Free home energy assessment: what the visit covers
A free home energy assessment turns a guess about a drafty, expensive-to-heat house into a written scope: what needs work, in what order, and what the applicable incentive path looks like through Mass Save in Massachusetts or Rhode Island Energy through RISE in Rhode Island. It costs nothing, and nothing gets scheduled until the number is in writing.
The gate to the incentive, and the basis for the scope
Every insulation job that runs through Complete Home Comfort starts here. A free home energy assessment does two things at once: it is the entry point the energy programs the company works within require before a utility incentive can be requested, and it is the visit that produces the actual scope of work, the specific rooms and cavities that need insulation or air sealing and the order they should be addressed in. Skipping straight to an estimate without this step means guessing at both the incentive eligibility and the scope itself.
The assessment exists because a house cannot be scoped from a phone call. Two houses on the same street, built the same year, can need different work depending on what a previous owner already did, what settled over the decades, and what is hiding behind a wall or under old insulation. Walking the house first is what turns a general idea of what insulation does into a specific plan for this house.
Who the assessment is for, and what it costs
The assessment is for any homeowner in the 73 Massachusetts and Rhode Island communities Complete Home Comfort serves who wants to know what is happening inside the walls, attic, and basement before committing to a project. It is also the right first step for a homeowner who wants to know whether Mass Save or the Rhode Island Energy pathway administered by RISE applies to the address.
The assessment itself is offered at no cost. There is no charge to have the crew walk the house, take measurements, and put the findings in writing. The only figure attached to the visit is the eventual project number, and that number does not exist until the assessment has happened.
Before the visit: what to clear and have ready
A few things ahead of time make the visit faster and the findings more accurate. The crew needs a clear path to the attic hatch, whether that is a pull-down ladder, a scuttle in a closet ceiling, or a hatch in a garage ceiling, so it is worth clearing anything stacked underneath it beforehand. In the basement, a walkable path along the foundation walls and the rim joist, the band where the house framing sits on top of the foundation, matters more than a fully cleared room; boxes pulled a foot back from the walls are usually enough.
It also helps to have anything documenting past insulation or weatherization work: a contract, an invoice, or earlier Mass Save, Rhode Island Energy, or RISE paperwork. None of this is required to book the visit, but it saves time cross-checking what has already been done against what the assessment finds.
The visit itself, stage by stage
The order below is close to how a visit actually runs. Select a stage to see what happens at it.
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1 Walkthrough and interview
The visit starts with a walk through the house and a conversation about what prompted the call: a cold room, a heating bill that keeps climbing, ice on the eaves last winter, or simply wanting to know where the house stands. This sets the priorities for everything that follows.
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2 Attic
The crew goes into the attic to see what insulation is already there, how deep it is, and whether it sits even across the floor or thin and disturbed in places. The attic hatch, any ventilation baffles, and recessed lighting or duct penetrations get checked as common leak points.
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3 Basement and rim joist
Attention moves to the basement, the rim joist band, and, where the house has one, the crawl space. The foundation walls, the basement ceiling, and the condition of the rim joist are all noted, along with any sign of moisture, since a wet basement changes what can be insulated and when.
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4 Wall cavity checks
Where access allows, exterior wall cavities are checked for existing insulation, commonly through an outlet, a small probe hole, or a spot where a cavity is already open. This shows whether walls are empty, partly filled, or already insulated, which decides whether wall insulation belongs in the scope at all.
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5 Air leakage assessment
The applicable program assessment may include a blower door test, a fan set into an exterior door that depressurizes the house and makes air-leakage paths easier to find and measure. The Mass Save path in Massachusetts and the Rhode Island Energy path administered by RISE each begin with the program process for the address, so leakage is measured rather than guessed.
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6 Measurements recorded
Every finding gets recorded as it is found: insulation depth by area, square footage, rim joist linear footage, and any obstruction that will affect the work, so the eventual scope reflects the house as it actually is rather than a rough guess.
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7 Findings discussed on the spot
Before the crew leaves, the findings are walked through in plain terms: what was found, what it means, and what is likely to be recommended. Nothing is finalized on the spot. The written scope and the number attached to it come afterward, once everything recorded during the visit has been worked through.
What comes out of the assessment
The assessment ends with a written scope, a priority order for recommended measures, and, where the house qualifies, the applicable incentive path: Mass Save in Massachusetts or Rhode Island Energy through RISE in Rhode Island. The program for the address determines the approved measures and incentive before installation.
The scope generally follows the standing order of air sealing before insulating: an air-leaky house wastes new insulation the same way a leaky bucket wastes new water, so leak points get closed before new material goes in over them. Depending on what the assessment found, that priority list can draw on insulation work such as attic insulation or air sealing, or it can mean removing old material entirely under insulation removal before anything new goes in.
Nothing is scheduled from the assessment itself. The written scope and its number go to the homeowner first, and a project is booked only once that number has been reviewed and approved.
What the assessment can turn up in an older New England house
An assessment sometimes finds something that has to be dealt with before insulation work can start. None of this is unusual in the towns Complete Home Comfort works in, so it belongs in this conversation plainly rather than as a surprise partway through a project.
Knob and tube wiring
Active knob and tube in a wall or attic cavity has to be addressed before insulation goes over it; program and code rules do not allow the two together.
Vermiculite insulation
An older loose-fill material that can contain asbestos. It is identified and left alone; removal is a separate, specialist step outside a standard scope.
Active mold
Mold found during the walkthrough is noted and treated as a condition to resolve first, not something insulation is installed around.
Standing or recent water
A wet basement or crawl space gets that water fixed first. Insulation over a wet surface traps the moisture instead of solving it.
Housing age changes what gets found
Communities across Massachusetts and Rhode Island carry a wide range of housing ages, and the age of a house changes what an assessment is looking for. A 1950s colonial may have little original insulation, older wiring, and a fieldstone or rubble foundation; a 1990s build more often needs gaps from additions, remodels, or settling traced rather than a shell built up from bare framing.
Minimal original insulation, possible knob and tube in unrenovated sections, often a fieldstone or rubble foundation that changes how the rim joist and walls get treated.
More insulation already in place and modern wiring throughout, with an assessment more focused on gaps left by additions, remodels, or settling than on a house starting from bare framing.
The license behind it
Every assessment and every job that follows it operates under Complete Home Comfort's Massachusetts and Rhode Island credentials, shown here rather than kept in the fine print.
Active and verified as of July 2026. More on the company and the owner behind these numbers is on the about page.
Frequently asked questions
No. The assessment is offered at no cost, and there is no obligation to book any work afterward. It exists to produce an accurate scope and, where the house qualifies, a path into the Mass Save incentive, not to sell a project on the spot.
The affected area is called out plainly in the written scope, and insulation work there is paused until the issue is addressed, whether that means an electrician, a specialist removal service, or fixing the moisture source first. Work that does not touch the affected area can often move ahead on its own.
The assessment is the basis for the paperwork submitted to the program, not a guarantee on its own. Eligibility and the incentive level are confirmed once the program reviews the scope, which is why nothing is scheduled until that number is in writing.
Yes. Complete Home Comfort books assessments across 47 Massachusetts municipalities and all 26 Rhode Island municipalities. Check the service-area index or contact the company to confirm a specific address.
Book a free home energy assessment
The visit costs nothing, and nothing is scheduled until the written scope and program number are ready. Reach out to set a date anywhere in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island service area.