Quality Installation Documentation Tool – Contractor Experiences

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory developed for the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of State and Community Energy Programs an open source, free to use, quality installation documentation tool. The Quality Install Tool gives contractors easy to follow workflows for documenting installation quality, a requirement for many IRA rebates.
 
The tool runs from any web browser and consist primarily of photo prompts. The intent is for contractors to use it from their smartphone. The tool’s photo prompts ask the contractor to photograph specific critical details throughout the planning and installation of an energy efficiency upgrade. Available workflows including ones for heat pump water heater, ductless heat pump, and central ducted split heat pumps.
 
The open-source code allows programs to adopt the code and customize it to their program including adding banners and logos to the quality installation reports. The tool automatically generates PDF reports containing the photos. The reports describe the photos in a manner that is understandable by the customer as well as QA/QC reviewers to evaluate the quality of an installation just from the report. This session presents the tool and impressions from contractors who have used the tool’s workflows.