Refurbishing old buildings can be done for several reasons. However, there are two major barriers in this enterprise: cost of renovations and an uncertain attitude of occupants. This study was aimed at understanding the occupants’ attitude towards energy retrofits in existing residential buildings. To this end, 21 blocks which were inhabited by 837 people and located in an old labour colony in Ankara, Turkey, were selected as the case study.

Firstly, energy consumptions of the existing case buildings were analyzed with DesignBuilder software; and then energy retrofit scenarios were proposed. Energy performances of the refurbished cases were then re-stimulated and costs, payback periods of the refurbishments were calculated with Oska software. A questionnaire was then carried out to determine occupants’ attitude. This paper presents the various energy-saving measures proposed and the findings from the questionnaire regarding the reactions of occupants that change with the information about costs, payback periods of renovations rather than information about energy savings only.