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

Julia9CA

delmonta said:

Has anyone who applied received a confirmation email or anything yet? I've got nothing apart from my reference number from the application

Someone on here named Mintyrbc said they had a home inspection and received a voucher last week.  Apart from that, don't think anyone else on here has heard anything.

Mintyrbc

delmonta said:

Has anyone who applied received a confirmation email or anything yet? I've got nothing apart from my reference number from the application

As already said, I had my application approved on Friday. The format you receive is an email saying you application has been approved and the following voucher details:
Voucher ref:
Voucher issue date:
Voucher expiry date:
Measure name:
Installer:
Instaler Trustmark licence no:
Your contribution:
Grant funded contribution:

There is a paragraph saying if these details are correct go ahead and instruct your installer to start work and some further t&c's.

I am one of the first people in the country to have a inspection and receive this mail. My installer is trying to get confirmation that the voucher ref is valid from the BEIS and customer services are yet to be given an update that vouchers have been issued. The wheels are turning slowly so expect a few more people to start hearing about inspections and vouchers in the coming days. 

C_Mababejive

I think the government has missed a trick on this one. They say it cant be used to fund the exchange of a fossil fuel appliance. There are plenty of gas boilers out there that are still working and over 30 years old. They should have targeted them. I also did some research into air source heat pumps. I learned rightly or wrongly that typical temperature outputs are around 50C in winter. Is this enough to produce decent hot water supply? im not sure. I think it would need topping up with an immersion heater thus adding to the cost. Correct me if im wrong.

GeordieSaver

delmonta said:

Has anyone who applied received a confirmation email or anything yet? I've got nothing apart from my reference number from the application

Nothing yet - submitted about 3 weeks ago.

willz45

I applied on the 01/10/2020 (the second day the scheme was opened) and I still haven't heard anything apart from a email confirmation. Its ridiculous that it is taking so long, I only need some insulation!

mickvc

Mintyrbc I need to submit my application asap. Was your quote detailed or just basic? My secondary measure is double glazing for which I have a quote but it's very sparing on detail (my first measure quote is OK and detailed). The terms of this scheme say that quotes must be in accordance with installer terms and conditions (I don't know these details). My double glazing is on letterhead, dated and addressed to me but simply states the colour, type and number of windows together with price.

Mintyrbc

mickvc said:

Mintyrbc I need to submit my application asap. Was your quote detailed or just basic? My secondary measure is double glazing for which I have a quote but it's very sparing on detail (my first measure quote is OK and detailed). The terms of this scheme say that quotes must be in accordance with installer terms and conditions (I don't know these details). My double glazing is on letterhead, dated and addressed to me but simply states the colour, type and number of windows together with price.

The quote for my Air Source Heat pump was 9 pages long as it contained loads of info about the system, projected heating calculations, the instal and t&cs. I cant imagine you need much info for windows though. The inspection was mainly to ensure I wasn't trying to make a fraudulent claim.

delmonta

willz45 said:

I applied on the 01/10/2020 (the second day the scheme was opened) and I still haven't heard anything apart from a email confirmation. Its ridiculous that it is taking so long, I only need some insulation!

I didnt even get the confirmation email! Just the reference number

Mintyrbc

C_Mababejive said:

I think the government has missed a trick on this one. They say it cant be used to fund the exchange of a fossil fuel appliance. There are plenty of gas boilers out there that are still working and over 30 years old. They should have targeted them. I also did some research into air source heat pumps. I learned rightly or wrongly that typical temperature outputs are around 50C in winter. Is this enough to produce decent hot water supply? im not sure. I think it would need topping up with an immersion heater thus adding to the cost. Correct me if im wrong.

The main concern is legionaries. The Air Source Heat pump needs to idealy be supplied with a matching water storage system that is intended for an ASHP rather than a gas system. Water needs to be heated over 60 degrees to remain safe from legionella, this only needs to happen once in a 24 hour period rather than being stored constantly at this temp so an ASHP can be configured to manage this with little additional usage cost. The water temperature for bathing is around 43 degrees, less for showers, so an ASHP can easily achieve this. I have read so much into this topic, its one of those things you can try to summarise how it will work but there are so many variables you won't truly know until you instal and set it up for your home. Finger crossed my one has been sized correctly and works with my house.

