Meet Grace and Corbett Lunsford | Co-hosts & Creators of Home Diagnosis” by Building Performance Workshop and Georgia Public Broadcasting”

We had the good fortune of connecting with Grace and Corbett Lunsford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grace and Corbett, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
The one thing that most people don’t realize is that the industry of ‘Home Performance’ even exists. Our TV series Home Diagnosis and YouTube’s ‘Home Performance’ channel aim to educate everyone about the science of homes, since it affects us all. Personally, we think that as our culture becomes more myopic about problem-solving, and marketers pursue the band-aid approach to solving problems, we move further away from a systems-approach mindset about homes.

Generally speaking, we know that our body is a system. You wouldn’t just go to a doctor and ask them to remove your appendix because your tummy hurts. We also know that when the ‘check engine’ light comes on you don’t start replacing parts at random. You seek diagnostics. A doctor tests your vitals to see if your appendix is even the issue. Cars now plug into a diagnostic code reader to point the mechanic precisely to the problems.

Homes are systems, too. We are diagnostic specialists for homes- they breathe, have engines, and even more fascinating, they are a complex system of Physics, Chemistry, and Microbiology. Testing homes is much more comprehensive and valuable than a simple home inspection. Inspectors generally focus on static parts of a home, building a checklist from visual elements.

Home Performance Professionals focus on the invisible dynamics- we are like doctors who explore how the home works to predict and prevent problems. There have been doctors for homes since the 1970s, but too often they were only advertised in the realm of energy efficiency. Ultimately the health of our families, as well as comfort, lower maintenance, and durability, may all be more persuasive products of well-tuned Home Performance.

There are many diagnostics in the Home Performance Kit, but generally every full-scope home testing will start with a blower door test, zonal pressure testing, combustion safety testing, and infrared thermal scan. The more complex a house is, the more testing that may be required to solve particular problems or plan improvements that are guaranteed to work. Season two of “Home Diagnosis” follows the build of our own home in College Park and the final episode implements this testing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Corbett is a trained musician. Grace is trained in the art of Music Theater and Dance. We didn’t originally set out to make a TV show about the science of homes because it was our dream. But this work has certainly become our passion since then.

We feel our training has gifted us with this outside perspective and has allowed us to communicate more effectively with the general public. Ultimately, we were trained in the art of storytelling whether by verse, movement, or music; and now, we utilize those storytelling techniques to help people understand their homes. Corbett did a hard pivot into a new education beginning with HERS (Home Energy Rating Systems) and then BPI (Building Performance Insitute) training, ultimately acquiring every certification and becoming a trainer himself. Grace was moving more into filmmaking (her award-winning feature film is called The Other One) and we both felt the need to share what Corbett was learning.

In 2008, when we started in this industry, there were schools to go study at and there were a few training centers but mostly the information wasn’t attainable for others seeking to know more about home diagnostics. But there was Youtube- we started our YouTube channel, and this allowed Corbett to find his tribe. They’ve mentored each other all over the country and world through Youtube. By 2015 our channel had grown to a substantial and engaged audience, enabling us to both do a hard pivot again. This time it was leaving Chicago, building a tiny house on wheels, having our first baby, and touring around the country to 34 cities on the ‘Proof Is Possible Tour’, ultimately finishing the tour in Atlanta and deciding to stay.

It has not been easy, but it has been worth it, and each time we think ‘this is too tough’ or ‘no one cares’, something directly encourages us and we keep going. For example; after completing the tour and finding the most amazing piece of land to buy in College Park we were exhausted. We had little money to work with, and barely any clients came to work with us. We set to work to finish the first season of Home Diagnosis, most of which was filmed while on the road, but our original PBS distributor dropped us. Thankfully we had already formed a partnership with GPB and they stepped up to help us secure a new and better distributor in NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association).

At the same time, we welcomed our second daughter into the family, and feeling stressed, wondered if all of this stress was worth it. Could we fund a second season of the show? We’ve already told the story about diagnostics, what else is there to tell? And as if on cue, Paula Olsiewski of The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation found us, and with a two-year-old and two-month-old baby sent us to the University of Texas to film in 2018 to tell the story of a huge multi-million dollar, first-of its kind research project called HOMEChem. This was a game-changer for us.

For decades outdoor air pollution had been studied and regulated, but very little was known about indoor air quality, especially in the home. This project specialized in the chemistry, physics, and microbiology of a home. The findings are still being realized and a second test home project called CASA is now being worked on in D.C. at NIST. Chemistry and microbiology has opened up a new world of discovery for us.

