Does the west coast handle HERS Raters differently then the rest of the nation?
Well, not the entire west coast, just California. They have energy codes that are more strict than the rest of the country, so the HERS Rating system and many of the programs for which ratings are performed are tweaked some to take that into account. There is also a difference in Florida where state law requires the use of Energy Gauge software and the Florida Solar Energy Center as a QA Provider for all HERS Raters in that state. The rest of the country is standardized with only climate-specific considerations. Of course local codes always take precedence, but those vary municipality to municipality, so some homework on the local requirements is expected by the HERS Rater and the QA Provider needs to be prepared to help with those interpretations, but being from Seattle you should be able to choose any QA Provider you would like and they should be able to work with you without any issues.
