Our business

Byggmeister is a design-build residential remodeling company founded in 1983. Our services include architectural design, full-line remodeling including kitchens, bathrooms, additions, and attic and basement conversions, and also landscape design and masonry and small jobs. We also offer energy audits and energy performance improvement contracting. Among other awards, we have won the Guild Quality "Guildmaster" distinction for outstanding customer service for three years running (www.guildquality.com). Paul Eldrenkamp, owner and founder of Byggmeister, has served on the boards of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, the Green Decade Coalition/Newton, and the Newton Historical Society, and is chair of the residential working group of the Governor's Task Force on Zero Net Energy Buildings (www.mazneb.org).

What we are doing to protect the environment

Each of our major design-build projects starts off with a baseline energy audit and HERS analysis (Home Energy Rating System; (www.natresnet.org) to assign a "score" to the home's energy efficiency (analogous to the Energy Star label on an appliance). Throughout the design and planning process, one of our key aims is to improve the home's HERS score by a significant percentage--sometimes as much as 50%--by means of good insulation and air-sealing details and proper mechanical equipment selection and sizing, among other strategies. Additionally, our fastest-growing business division is our energy performance work: auditing, insulation, and air-sealing projects, whose sole goal is dramatic household efficiency improvements.

Why we support the Energy Smackdown

The Energy Smackdown provides an extraordinary opportunity for homeowners to gain a much higher level of awareness of their household energy consumption, and a much more sophisticated understanding of the consequences of their actions. the Smackdown's combination of education, score-keeping, peer support, and friendly competition is a model for how to foster a much more energy-aware society, starting at the community level.

How we can help you

  • Full diagnostic household energy audits, including blower door test, infrared inspection, and utility bill analysis.

  • Full HERS analysis of a house, either as part of the design process for a major renovation, or as part of a "master plan" for deep energy reductions.

  • Strategic air-sealing, using the blower door during the work for ongoing quality control, plus fog test as needed to help identify air leakage paths.

  • General insulation upgrades.

  • Major insulation upgrades ("deep energy retrofits") for truly significant reductions in household energy use.

  • Educational workshops, including Powerpoint presentation to introduce participants to the basics of residential building science, followed by a hands-on demonstration of blower door and infrared camera diagnostics.