At the time of writing (Sept 1st) it has taken me almost 6 months from Green Deal assessment through to having obtained 2 Green deal quotes, setting out any ECO funding for external wall insulation (EWI). I contacted over 40 providers in March, many of whom did not respond; and those that did, said they were not yet ready to deliver the Green Deal Finance or did not deal with individual owner-occupiers. Thanks to DECC I had Instagroup, who have access to ECO-funding for individual householders on behalf of EON, get a Green Deal approved installer to get in touch with me. Let’s refer to them as Installer 1.
From a very helpful blog-reader I also received the contact details of another installer (let’s call them Installer 2) who have ECO funding access, though could not yet offer the Green deal Finance and worked with a Hanson system. They charged £60 for a surveyor to come out, and I was ensured I would obtain a quote for the works within a few weeks from their visit. Installer 1 however failed to show the first time round; Instagroup were apologetic and gave me details of Installer 3 and 4. We also had Parity Projects visit us as part of their pilot in Haringey for their Green Deal Conduit scheme'. Meanwhile, Installer 1 showed up (late!), but I was impressed with the visit undertaken, and the respectful attitude and helpfulness overall. For example, they talked us through how the works would be done; mentioned thermal bridging, what the system is like (thickness/what happens to window reveals etc). Most importantly of all, this installer was also open to insulating our flat roof and waterproofing it at the same time, and recognised this would be ideal done together with the scaffolding up and to have a neat wall/roof junction. Installer 2 and 3 refused to do it, not even engaging with a sub-contractor. (NB: Installer 4 never called me back after giving initial details) Installer 3, aside from refusing to insulate the roof (“we are an insulating firm, we insulate pitched roofs but do not do any waterproofing”), also plainly refused to consider any works to the front facade. Their reasoning was that for EWI, it is “too complicated and requires planning” (no, it does not for our property, as far as I am aware). They also would not consider internal wall insulation. At all. (“Too much hassle”). They also made the briefest of all visits, and did comment that they found that they had a lot of interested people but occupants were not going ahead due to costs still being too high, even with ECO. Installer 1 eventually made a total of 3 visits: one was from a GD assessor, whose software had immediate access to the ECO-funding provided by their provider. There was no need for an Occupancy Assessment, as we would not be seeking Green Deal finance (and he had our previous one in any case). He also input the back ‘extension’ separately (although built at the same time as the rest of the house) as he was surprised that flat roof insulation was not originally listed as an approved measure in the first assessment. Interestingly, it did now come up as an approved measure. A third visit was with the roofing subcontractor to assess the flat roof and how to best insulate it. A few interesting things have come out of this process: 1. Competitive edge: The companies most flexible to meet the customer's requirements are likely to have a competitive edge: the fact that the roof can be done at the same time with least hassle to us, was definitely driving our decision who to work with, before we knew the ECO-funding available. 2. ECO-funding: The amount of ECO- funding was surprisingly different. This is obviously also a big driver. Please see below. 3. BBA approval: Chasing installer 1 and 3 for their quotes, Installer 1 informed us that the delay is caused due to BBA approval, which is required under the Green Deal. They explained that the system they were using had to be changed from PIR to EPS insulation and that - disappointingly- reveals would no longer be treated.(previously aerogel + render finish to reveals) 4. Quote from Installer 2: as they had promised, within 2 weeks we received a detailed description of the works with 2 quotes (each specification around 12 pages long): a quote for insulating both front + back and one quote to insulate just the back. The ECO ‘grant’ is deducted clearly on the ‘acceptance letter’ supplied. As explained in point 9 below, we will likely only get the back insulated under the Green Deal. The quote for the back elevation, amounts to ~ 25% ECO- funding of the EWI cost. The quote is valid for 2 months and uses a Hanson system. 5. Speedier quotes if no access to Green Deal Finance required: Work by Installer 2 works out at a total of around £4700 including VAT (reduced with ECO-funding) for insulation to the back of our terraced house. It is at this point we realised we may be able to fund this work through other means, and we would probably not need access to Green Deal Finance. We informed Installer 1 and 3 that we were now just looking for access to ECO-funding and no longer GD finance, and quotes materialised in a matter of weeks. However, in either case this - frustratingly - excluded any detailed breakdown (just 1 x A4) and no ECO-funding. It is at this point of asking for more detail and exact ECO-funding, that Installer 3 informs me that they need the EPC.xml file. Within a week, the original assessor had supplied this to me, however I have yet to receive a quote several weeks later. It also seems that Installer 3 is supplying a Saint-Gobain EWI system now. 6. Installer 1 quote: Installer 1, at this stage our preferred installer, offered the cheapest cost for the EWI, perhaps because the job had become bigger for them with the roof in addition? I addition, the ECO-funding they have access to, would cover around 65-70% of the cost of the EWI. Basically, we can now afford to install EWI to the back plus roof insulation, without having to access Green Deal finance (though we probably still need to borrow part of it from somewhere else). The quote expires after 1 month. It is due to this reason, that unfortunately we will no longer be able to be part of Parity Projects' Green Deal pilot scheme. 7. Green Deal Quality control: Installer 2 made mention that < 90mm systems are available for the front facade, utilising phenolic foam. However due to potential movement joints leading to cracked render over time, caused by loss of density of the foam, this is not offered under the Green Deal as it is not approved/not warrantied for 25 years (you can get it under the Green Deal with brick slip finish however as the cracking does not occur). This is reassuring - though one important question: why offer it at all outside the Green Deal if these are the associated issues? 