Retrofitting

What kind of grant is out there for loft insulation at the moment. My sister was looking for me to do it as i did it in the parents house a few years ago, but i dont fancy it. I had a look in her attic and she has wires everywhere. Alarm, down lighter, new sockets etc. The place is a mess of wires and down lights. I definitely dont want to touch it. There is old fiberglass in there thats all squashed down that will have to come out too.

So im just going to send her a link to a professional.

What kind of prices should i be looking at after grant to do just attic insulation in a 170Sqm bungalow?

only 30mins for a technical assessment??

If you want to avail of SEAI grants you need the 'energy audit' which basically states what grants you are eligible for.

Mine cost €676.50 wth -snip- but I am looking to avail of the One Stop Shop grant scheme so need the entire house assessed.

OSS provider put me in contact with Buildcert to get the intial assessment done. Buildcert will send their report of what I qualify for to both myself and OSS provider. Buildcert are then done and its up to me and OSS provider to agree next steps.

The OSS provider will then manage all grant paymenets on behalf of SEAI through their project management service. This service may include getting contractors to do the work if you are not using your own via your builder. I see 2 scenarios here:

1. You use your OSS provider to provide the contractors (SEAI approved only) and process the grants.
2. You use your OSS provider to process the grants only and you provide the contractors (SEAI approved only).

Either way payment for the SEAI work will be processed via your OSS provider.

If you are gettting non SEAI work done at the same time, say an extension, then you have SEAI and non-SEAI payments to consider.

I'm guessing you either quality for a grant or not.

Take attic insultation, if the max. grant available for it is €1,300 then it doesn't matter if you extend your roof, or your current roof is bigger than your neighbours. You still only get €1,300 if you qualify.

Did they say another 2 weeks for the intial assessment report, or the actual quote for the works?

Im on the same boat, another one stop shop came back quicker with an insane quote that made no sense. I forwarded al the assesment details so they're working off the same data as the others. €30k to wrap a semi-d where my quotes from companies to just do the wrap were in the region of €11-14k.

This is where the problem will lie. The One Stop Shop providers are basically just getting quotes on your behalf. Builders will see who they are quoting for, determine it is grant work, and price accordingly. Yet to go through the whole process myself but already I have a feeling the SEAI grant scheme money may never make to down to benefit the home owner 😕.

The other curious thing is that there is such a gap between granta available to OSS and to individual grants. Why the latter do not cover doors, floors, windows etc just doesn't make sense. If the aim is to make as many homes energy efficient why not have the same grants apply to both? It's very poorly executed.

The OSS that has responded to me has told me that they won't get involved where there's ane extension/builder:

"we are not in a position to take on board any projects where there is a builder involved or if there is an extension to be built at the same time."

The OSS I am enaging with is more than happy to quote me for additonal non-SEAI grant work, and is also happy to engage with any SEAI registered contractors I put forward. They still get their fees and I spoke at length to them about this. We all understand it is early stages in the process but they were in agreement that this is a scenario that will arise over and over again.

A large amount of One Stop Shop SEAI grant work being undertaken may be on homes being fully renovated from E up to maybe B rating. You would expect the new house owner to be doing other works to the house at the same time as it makes complete sense. My guess is your OSS will change their approach as they think it through further. Otherwise they may not generate as much business.

Builders will also need to review how they work and get paid for these type of jobs. They will have to invoice the OSS for the grant work and invoice the homeowner for the non-grant work. I spoke with a potential builder who did a previous extension for me and, although he had not thought it through, he indicated this would not be a problem for him.

Are these quotes via the One Stop Shop providers?

I intend to package all the SEAI work into one and look for a single quote, but may end up ultimately dealing with seperate vendors as you say.

I will obtain quotes from my OSS, through my architect via a tender process, and directly from a couple of builders I know. This should hopefully give me a good breath of costs. To note, I am doing works above the SEAI grant work so have engaged with an architect for this purpose anyway.

I received a quote back today and I’m still picking my jaw up from the floor. 137k plus unspecified sundries less 27k in grants for a typical 1970 semi-d with extension in good condition. It might be cheaper to knock it and start again :-)

I’m no expert on costs but they want 8k for 2kW solar. Thanks to the guys over in the renewables forum I know that’s approximately 3 times the market rate. If the one stop shop is gouging on that I assume they’re gouging on the rest