Green Deal fund reduced – Not good for Landlords

I had one just about to start - looks like a screeching halt then!

Part of the reason that solid wall insulation is so expensive is that as soon as a company recruits and train the staff to do it, the goal posts are moved. Additionally a company has to be registered to be to do work that is funded by the greendeal.

Therefore very few companies are setup to do it; hence there is a lack of competition.

Until such time as the funding stops being turned on and off every few months, I don’t see solid wall insulation becoming good value for money.

It was a struggle to find a company who do it, most companies you contact do not even come back to you.

I briefly looked into this, but first I have to pay for an EPC to tell me that it would improve the energy efficiency of my building - I think I know that already !!

Then I have to find companies that are signed up with the scheme - who I'm sure have to pay to be registered, and pay for all the training schemes, which just adds to their costs which they pass on to me.
I have to make sure the company fill in the correct forms, and if they get it wrong, then my claim in invalid.
Then, apparently, I only find out if my "voucher" is valid AFTER they have done the work and when the voucher is sent in to "redeem " it.

- Well, what a load of work, just to get a few quid.

- These companies are quoting £4-6,000 for a small installation, but adding up materials for my job, it would cost less than £1,000 for the materials,
....so I just have to find my hammer drill and ladder, affix the insulation and beadings to the building, then find someone ( someone who usually does wall rendering) who can follow the manufacturers instructions and apply the render materials and mesh to the insulation.
- Job Done !!

I'm sure there's a few more hoops to jump through, such as council/building regs, but it's not that complicated.
They do this type of insulation in Europe all the time, I'm sure you could find an east european company who would ship over two guys to do it for less than it costs to employ an army of british people to fill in all the paperwork to get a "voucher" from the government !!

- can you detect an air of cynicism here ?

The reason for Green Deal moving the goalposts on solid wall insulation is that some installation companies were inflating prices to lessen their customers deposit, as an incentive to them to sign up for the deal. I was contacted by my installer yesterday and told that I had until today, Thursday, to register my application and get conformation from Green Deal to proceed at the original price. This I did successfully and am now waiting for my voucher before proceeding with the work. The blame lies with the Mickey Mouse companies that were offering their clients reduced payments to get the work on the 'dodge'. and now the customer suffers.

When I looked into this a few years back it was about £4500, but no grant so not worth it.

Then a couple of years ago there was a grant scheme, but no installers seemed interested. Frankly the business model seemed to be selling EPCs and avoiding any work.

Now the govt say they will pay 75% of up to 8K, so surprise surprise it costs about 8K now, for me it is worth a couple of grand as I have an ex-LA property that looks bad next to all the LA houses that have already been done.

Given a few decades it may even pay for itself in reduced fuel bills:)

Shame they did not ask a major gas company how much it would cost, there was a boiler scheme where they paid 10% of the cost of the boiler- £400. But a good quality super efficient condensing combi boiler only cost me £1200.

Hopefully the installers will get a voucher application in today and this will fix the 6K grant, otherwise it gets to wait for next time.

DECT shambolically cut it off early last night, leaving me out of look and chasing return of deposit.

Who would want to run a green deal/ECO company I bet they are not even allowed to sue the govt for loss of business.