A HERS Score is the energy-efficiency rating for a new home. Scott Andrade, Division President of Home Creations Houston, breaks down what HERS means, what counts as a good score, and why it matters for Houston homebuyers.

If you have been shopping for a new home in Houston, you have probably seen the term "HERS Score" listed next to a floor plan or mentioned in a sales conversation, and quietly wondered what it actually means.

Short version: a HERS Score is the miles-per-gallon rating for your house. The lower the number, the less energy your home wastes, and the lower your monthly utility bills tend to be.

To unpack what that really means for a Houston homebuyer, we sat down with Scott Andrade, Division President of Home Creations Houston, who has been building homes in Texas for over two decades.

What is a HERS Score, in plain English?

Scott: Honestly, the easiest way to explain it is the MPG sticker on a new car. Nobody needs an engineering degree to know that 32 MPG is better than 18. The HERS Score is the same idea, just for your house. One number. Lower is better. After 20-plus years of explaining this to buyers, that's the version that finally clicks.

The reason it matters is simple. After the mortgage, heating and cooling are the biggest cost of owning a home, especially in Houston. Two homes that look identical from the curb can have very different electric bills, and the HERS Score is the only standardized way to know that before you sign anything.

How does the HERS Index actually work?

Scott: The scale runs from about 0 to 150, and the math behind it is simpler than people expect. A score of 100 is the baseline, which represents a standard new home built to the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. A score of 0 is a net-zero home, meaning it generates as much energy as it uses. Every point you drop below 100 is about a 1% cut in energy use compared to that baseline.

So a home that scores a 60 is using about 40% less energy than the baseline. A 50 is half. RESNET set it up this way on purpose. You shouldn't need a calculator to figure out whether a number is good.

For perspective, most older existing homes score 130 or worse. Code-built new homes hover right around 100. A builder who is actually paying attention to efficiency should be landing somewhere in the 50s.

What is a "good" HERS Score?

Scott: Here is how I frame it for buyers. Under 70 is good. Under 60 is strong. Under 50, you are in the top tier. The national average for new construction in 2024 was around 55, and that number has been creeping down every year as the industry gets sharper.

For context, every Home Creations home in Houston is HERS-rated, and we consistently land in the 46 to 52 range. That puts us below the national average, and well below most code-built production homes you will see in the Houston market.

Why should a Houston homebuyer care about a HERS Score?

Scott: Houston is honestly the textbook case for why HERS matters. Our summers do not quit. From April through October, your AC is running hard, and the cooling load on a Houston home is higher than just about anywhere else in the country. A 10-point difference on the HERS Index sounds small until you see what it does to your August electric bill.

The other thing I tell buyers, and this one usually lands, is that you cannot bolt energy efficiency on later. Not affordably. The insulation, the windows, the way the ductwork is run, the size of the HVAC system... those decisions get baked into the home when it is framed and finished. That is why HERS is most useful at the point of purchase. It tells you what kind of home you are actually buying, beyond the cosmetic stuff you can see at the walkthrough.

Who calculates the HERS Score, and is it independent?

Scott: Not the builder. That part trips people up, but it is important. A certified third-party RESNET HERS Rater calculates the score. RESNET is the Residential Energy Services Network, the nonprofit that created the HERS Index in the first place, and they certify the raters independently.

The rater reviews the plans, comes out during construction (usually when the insulation goes in), and tests the finished home. The big test is the blower door. They pressurize the whole house and measure exactly how much air is leaking through gaps and cracks. Those numbers run through energy-modeling software RESNET has approved, and the score gets registered in a national database any buyer can look up.

So when we tell a buyer "this home is HERS 50," that is not our number. That is an outside inspector signing off on it.

What does the HERS Rater actually measure?

Scott: Pretty much anything that touches energy in the home. The big categories are:

• The shell of the home: exterior walls, attic insulation, roof, windows, and doors
• Air tightness: how well the home is sealed against drafts and leaks
• Heating and cooling systems: the AC, furnace or heat pump, and how efficient they are
• Ductwork: whether it leaks, and how well it is insulated
• Water heating: the type of water heater and its efficiency
• Lighting and appliances: LEDs, ENERGY STAR appliances, and how they are used

The score is not about one feature in isolation. It is about how the whole system works together. You can put incredible windows in a home, but if the ductwork is leaky, you are still scoring poorly. That is what makes the rating useful. It rewards the builder who treats the home as a system, not as a list of upgrades.

