer of 2011.

Top 4 things you Need to Know before Remodeling your Home

Keith Berkley reviewing site plans at his construction office in San Diego

The following are the top four items home owners need to consider before starting a home remodel.

1)      Get good plans!

In this business, I have seen some head scratchers, but the biggest mistake is poor planning.  If you don’t have a good set of plans your project will be inefficient and often of poor quality.  Your plans should be detailed and include language about the quality of work and materials.  If you think good architects are expensive, try good lawyers, without the former you will need the latter.

2)      Don’t live at home during remodel!

Sometimes clients think they will save money by camping on the jobsite during a remodel.  This is not a cost saver, it’s a recipe for disaster.  A job site is often dangerous and often messy.  Your contractor should be clean but it still wont be clean enough for healthy living.  Not living there allows the workers to get there early, and work longer.  This should have a great affect on your timeline, not to mention your sanity.

3)      Have a reserve.

Even if you have a good set of plans and a good contract with your contractor, you need to have a reserve when problems or opportunities arise.  Existing conditions will not be constant, so expect to have to repair some areas not on the plans.  It also lets you look at opportunities as the project is being built so that you can make changes for the better.

4)      Call references

Don’t be fooled by a charming contractor with a price that is 30% below the others.  He is either leaving something out, or plans to charge you after the project is started.  You should ask the references specific questions about the project to make sure the reference is real.  If the client has a good relationship with the contractor, they will not mind showing you the completed project.  Your inquiry should not be about how much the reference likes the contractor, but rather will their contracting style be a good fit for you.