8. Confidence & trust: Installer 2 supplied a detailed breakdown of all the works and warranties, which instills confidence. I have yet to receive this from any others, including Installer 1, whom we have decided to work with. I did however email lots of detailed questions to understand what was/was not included before making a decision. However I prefer to obtain a detailed listed quote as we did from Installer 2, before going ahead. On the other hand, I also appreciate that this is time-consuming and ‘at risk’ for each installer to undertake for each potential customer. Ultimately, we do feel that a level of trust and understanding has built up with Installer 1 - hopefully this materialises as we proceed to the next stage. 9. EWI system design & performance: It is a shame no system seems to include treatment to window reveals, or a satisfactory solution to the front facade. Not insulating the reveals increases surface condensation risk and will reduce the overall performance of the wall, below it’s intended 0.3W/m2K. With regards to the front facade: ECO-funding can only be obtained by upgrading to Part L (0.30 W/m2K). To the front, this means 90 mm of insulation: this will look very strange on a front facade in a set of terraced houses. In addition, the bay window would not be touched, leaving stone work uninsulated and stone cill supports would protrude out of the 90 mm insulation - all of which would just make for bizarre detailing. Installer 1 conceded none of this is ideal. Anyone out there with any great ideas or suggestions/examples of how this can be done? Installer 1 will continue to look at this too. 10. Time: Finally, the whole process of obtaining quotes, allowing time for visits and following the installers up on an almost weekly basis to keep pressure on them about ECO-funding has been much more time consuming than anticipated. However, it has been worthwhile getting more than 1 quote. The ECO-funding available will change from provider to provider and from install to install as well as over time. The difference of ECO-funding between Installer 1 and 3 may be explained perhaps by the fact that they are attached to different providers or that there was nearly 2 months between quotes? The fluctuating nature of the level of ECO-funding may also perhaps be illustrated by Installer 1 offering just a 30 day validity of its quote. It has taken almost 4 months from assessment to the first Green Deal quote with ECO-funding, and almost 6 months to have at least another quote. And this includes a lot of effort at my end, and initial intervention from DECC to get it kick-started. To be honest I had not envisaged this, and I thought we would have had the works done by now. No measures are installed yet and I am not sure when they will, so I am not surprised that ‘only’ 132 of some 58,000 assessments signed up. On the other hand, the Green Deal is a new scheme and everyone is still finding their feet, so let’s hope more of these assessments materialise in actual improvements n the following months. I will keep you posted on progress and process in the meantime! On another note: Several people have contacted me about access to ECO-funding for individual householders. Contact Instagroup (0118 932 8811 or 0800 0517420) Say you'd like to speak about GD in your area - they should then put you through to a local area manager who then has details of local installers to come around and asses the property + let you know what ECO funding is available. The other company able to access Green Deal ECo funding is Hanson. Next - Green Deal Cashback: I am not sure if we qualify for a cash back or how to apply for it. The following links may also be of interest to readers of this blog:
9 Comments
Sofie Pelsmakers
9/2/2013 07:27:39 am
Thank you - again - Linn! No, DECC had not told me so thank you for the link. I will put it right at the top too. DECC had put Instagroup in touch with me directly. Still - their installers didn't seem able to give me a finance quote at all - and that is after many weeks! Some of the providers on here (e.g. British gas) may offer finance, but do not work with individual householders or in certain areas at the moment either ( or so they told me back in March; others told me they were not ready yet but would et in touch again when they would be - but never did; so not sure this is a sign of them not being ready or just forgetting about it?) So I am not sure how many really offer finance related to works for individual householders,....
Reply
Mike F
9/2/2013 08:15:27 pm
Very interesting Sofie. Sorry if this has already been addressed in earlier posts, but did you have any discussion with neighbours about their getting external insulation done too?
Reply
Sofie Pelsmakers
9/2/2013 08:46:46 pm
Hi Mike,
Reply
Kate de Selincourt
9/20/2013 01:27:34 am
Hi Sofie - fascinating blog, as ever!
Sofie Pelsmakers
9/20/2013 02:17:36 am
Hi Kate, many thanks for the comment! We have asked for aluminium sills on the back;but I have no idea what they will look like or how they will be fixed. Unfortunately we bought the house with 2006 uPVC windows newly installed throughout so we could not justify or afford to have them re-done though that would be ideal as you say. The current take from installers seems to be to not cut them off; just to cap them; which ofcourse leaves a thermal bridge. ( I'd be fine with cutting - much to the horror of some others - but our cills are in a bad state of repair - lack of maintenance by previous owners and we discovered recently that they were ' patched up ' with dome kind of plaster which now has come lose and really shows the crumbling state of the cills. The main issue is that to the front bay window installers will not touch the stone pillars nor cills (which have some bottom stone supports, which would protrude out of any insulation), but mostly it seems that the GD installers just want to come in and slap insulation on and leave as quickly as possible. There seems little scope to come up with a bespoke idea or plan;( let alone to try to get it costed) and having it separate from the green deal seems to make things more complex too - hence the refusal from some to even do anything outside it like the flat roof. Perhaps with time as other contractors come into the green deal game they might fill this void. I also wonder how particular this problem is to London - it is hard to find builders for small jobs and you often end up with 'handymen' only being interested in small jobs. So in that sense, the GD is interesting for us as we have access to proper tradesmen,....fingers crossed! ( at least I was told today that our ECO funding is registered and allocated and they will get back to us to schedule a date,...)
Reply
Mubse
11/2/2013 10:30:47 am
Hi Sofie,
Reply
Sofie Pelsmakers
11/2/2013 07:39:01 pm
Hi Mubse - please send me a direct email ( go to contacts/links) wit your geographical area so I may be of help.
Reply
8/15/2014 09:15:55 pm
Thank you so much for the wonderful information .This is really important for me .I am searching this kind of information from a long time and finally got it.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
About SofieThis is Sofie's blog; or rather a collection of musings & articles sometimes also published elsewhere. More about Sofie here. Archives
April 2014
Categories
All
|