How do Home Creations homes hit a HERS Score in the 40s and low 50s?

Scott: We do not treat these as upgrades. They are standard on every home we build in Houston. The list is:

• Lennox high-efficiency HVAC, sized properly for the home, which matters more than people realize
• Tankless Rinnai water heater, so you are only heating water when you actually need it
• Low-E, argon-filled double-pane windows that block most of the radiant heat hitting a Houston home all summer
• Radiant barrier roof decking that reflects heat away from the attic, so your AC is not fighting a 140-degree attic
• R-38 attic insulation and R-15 BIBS wall insulation for a tight, well-insulated envelope
• Ecobee smart thermostat that learns your patterns and optimizes runtime
• LED lighting throughout the home

Individually, any of these are good features. The reason we land at HERS 46 to 52 instead of 70 is that we install them as a coordinated package and have an outside inspector verify the result. There is a difference between marketing a home as "energy-efficient" and putting a number on it that someone outside our company signed off on. That is the difference we are trying to be honest about.

What does a low HERS Score mean for my monthly electric bill?

Scott: That depends on the home, the rate plan, and the family living there. But the math is direct. A home with a HERS Score of 50 uses roughly half the energy of the 2006 reference home, and about 30 to 40% less than a typical code-built new home today. In a Houston climate, where cooling is the dominant load for half the year, that turns into real money. We hear from homeowners whose summer bills are running noticeably lower than what they were paying in a comparable older home.

What I always tell buyers is, do not just look at the sticker price. Look at what it actually costs to own the home for the next 30 years. HERS is the closest thing we have in this industry to a fair, comparable number for that ongoing cost.

What should a homebuyer ask when shopping new construction in Houston?

Scott: Three things, and I would ask these of any builder, not just us.

First, ask if the home has a HERS Score, and ask to see it in writing. Plenty of builders do not rate their homes. If you cannot get a number, that tells you something too.

Second, ask who issued the score. It should be a RESNET-certified independent rater, and the home should be registered in the RESNET national database.

Third, and this one matters more than people realize, ask what the typical score range is for that builder, not just their best one. A builder consistently landing in the 40s and 50s is committing to energy efficiency on every home. A builder whose flagship scores well but whose entry-level homes do not has made a different commitment.

The bottom line

A HERS Score is the simplest, most honest way to compare the energy efficiency of two homes you are considering. It is third-party verified, nationally standardized, and built into the home rather than added later. For a Houston buyer, where the AC carries most of the year, that number affects your comfort and your monthly bills more than almost any other spec on the home.

Every Home Creations home in Houston is HERS-rated, and we are proud that our scores consistently land in the 46 to 52 range, well below the national average and the local code minimum.

Ready to see HERS Scores for specific Home Creations floor plans in Houston? Browse our Houston floor plans or contact our team to walk through the energy-efficient features included in every home we build.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the HERS Index scale? The HERS Index runs from 0 to 150. A score of 100 represents a standard new home built to the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. A score of 0 represents a net-zero energy home. Lower scores mean better energy efficiency.

What is the average HERS Score for a new home? The national average HERS Score for new construction in 2024 was approximately 55, according to RESNET. Home Creations homes in Houston average 46 to 52.

Who calculates the HERS Score? A certified, independent RESNET HERS Rater calculates the score by reviewing the home's design, inspecting it during construction, performing tests like the blower door test, and modeling the home's energy use with RESNET-approved software.

Does a lower HERS Score mean lower utility bills? Yes. Each point lower than 100 corresponds to roughly a 1% reduction in energy use compared to the reference home. A home with a HERS Score of 50 uses about half the energy of that reference home, which typically translates to noticeably lower monthly utility bills.

Why does a HERS Score matter in Houston specifically? Houston's long, hot summers create one of the highest cooling loads in the country. Energy-efficiency features that affect the HERS Score (insulation, windows, HVAC sizing, duct tightness, radiant barrier decking) have an outsized impact on Houston electric bills compared to milder climates.

Are all new homes HERS-rated? No. Roughly 34% of new single-family homes built in the U.S. in 2025 received a HERS rating, according to RESNET. Every Home Creations home is HERS-rated and registered in the national database.