Sarn_B_T

Sarn_B_T said:

USE INSTAGROUP IF YOU CAN  -  read my story..........

So I have been looking into this grant opportunity on behalf of my mum and have struggled like so many people in finding installers in the area, people willing to come to the house and then being given reasonable prices. Why the government didn't set price brackets for the traders who sign up is beyond me. You google cavity wall insulation uk average cost and it suggests £450-£750 yet the quotes coming in are triple that!!

Anyway I am going off topic and ranting! The primary measures my mum would qualify for are cavity wall insulation and loft insulation. There is already some floor insulation in the loft and boarding but I am sure it can be improved. I don't believe there is any cavity wall insulation but my mum thinks there might be.

I tried about 8 companies in reasonable distance of the Hertfordshire area, most asked for email details so they could send a quote, when I suggested it might be better if they came to view first they said they were too busy to do this and all prices would be standard anyway.

When I said I wasn't certain about cavity wall and as there was no EPC on the house they said they would just quote for it but really I wanted to understand if this was needed. Some companies told me I must have it as the neighbours did!! Other companies asked me to take multiple photos of the outside of the house and the loft space to send to them first, so to basically do their job for them!

In the end I managed to get 3 quotes back and after that pretty much gave up persisting with the others. None of these companies came to the house and the total price for the loft and wall insulation ranged from £2,800-£3,900 so I chose the company with the best reviews I could find online and submitted an application using their trademark reference.

However I was curious then and during this time I also looked at Icynene spray foam insulation, I know this isn't included n the grant, but at the crazy prices I was getting for normal loft insulation I wondered if this may be a better option. So I contacted a few more companies, had two people come out and give quotes. I then spent some more time researching this option and decided it wasn't for us.

Yesterday then was the final company I had booked and to be honest I had forgotten if it was for the non green home grant foam spray or a company about cavity and normal loft insulation but as I had only made the decision about not using spray foam on Thursday evening I thought it was too late to cancel so I would just let them come out.

Thank goodness I did!! So I am not even sure how or when I contacted Instagroup as I feel like I have been at this task all month but it turns out they were here for the cavity and normal loft insulation. So they were the only company I have contacted who bothered to come out. They were here for two hours (that seems excessive but it was because one was a week into the job and being trained by a very thorough supervisor), they drilled small holes into each side of the house and looked in with a camera before filling the holes back up.

They took multiple photos, measurements, spent time explaining what they were doing, why, talked through the results (no cavity wall insulation basically), how the job would be carried out, why a vent would be needed due to the open fire, no corner was cut.

Then they went up into the loft, assessed the current insulation, explained the options. Even gave a non-biased opinion on spray foam and concurred with my conclusion that although effective for the reasons my mum uses the loft it was probably not necessary.

So while all this was going on I was thinking, this is great, they are so professional, I really trust this company but what price am I going to put on that as based on the other quotes I was expecting a quote of £4,500-£6.000.

So at 7pm on a Friday evening, 2 hours after they arrived we got to the pricing. So bear in mind that the other three quotes were between £2,800-£3,900 and Instagroup were the only company to come out, do a true survey and spend time assessing the property and they came in at ............£1500!!!!!!!

So a totally professional company compared to anyone else I have encountered in this journey and who I hope I will be able to get to carry out the work. Now I have submitted a query to cancel or amend my initial application so just have to see how that goes but I will not be proceeding with any of the other cowboys.

Has anyone had experience/success at amending your application?

Just to follow up on this I made an enquiry as to how to cancel my first application and was advised that submitting a second would just void the first. I gave them both reference numbers to confirm and yes, the first one had been cancelled and the second one was live.

They did give me this update too though which may be useful to some of you......

You will receive an email notifying you when your application is online and available for you to access. This email will provide steps to create unique login credentials. You can expect to see emails allowing self-service access to your online application after 30th November. Vouchers are starting to be issued from early November.

I did question that surely access should be given after 30th October and not November but was told that no, these dates were correct!