New Green Homes Grant to give up to £5,000 in vouchers for insulation and double-glazing

tek-monkey

Justiceforme said:

I have contacted over 20 companies in the West Midlands for quotes, not one reply.  Either companies are not willing to work under the Grant Scheme or they don't want to work all.   I would love to hear from a company with the reasons why they are not interested in doing this work!   Any companies interested, please answer

I'm also in the West Midlands.  Of all I managed to talk to they were inundated with work and were concentrating on the jobs closest to them, I had one say they'd call me in November if they think they can help.  The vast majority didn't even call back and the one quote I got (via emailing pics) was over 7k for a job that costs 4k at most.

shartridge

Hi, According to TrustMark there are no External Insulation installers in my area which is Meopham in Kent. Does that mean I can't get a grant?

Yahoo_Mail

watsoex said:

Justiceforme said:

I have contacted over 20 companies in the West Midlands for quotes, not one reply.  Either companies are not willing to work under the Grant Scheme or they don't want to work all.   I would love to hear from a company with the reasons why they are not interested in doing this work!   Any companies interested, please answer

Hi, 
I work for an Air Source Heat Pump installation company. We have tried to simplify our process for our clients and are happy to provide quotations and although we are busy with lots of pending clients we are definitely wanting to work. 

We are based in Yorkshire but we do travel far and wide with our installations.
Sorry to hear so many people are struggling 

But nobody wants an air source heat pump.  Even with the grant, it's expensive.  They want cheap insulation and/or windows and doors.  Do you offer that?

You also need to register with the site if you're representing a company, did you do that?

watsoex

Black66 said:

Green house grant scheme can't find any installers to provide quotes in Southport Merseyside and need 3 for applications form. Call 3 on the list all out of area. Frustrated

It recommends 3 but you actually only have to upload 1 when you complete the form. 

flemingmd

Draught Proofing

Did anyone in Cheshire manage to get a company to quote for Draught Proofing?

Simple Energy Advice website recommends it but no companies seem interested in quoting. 

sjrooney4

hI
have tried to  get quotes for cavity wall insulation from 9 approved suppliers . After 6 weeks only 2 replied and yesterday I tried applying on line for grant. After many error messages ( not allowed by ContentsSecurityPolicy ) I called Simple Energy Advice only to be told there was a technical problem and I should try again today. Did so and at last have Green Homes Grant application number, hooray.
This scheme has not been thought though and will no doubt disappoint many needy households. I will post again if I finally get the work done and grant paid within allotted timeframe

Doshback

Tried my best with the Green Homes grant but it's beaten me!  The big problem was finding installers for particular measures.  Using the Trust Mark web site, I found some contractors and contacted them in an ever-increasing distance from my property.  Many did not respond to me, even after a chase-up. Of those that I got to, they either didn't have the certification for the work I wanted or they were stacked up with work well into next year.  Most small building companies just didn't have the necessary experience for specialist things like internal solid wall insulation.  They also said that the Government schemes were more trouble than they were worth and membership of Trust Mark was too expensive.  I actually got one builder to come and have a look at the work but he has never contacted me again with the promised quote.

There appear to be some nation-wide contractors but they are not rushing to quote for individual medium-sized household work.
The 'Simple Energy Advice' folks, who appear to have been appointed by the Government as some unwitting go-between advisor. They do their best and give you the basics but they usually just shunt you onto the Trust Mark web site, where the overburdened list of contractors can be found.

The insistence by the Government of just using only Trust Mark has meant that many other, very competent, trade organisations are excluded.

I'm dipping out as the hours already spent trying to get an application together has just not come up with a credible scheme.

Kaz2020

I’ve phoned or emailed several companies on the Government website and although they’ve said they would come back to me none have.
I’ve given up trying now as I don’t think it’s possible to get anything from this initiative.

kuepper

I got a quote from a firm who  sounded semi literate on the phone but were magically capable of sending me a quote without even visiting my house! Another firm I called have said they'd do the same. The quote for doors was more than twice that indicated on the Simple Energy Advice site. The quote for draughtproofing covers 'all doors and windows'  despite me saying only 2 small (0.8 x 0.4m) windows needed it and I am supposed to get 2 new doors anyway. They also seem to want at least 25% -60% of the cost up front too. They could only quote me for the secondary measures despite Trustmark website stating otherwise. It's all a mess isn't it

abba3

I feel so frustrated about the huge amount of time I've wasted and all the effort I've put into this, so far in vain, that I  wanted to add my experience to everyone else's in the hope that Martin might be able to influence the Government to take up one of his suggestions for making the scheme work - unless of course they never meant it to.

I've finally got a quote from a roof insulation company for my primary measure but I'm really after double-glazing, for which I qualify as I only have single-glazing. However, like a lot of other people, I can't find a double-glazing installer (there were only six with the required certification on the Trustmark list) and I'm told that I have to put the quotes for both the primary and secondary measures on the same application. Which means that I have to hold up the first job in the hope that I can eventually find someone to do the windows and then submit my quotes before all the money runs out. Are they really adding new installers daily? Even Simply Energy Advice didn't know that to install double-glazing windows, the tradesman has to have PAS certification as well as Trustmark. A lot of the window companies, to whom I spoke, have never even heard of that, though they have FENSA, CERTASS, Energy Saving Trust and/or Glass & Glazing Federation etc. certification.

I can't afford to spend any more time on this, so I'm now looking for double-glazing sash window installers outside the scheme, i.e. the majority of them, and, unless one of the companies I've contacted comes back to me by the end of the month, I'll have to go ahead and submit just the quote for the roof insulation. That seems pretty expensive, and they may have charged me more because they know I'm going to apply for the voucher, but then I'll only have to pay 1/3rd of it. Also I had to pay them a deposit of £1,120, which is the whole price, because they said it was the only way of getting to the top of the list to get the work done since they would be unable to fulfil all the orders they were getting. Every qualifying company is simply inundated with enquiries with their mailboxes etc full.