Energy Audit Questions

[Robert P.]

I have a tenant who is going to have an organization (like Nstar or Eversource) come in and do an energy audit. I just found out that they are looking to do spray foam insulation in the walls, which would mean a hole in each stud bay (hole every 16 inches or so), throughout the apartment. They said they will not do the finish work, but will patch it back up and I will have to paint it (every hole). 

MY QUESTION:

Is it worth the hassle of having to paint the walls again? They were painted about a year ago, I was the one who painted them and know the color. Will I need to paint the entire wall or will I be able to simply paint over each patched hole and it should match? I know it's sort of a broad question without seeing it, but I'm just trying to see if it would be worth it to let them spray foam all the walls or not (free of charge to myself). 

p.s. I don't pay the utility bills (outside of common space electric, which would have no impact), so this won't be saving me any money directly, but could definitely be a help to the tenants (who are great tenants by the way!)

[MIchael Rickerd]

Going to have to disagree with Greg above. There is a real dollar value to you as the owner. Sure, the tenants pay the utilities, but they do not pay for the HVAC system when it expires. And it will last much longer if it isn't running nearly as often. 

Also, (my opinion may be biased, as I am very hands on with my units) if someone was going to do 2,000 dollars in work to one of my properties, and the only slight inconvenience I would have to deal with is painting a bunch of small spots on several walls, I would be all over it. 

That is a no-brainer to me. Putting your tenant on the spot to pay and then potentially missing out on free work, valued at thousands of dollars, which improves your asset, is ludicrous.