Cornerstone Energy Conservation Services: Fixing a QA finding before it becomes a pattern
HERS Rating companies compete on a few factors, quality of service to builders, efficiency in processing ratings, and value engineering. Cornerstone Energy Conservation Services, a HERS rating company in Columbus, Ohio has provided great service and value to their builders but saw an opportunity to improve their operational efficiency. With RESNET’s increased emphasis on QA, eliminating data collection errors has real operational efficiency benefits.
RESNET recently released their Q1 2026 QA Compliance Report report. It’s the first time a number on how often HERS ratings get sent back for corrections has been publicly shared. Out of 11,723 QA reviews that quarter, 964 ratings needed correction and resubmission before they could be finalized. That means 1 in 12 homes were flagged for an issue on QA. Windows, ceilings, and above grade walls accounted for the most correction instances (2,169, 2,045, and 1,358, respectively). These issues were mostly due to things like missing NFRC label photos on windows, incomplete insulation-depth photos on ceilings, inadequate photos on above grade walls. [Read the Q1 Report Here]. That volume of corrections adds up to an industry wide impact.
Missing field documentation for minimum-rated features is costly. It can cost a rating company in three ways:
Someone has to drive back to the site to capture the missed photo.
If QA catches the missed photo first, it may trigger a QA failure.
If a building certification depends on that photo, the home may lose that certification.
Windows, ceilings, and above-grade walls account for most of the failures. Any inspection form that doesn't explicitly ask for a photo leaves room for the inspector to skip it. Cornerstone Energy Conservation Services ran into exactly that gap.
The Finding
During a QA review, Cornerstone's provider flagged two photos its inspectors kept missing: the ventilation fan switch and the attic access panel. Both matter for verifying how a home was actually built, and their RESNET Provider treats them as part of a rigorous QA process.
Fixing that missed photo used to mean retraining field inspectors, sending reminder texts and emails, and coaching whoever forgot. Cornerstone had recently switched to Ekotrope ONSITE, a field inspection app for HERS raters, so instead CEO Jason Tucker opened ONSITE's Form Builder and made both photos required fields. His inspection team had the updated form the next morning.
Tucker described it this way:
"With ONSITE you'd have to actively try to miss a photo. The form tells you what it wants and everything uploads into Ekotrope on its own. And when QA came back asking for the fan switch and the attic access panel, I added those to our form myself that evening. Took a couple of minutes, and the crew had them the next morning."
Inspectors now get a warning if a required photo hasn't been captured before they leave the form. That closes one of the most common findings in RESNET's QA reviews and cuts Cornerstone's risk of a second site visit, a failed QA, or a lost certification.
How it looks in ONSITE when an inspector doesn’t collect a required photo.
Built on a form they made their own
The two-field fix worked because of how fast Cornerstone could make it. Cornerstone also had success quickly setting up ONSITE for their inspection workflow. The Ekotrope team helped them get started and quickly responds to any questions or feedback they have about their inspection form.
Cornerstone started from Ekotrope's built-in form templates and adjusted them to match how its inspectors actually work, rather than building from nothing. They reordered the inspection forms to match how they walk a home. Form Builder supports building forms from scratch and building off templates. It also has conditional logic, so a question only appears when it's relevant.
ONSITE's model number reading feature works alongside Form Builder: inspectors scan an equipment nameplate instead of typing the model number by hand, cutting transcription time and errors for both inspectors and office staff.
ONSITE can now automatically read model numbers for mechanical equipment.
The file library
Every photo captured through those forms goes somewhere Cornerstone and their Provider can easily access it. Photos taken in ONSITE upload automatically to the project in Ekotrope RATER. There is no export step and no shared drive to sort through, so Cornerstone can catch a missing photo before it reaches File QA.
Each photo is named and tagged by the question it was taken under. Search for the windows, above grade wall, or the blower door, and the photo is there. A modeler can see what's been collected before opening the model. They can also easily find the photo evidence to back up any changes made to the model. A QA reviewer can find the evidence for a rated feature without asking the inspector where it is. Photos are stored indefinitely and downloaded with one click.
The file library in Ekotrope makes finding the right photo a breeze.
The bottom line
Required fields catch a missing photo at the inspection, before the truck leaves the site. Model number reading removes a slow, error-prone typing step. The File Library puts every photo where the modeler and QA reviewer need it, tagged and searchable. Together, they enforce a rating's requirements with belt and suspenders: once at inspection, once at confirmation. Fewer return trips, fewer QA findings, more efficient service for your builders.
To see Form Builder and the File Library in action, watch Ekotrope's ONSITE webinars on YouTube, or email info@ekotrope.com.
