Have you heard of the National Home Performance Conference (NHPC)? Prior to 2024, I was aware of the annual event but really didn’t pay much attention to it. It sounded like it might be worth attending, but the show’s dates were always close to the International Builder’s Show and JLC Live. In 2024 the NHPC was held in Minneapolis, just a few hours’ drive from my home, so I decided to attend. I went again in 2025. Let’s just say that the NHPC is a really good show, especially if you are looking for quality education.

What is the NHPC, and what is BPA?

The NHPC is the Building Performance Association’s (BPA) largest annual event. BPA primarily focuses on existing residential structures, including multifamily and manufactured homes. A large part of its business is working with the weatherization community, but a lot of what they offer is also well suited to nonweatherization renovation and remodeling businesses.

The first National Home Performance Conference was held in 1986 under the name ACI (Affordable Comfort, Inc.). Through the years the organization has changed names and combined with other organizations. In 2018 BPA evolved into what it is today.

The NHPC is a four-day conference and trade show. The conference features several different tracks of education, with plenty of breaks for networking and walking the trade show floor. The NHPC moves to a different city around the nation each year. It was in Minneapolis in 2024, New Orleans in 2025, and will be in Columbus, Ohio, in 2026. This year’s conference had the largest attendance to date, with about 2,800 people heading to New Orleans.

The education tracks include building science and HVAC topics, business development, workforce development, and topics dealing with the weatherization community, among others. During the 2025 educational sessions there were at least 10 different tracks to choose from. Finding an interesting class to attend wasn’t an issue; often there were more than one I wanted to take, leaving me a little disappointed that I would have to miss something of interest. Class lengths range from 1 to 3½ hours.

Classes were taught by well-established people in the industry, some of whom you’ve probably heard of, like John Tooley Jr., Gary Nelson, and GBA contributing author Allison Bailes. Some of the educators were from national labs like Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). Others were well-established builders, like Doug Horgan and Michael Anschel. In total, more than 250 educators were present.

The classes I attended

I’ve always been attracted to the “how-to” or the scienced-based presentations. My first class of the conference was taught by Doug Horgan and Michael Anschel and was titled Summer Moisture: Problems and Solutions, which went over moisture issues associated with walls, roofs, and foundations. Both instructors had a lot of experience in diagnosing and repairing damaged caused by summer humidity.

Another class I found interesting was put on by Alex Boetzel of Earth Advantage from Portland, Ore. Alex’s class was Air Tight All Right: Examining How Air Barriers Hold Up. His organization is going back into homes five to seven years after completion to conduct blower door testing to see how the air barrier is holding up over time. I had a brief discussion with Alex after his class; I’m hoping to write an article for GBA about the findings as they gather more data on these homes.

The most unique class I took was put on by Eric Werling and Nicholas Hurst: The Sound of Sausage: Secrets of IAQ and Ventilation Standards Making. Taught using both a PowerPoint presentation and live parody music, this class covered the history of the ASHRAE 62.2 standard (and included some entertaining lyrics set to “The House of the Rising Sun” and other classic rock songs).

In all, I attended 14 classes over the four days of the conference, accumulating 17 Building Performance Institute (BPI) continuing education credits; more importantly, however, I continued my education within our industry.

Many of the building professionals I network with outside the weatherization community are like I was pre-2024—maybe they’ve heard of the conference, but they’re not aware of all it has to offer. If you have the chance to attend NHPC in 2026, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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GBA editor Randy Williams is a recovering general contractor who performs energy auditing and building investigations in Grand Rapids, Minn. He teaches and speaks about building science topics around the country. Photos by the author unless otherwise noted.