At our core, we are curious people who want to help make the world a better place now and in the future. We are learning that by gaining a better understanding of our homes, that knowledge can help dramatically improve our own health. “Home Diagnosis” is now not just about understanding home performance diagnostics, it’s about discovering what is happening in our homes, right alongside world-class researchers.

The Sloan Foundation ended up becoming our lead underwriter for Season Two and this helped us get more funding to start filming. We were halfway through filming the season when COVID hit and everything stopped. Fortunately, though, we were building our house on our own, with the help of Corbett’s parents and a few neighborhood friends. We kept our bubble tight and kept building and filming our home build.

More people than ever were watching Season 1, and wrote in asking us to explain more and dive deeper. From that, we pivoted again making our home build the focal point of Season 2. This enabled us to finish the show and Season 2 was released in January of 2022. The constant lesson for us has been to stay flexible, learn how to pivot, and stay curious.

We now have a Science Advisory Board advising and advocating for us as we continue exploring the story that is the science of homes. Initial funding is secure, we slimmed our efforts a bit more and learned some new filmmaking skills to start on Season 3, the topic of which is “Accidents Happen.” Exploring both natural and manmade home disasters we started filming this spring and have traveled throughout Texas, the Pacific Northwest, and most recently Toronto, Canada.

Often people ask us about moving to a cable network like HGTV and if that is the ultimate goal. The irony is that in home performance, we like to say “The goal is CONTROL.” The same is true for us. PBS is a challenge because it’s a bet. You have to raise your own funding, make your own show, adhere to all the rules against commerciality, and then a station may or may not decide to watch it. With “reality” cable shows you give away a lot of the control, maybe for a little more money and certainly much more legal paperwork. And they can still decide to cancel your show!

We’re much happier having creative control and control of our lives, than being at the whim of a cable network. The ultimate goal is helping and educating people. Thankfully, we have found much satisfaction in helping homeowners with Home Diagnosis, helping train building professionals through Building Performance Workshop, and helping both communities through our Youtube channel @HomePerformance.

Hyperlinks for the above content:
HERS- https://www.resnet.us
BPI- https://www.bpi.org
THE OTHER ONE- https://youtu.be/JiAenO9RCFs
Proof is Possible Tour: https://buildingperformanceworkshop.com/proof-is-possible-tour
HOMECHEM: https://indoorchem.org/projects/homechem/

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Atlantic Station was our first home so we’d probably start there. We lived in our TinyLab on the tennis courts for 2 weeks before moving up to the main street for the last stop of the Proof is Possible Tour. Cultivate Cafe is gluten-free so Chickabiddy brings friend chicken goodness back to her magnolia mouth! We’d definitely take our friends over to Hell Yeah Gluten Free for donuts and cheesy egg biscuits. With bellies full we’d go on a nice walk or bike ride on the Beltline which would probably finish at Nina and Rafi’s for their amazing GF deep dish pizza; technically Detroit but it reminds us of Chicago. Being Atlanta Southsiders we would absolutely show off the Tri-Cities and all of the amazing things happening down here, especially the Six West woods and the crazy story of that soon-to-be-developed area. With three kids we’d definitely hit one or two of our cool playgrounds like Zupp or Barrett Park and if it was hot got up to the Old 4th Ward Playground/Splashpad.

We’d have yummy Thai and play outside at Paper Plane in Hapeville. Or go enjoy gorgeous salads and sandwiches at Boxcar then walk the Beltline at Lee & White (we know not technically Tri-cities but pretty close), and a hike up Cascade Falls is always fun or a stroll through the historic homes in College Park is lovely especially in the spring at peak azalea bloom time! We’d end the night with something exquisite at Corner Grille on our own College Park main street and maybe walk down for Jazz on the lawn in front of the CP City Hall Auditorium. Being so close to the airport has been a fun perk of having people unexpectedly visit on their way to wherever and Atlanta is a great place to entertain people!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our parent’s support is immeasurable and we wouldn’t have taken all the risks we have to get where we are without their encouragement, time, energy, backyards (we built the TinyLab in one and milled a pecan tree from the other), and of course, love! BIG THANKS and CREDIT goes to Dustie & Paul and Julian & Leslie.

Website: https://homediagnosis.tv/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homediagnosistv

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corbettlunsford

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/homediagnosistv

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GraceandCorbettLunsford/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HomePerformance

Other: https://www.gpb.org/television/show/home-diagnosis