SEAI one stop shop / use existing contractor

animha

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We are looking at starting a renovation on our house and have a contractor available. He's not registered with SEAI and says he can still do work cheaper than if we got grants. However, with the full retrofit, I'm wondering are we better to do that separately given size of grants available?
We intend to change to air to water, replace lots of windows and do as much as we can as current BER is E1.
 
The only way of knowing for sure is by getting quotes for both routes.

There's often an element of price increases when operating under generous grant schemes, however, in terms of a retrofit, the scale of grants available means it's highly unlikely that going with an unregistered contractor will be cheaper.

The contractor's overhead of administering the grant process is not that significant, so it really shouldn't add into the 10s of thousands to a quote. Being registered under the scheme does however mean your work is subject to inspection to ensure it is up to the required standards.

Note there are 12 companies operating under the One Stop Shop service.
 
Don't let the grants tail wag the heat loss dog ...

... first make sure you understand what needs to be done and how to do it (this is the hard part), then see if a grant is available to help address the issue(s) and next compare and contrast the different with/without grant estimates from the various providers.
 
Yes so wondering if a heat consultant or best advice Re improving energy efficiency should be done independently
 
Yes so wondering if a heat consultant or best advice Re improving energy efficiency should be done independently
As in any aspect of life I think the more unbiased, independent & experienced any adviser is the better.
I cannot see how this is possible with the way the SEAI have gone about setting up the OSS system of grant aid for effective, cost effective, & targeted energy efficiency measures and on top of everything using a fundamentally flawed BER methodology for measuring success.

So yes, get independently assessed first, then decide.
 
We are doing a big retrofit but couldn't get someone to do one stop shop. Partly because refurb included an extension and they couldn't cope with that. It's an utterly ridiculous situation that 12 companies in the entire country are supposed to support this "essential program". We'll be doing lots of stuff that qualifies for grants under the OSS but we won't get the grants because we can't get a OSS to do the job.
 
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We'll be doing lots of stuff that qualifies for grants under the OSS but we won't get the grants because we can't get a OSS to do the job.
The One Stop Shop scheme was very deliberately designed to exclude people planning extensions. It's not that they can't cope, it's that the building regulations have been designed to force anyone planning an extension touching 25% or more of the envelope of the building to bring the entire building up to a minimum of B2.

So they save the grant money to incentivise people who otherwise couldn't afford to carry out energy efficiency improvements.

One option would be to avail of the OSS service to upgrade the house as it stands, then carry out the extension once that's complete.
 
The One Stop Shop scheme was very deliberately designed to exclude people planning extensions. It's not that they can't cope, it's that the building regulations have been designed to force anyone planning an extension touching 25% or more of the envelope of the building to bring the entire building up to a minimum of B2.

So they save the grant money to incentivise people who otherwise couldn't afford to carry out energy efficiency improvements.

One option would be to avail of the OSS service to upgrade the house as it stands, then carry out the extension once that's complete.

@Leo that sounds like such a ridiculous situation. Imagine having to play it that way. No grant would cover the additional cost of having to approach it in this way. You get contractors in to do a deep retrofit for the grant. Then you get contractors in to do the extension.

Also, on the policy being designed this way - it's not, from what I understand. One of the OSS providers were happy to do the OSS alongside the contractor. So it's not precluded. They wanted to charge me 8k for them doing the paperwork. I'd have secured the SEAI registered contractor, I'd have the PM etc. Approved materials. Top spec. They just needed to do the paperwork. This country is insane on things like this - I'm re-doing windows, floors, doors and there's no grant available unless I go to someone that'll do the paperwork for the exact same thing but price gouge me....guess what...almost to the euro for the value of the grants in OSS > individual grants (8k). I'm sturggling to believe the 8k number is a coincidence.
 
Can you not go around the OSS and get the individual grants? My understanding is that pay as you go system is also there
 
I'm re-doing windows, floors, doors and there's no grant available unless I go to someone that'll do the paperwork for the exact same thing but price gouge me....guess what...almost to the euro for the value of the grants in OSS > individual grants (8k). I'm sturggling to believe the 8k number is a coincidence.
If you can get the work for the same price then why bother with the grant process?

No grant would cover the additional cost of having to approach it in this way. You get contractors in to do a deep retrofit for the grant. Then you get contractors in to do the extension.
All depends on the nature of the work being undertaken of course. In some cases you'd just be removing a section of wall that was insulated to add the extension.
 
If you can get the work for the same price then why bother with the grant process?


All depends on the nature of the work being undertaken of course. In some cases you'd just be removing a section of wall that was insulated to add the extension.
Because the grants should make it cheaper, i.e. OSS in this case. But it doesn't. Unless I'm misunderstanding your question?
 
Because the grants should make it cheaper, i.e. OSS in this case. But it doesn't. Unless I'm misunderstanding your question?
Yes, I agree with that, demand seems to be massively outstripping a very limited supply, so prices go up. It's a shame that more wasn't invested in training as it's getting increasingly unlikely we will come close to meeting upgrade targets
 
I remember listening to Morning Ireland the day the targets were announced to great fanfare. I laughed. They were never remotely achievable.
 
We are looking at starting a renovation on our house and have a contractor available. He's not registered with SEAI and says he can still do work cheaper than if we got grants. However, with the full retrofit, I'm wondering are we better to do that separately given size of grants available?
We intend to change to air to water, replace lots of windows and do as much as we can as current BER is E1.
SEAI give grants for heating/insulation upgrades, it was never designed for extensions. I appreciate that it is not ideal, but the OSS is focussed on improvements of existing buildings, rather than, new buildings, which an extension actually is.

In this situation, you would be better dealing with a registered SEAI contractor, to do all works, and you claim the grants yourself, however achieving B2 post works, is mandatory to max out grants.

I find it hard to understand, how a contractor who is not registered with SEAI could have done our recent upgrade, total was about 36k, grants were 18k, so just about 50 % of the costs. Triple
Glazed windows, uv 1.0, heat pump and partial
Rad replacement.
 
SEAI give grants for heating/insulation upgrades, it was never designed for extensions. I appreciate that it is not ideal, but the OSS is focussed on improvements of existing buildings, rather than, new buildings, which an extension actually is.
The grant application would only be to the improvement measures on the existing building, maybe you're not aware of that? In that light you can understand why the above doesn't make any sense?

Seems very fair to treat everyone equally. i.e. if you're introducing SEAI grant qualifying measures to an existing building as part of a bigger job (or not) then the measures you're taking to the existing building qualify for grants. And they do, it's just impossible to find someone to do the work.

The idea that the OSS assigns the contractor rather than the Customer being able to go to the market to get the best priced SEAI contractor is ludicrous. By definition it is anti competitive given how few OSS contractor shops there are. The whole thing is a joke.
 
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