Retrofit: One-stop shop or individual grants?
Heat pumps are the gold standard of sustainable heating but are only appropriate to a highly insulated home with a low HLI. The Technical Assessment carried out by the SEAI will protect your investment in these costly technologies.
Across more than 300 homes already upgraded from an average BER of E1 to A3 or better using the One-Stop-Shop, the average cost in the first year of the scheme’s operation was €38,200 after grant aid. These figures are obviously serious, and where we are detailing substantial areas of the house, any associated building costs must be carefully assessed.
Stephen Farrell, One Stop Shop Programme manager for the SEAI explains the two grant streams in more detail. “The One-Stop-Shop service is a great option for homeowners who are looking to carry out multiple energy upgrades in one go and who want to achieve a minimum B2 BER rating. This approach gives the homeowner peace of mind that their project is being fully managed by their chosen SEAI registered One-Stop-Shop from start to finish, including the grant application. Alternatively, with Individual Energy Upgrades, the homeowner can pick and choose which energy upgrades they want to carry out and can do them over time in a piecemeal fashion, giving them greater flexibility to plan their upgrades to suit their circumstances and budget.”
So, what’s the process if we have a One-Stop-Shop provider in mind? Helen Williams, One-Stop-Shop Programme Manager explains, “When you contact a registered One-Stop-Shop, they will start by gathering information about the type and size of house you own, whether you have a current BER assessment, and the type of energy upgrades you are considering. This will help them to determine whether you are looking to do a complete home energy upgrade in one go through the One-Stop-Shop route, or whether you are better suited to carrying out one or two upgrades through the individual energy upgrades route.
“Carrying out the complete home energy upgrades (One-Stop-Shop), they will schedule a home visit for a Home Energy Assessment. SEAI offers a stand-alone grant of €350 for this assessment, which provides you with standardised report detailed, technical information about the upgrades required to meet the One-Stop-Shop grant eligibility, as well as a rough estimate of likely costs. You are under no obligation to proceed with these works, but you will still receive the grant for the Home Energy Assessment.
“If you decide to go ahead with the works” Helen continues, “the One-Stop-Shop will carry out a site survey to provide you with a comprehensive cost breakdown of the works involved and contracts are signed. The One-Stop-Shop will deduct the full grant amount from the total cost of works to you. They will provide you with a schedule for the works and from there will assign and manage their contractors to carry out works, project managing your entire home energy upgrade from start to finish.”
Stephen Farrell adds: “We currently have seventeen registered One-Stop-Shops with more coming through the registration process. It is worth contacting several providers to find out how long their wait times are, as it will depend on the number of projects they currently have ongoing. so will differ for each company. On average, we are seeing waiting times of four to six weeks for the initial home energy assessment. Our research shows that people spend considerable time researching their upgrade projects and putting financing in place, perhaps twelve months. Realistically these wait times are actually relatively short.”
