The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) established the Guidelines for Home Energy Professionals project to support and promote high-quality work within the weatherization and home energy upgrade industry. One of the major components of the Guidelines effort was to define high-quality work through Standard Work Specifications (SWS) for single-family, multifamily, and manufactured housing energy upgrades.
What are the Standard Work Specifications?
The SWS for single-family, multifamily, and manufactured housing energy upgrades define the minimum acceptable outcomes for any weatherization or home performance task to be effective, durable, and safe.
To read an introduction on the SWS, please refer to Section 1: Using the Standard Work Specifications.
Maintaining the Standard Work Specifications
A primary objective of the Guidelines project is to provide consensus-based SWS in accordance with industry best practices. Collaboration with industry throughout the SWS development process promoted consensus across the WAP network and private industry. This collaboration was accomplished through the involvement of public, private, and federal sector subject matter experts, with feedback obtained through a multi-stage, iterative stakeholder engagement process. To ensure the SWS continues to be a consensus-based, centralized resource for promoting best practices and maintaining consistency throughout the home performance industry, an SWS maintenance committee will inform regular revisions of the SWS in accordance with current home performance industry best practices.
To learn more about the maintenance process and to access comment reports and spreadsheets, please visit the SWS Maintenance page.