The BPI Certification is awarded by the Building Performance Institute or BPI for those buildings that adhere to the stringent BPI norms. Before we try and understand what these building norms are, it is important to turn the pages of history and understand how the certification came into existence.
The BPI was started during the early 1990s to lay down new building and construction guidelines for builders and contractors to implement. This was a result of the turbulent times of the 1980s when there was a general lack of trust between the builders and the home owners due to a variety of reasons.
Customers thought that building contractors were only interested in making a profit for themselves and were unwilling to listen and solve the issues raised by the clients.
One major reason for this mistrust to flare up was the fact that most privately owned homes in the US were affected by weatherization issues which was a result of sub standard construction practices by the building contractors. This meant compromise on quality and a serious breach of trust on the part of some builders.
The BPI initiated a research which showed that most of the construction workers were either unskilled or semi skilled and that most of them did not have proper training with regards to building and construction activities. As a means to revive the trust between the building community and the general public, the BPI launched the BPI Certification.
The main purpose for launching the BPI Certification was to introduce safety standards for the home owners as well as the workers. Builders and contractors seeking this certification must not only ensure that the entire building is built according to the BPI standards but also have to make sure that their workers are fully trained and fully skilled to handle all the safety measures in a building.
