With the announcement of the updated Building Analyst Certification, you may be wondering what exactly changed? In this overview of Old Building Analyst vs. New Building Analyst, we’ll look at the knowledge list from the legacy Building Analyst standard and compare it to the new suite of certifications. More specifically, we’ll look at whether the legacy knowledge area is covered in BSP, BA-T, BA-P, or no longer covered.

The main knowledge areas for legacy BPI Building Analyst are as follows:

• Building Science
• Buildings & Their Systems
• Testing & Data Collection
• Industry Standards
• Analyzing Collected Data
• Energy Modeling and Work Scope

Within these main knowledge areas, there are sub-categories and sub-tasks. For a full and complete overview of old Building Analyst vs. new Building Analyst, download the comparison PDF here.

Otherwise, here’s a summarized comparison:

As you can see, the Building Performance Institute (BPI) has successfully weaved all the knowledge areas into the new BPI certification hierarchy. 

Given that the new scheme has built-in prerequisites (BSP → BA-T → BA-P), it makes sense that several of these knowledge areas are duplicated across the board; it’s clear that each level of BPI Certification builds on what the previous level introduced.

One of the biggest takeaways from this chart is where BA-T ends and BA-P picks up. The majority of X’s for BA-T align with “ability to identify” type tasks, whereas the majority of X’s for BA-P align with “ability to interpret” or “ability to determine” type tasks (meaning analysis of test results).

While this may appear overwhelming, and you may still be asking yourself about old Building Analyst vs. new Building Analyst, what you really need to know is that BPI has baked all the necessary skills into a new BPI Certification prerequisites pathway. By simply following the pathway, you’ll gain all the necessary skills, and there’s no need to worry about “Which BPI Building Analyst Certification should I pursue?” because you’ll know after completing BSP and BA-T whether you have enough skills to succeed in your job or if you need to go the extra step for BA-P. It comes down to, will you only be collecting data in a home, or will you also be interpreting that data for homeowner clients?

Old Building Analyst vs. New Building Analyst: Now to June 2023

BPI will make a hard switch to the new scheme on June 1, 2023. This means that candidates can still pursue the old Building Analyst until that date. Should you? It depends.

Legacy BPI Building Analyst

• Pros: pay one lump sum, earn your certification in practically one step
• Cons: earn only one certification, can be overwhelming and seemingly expensive to dive all the way in, earn a certification that will be formally outdated in the next 6 months

New BPI Building Analyst Pathway

• Pros: accomplish milestones/certifications along your career journey, become one of the first to earn the new and active certifications
• Cons: you might have to be a little more proactive about planning your training and certification needs, as far as how many certifications you ultimately want to pursue

Either way, there’s a good chance that you’ll (a) spend the same amount of money in the end and (2) have to pass a written exam and a field exam. So the new pathway is simply a restructuring on paper.

When we talk old Building Analyst vs. new Building Analyst, one is not necessarily better than the other. As we’ve covered, they practically cover the same topics. It’s just that the legacy certification is standalone, whereas the new scheme includes a more formal career pathway. 

Still have questions? Give us a call at 800-460-2575.