Masco Home Services Joins President Obama in Supporting HOMESTAR Proposal

SAVANNAH, Ga., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Masco Home Services, a subsidiary of Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS), a leader in the home improvement industry, issued the following statement in support of the HOMESTAR proposal.   Masco Home Services president Larry Laseter joined President Obama at an event in Savannah, Georgia today to discuss the program and its benefits for jobs, consumers and the environment.

"We applaud the efforts of the administration to introduce a jobs creations program that is truly a win-win-win," said Laseter. "The HOMESTAR program will put our nation's skilled construction force back to work, benefit homeowners through comfort and energy efficient improvements to their existing homes, and result in long term energy efficiency gains. We urge Congress to approve this program so that Americans can get back to work."

HOMESTAR, which has been dubbed "cash for caulkers", is designed to provide rebates and other financial incentives to encourage homeowners to weatherize their homes and make other energy efficiency improvements.  These incentives would stimulate a significant increase in demand for home energy improvements and require skilled labor and materials.

"In addition to putting our nation's skilled construction trades back to work, HOMESTAR will also benefit homeowners through comfort and energy efficiency improvements to their homes and long-term energy savings," said Laseter.  "As we roll out home performance services nationwide our assessments show that homeowners can see energy efficiency gains between 20-50%, which is a measurable return on investment on their home performance improvements."

Masco Home Services is recognized as an innovative leader in the creation of energy efficient and comfortable homes through the Environments For Living® and Environments For Living Certified Green programs.  The Environments For Living program is a national, turnkey home performance program for residential builders designed to help them build comfortable more energy efficient homes using principles of building science.  Since 2001, more than 130,000 homes have been built under the Environments For Living banner.

Masco Home Services is opening multiple locations across the country to provide home performance services, including whole home comfort and energy efficiency assessments, recommendations and project implementation.  Unlike simple energy auditing services, Masco Home Service provides assessments and implementation, serving as the general contractor to oversee all home improvement projects.  

"We see a great opportunity to establish leadership in this emerging industry and are choosing to invest in it now," said Laseter.  "We believe there will be significant interest in homeowners to improve their home's performance for both comfort and energy efficiency and we want to be their trusted, one-stop solution."

About Masco Home Services

Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, Masco Home Services (www.mascohomeservices.com) is a leading home performance company.  The Company provides home performance assessments conducted by Building Performance Institute-certified advisors, improvement recommendations and implementation, as well as assistance on identifying rebates and incentives.  The Company's home energy performance services are backed by experience with more than 130,000 homes built under the Environments For Living program.  Masco Home Services is a founding member of Efficiency First, a trade association that is a leading advocate for home performance, and a subsidiary of leading home products company Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS).

SOURCE Masco Home Services