C1 BER House - How to approach upgrades?

Wandering_Dazed said:

Ventilation Demand Control Ventilation Demand Control Ventilation System €6019.70
Ventilation Ventilation Additional Measures €2961.50

• DCV Fan unit premium

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This is worth a bit more exploration/clarification. If you’re going to go to the cost/mess of ducting for a DCV I think you’d be better off going all the way to MVHR, particularly as there is airtightness work being done. I doubt it would cost much more.

Crazy. It looks to me that everything is at least twice the price what it ought to be and I'd like to see their calcs for the sizing of the hp.
A grand to block up a flue ...
4 grand to lay fibre in an attic and install soffit vents ...
Nearly 7 grand for a 2.6 kWp solar pv array
9 grand for the ventilation ...
.
.
.

Even taking the grant into account I reckon you are still being ripped off.

Never-mind that and other than the expected BER uplift, have they made any guarantee of workmanship, quality, air tightness figure, heating cost reduction or comfort improvement?
(I recently was called out to a house who had a similar scale of grant aided works done to their house last year ... and the reason for contacting me was that they were still cold and had eye watering high esb bills ... and were €80k poorer)!

Tread carefully!

Micks'r said:

Crazy. It looks to me that everything is at least twice the price what it ought to be and I'd like to see their calcs for the sizing of the hp.

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I'll ask them for their calls.

Micks'r said:

A grand to block up a flue ...

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Indeed, plus they only mention one chimney when in fact there are 2. I said in the online meeting one had been sealed at the fireplace already bar very crudely.

Micks'r said:

Nearly 7 grand for a 2.6 kWp solar pv array

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I told them my understanding on Solar was to max the amount of panels where possible. I was told the Contractor would be able to discuss what is possible based off roof type etc Didn't fill me with confidence as they know the roof type cos they surveyed the whole house for 2+ hours. Albeit it was a guy with an IPad taking pics and measurements.

Micks'r said:

9 grand for the ventilation ...

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I've no idea on costs for such and how invasive this is to install. I shall get googling.

Micks'r said:

Even taking the grant into account I reckon you are still being ripped off.

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Hard for me to know but going to talk to a mate who is has had pretty much all this done to his (smaller) house.

"have they made any guarantee of workmanship, quality, air tightness figure, heating cost reduction or comfort improvement?(I recently was called out to a house who had a similar scale of grant aided works done to their house last year ... and the reason for contacting me was that they were still cold and had eye watering high esb bills ... and were €80k poorer)!"

No in short, they provided itemised estimates on what each of these upgrades will change in the house. They admitted they were chasing HLI to avail of grants and tolls suit the heatpump. I'll share the summary of the changes in a separate post.

Micks'r said:

Thread carefully!

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I always try to "thread" carefully But seriously I do appreciate your insight here. In terms of the cost of the airtightness test (which I know you are an expert in), does that cost look way out?

Here is the summary of the reports findings.



I'm still absorbing it all but did tell the OSS that I was expecting the net of grant cost to be ~50k.

I can contact other OSS's with the report to see if they can bring it all in at a lower cost.

I also have questions to go back to the current OSS as there are obvious errors on their template report. (i.e. 1 chimney instead of 2, and 15 rads when the house is entirely UFCH ground and 1st floor)

All observations very welcome, including all critiques.

Wandering_Dazed said:

I always try to "thread" carefully But seriously I do appreciate your insight here. In terms of the cost of the airtightness test (which I know you are an expert in), does that cost look way out?

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I don't see any mention of an air tightness test.
I can't comment on the 'structural air tight measures' mentioned as there is no detail on what those measures are. Anyway, it's meaningless in the absence of the test / guarantee.

Micks'r said:

I don't see any mention of an air tightness test.

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Apologies @Micks'r the copy and past from the PDF report is a bit messy. To clarify, this is the Air Tightness line item:

Micks'r said:

I can't comment on the 'structural air tight measures' mentioned as there is no detail on what those measures are. Anyway, it's meaningless in the absence of the test / guarantee.

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I hear you on the above and thank you.

We went from F to B2 without grants, and spent nowhere near those amounts, but also didn't do some items on your quote.
We did walls, floors, glazing, new heating system and solar.

I posted my experience of our “journey” on Boards.ie a couple of years ago.
You might get something from in OP.


g

garbanzo said:

I posted my experience of our “journey” on Boards.ie a couple of years ago.
You might get something from in OP.

g

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Thanks g, do you have any costings on the upgrades you had done compared to what I shared?

I've already sent an email to the OSS querying multiple items as others have shared. Along with essentially telling them all the prices are higher than I had researched.

To be honest it was all done kinda piecemeal over the last 18 years. We got our builder to do some additional bits while he was doing our extension which saved us a lot. Though it was a pain in the ass living with it with a young family, but we got through it. I stuck mountains of insulation in the attic. Good quality stuff which was on special in Homebase. It was a one-day but horrible job which I likened to trying to put wallpaper up in a submarine ! Improvements were pretty much immediate though.

The most recent upgrade was the 4kw solar panel system we put up 2 1/2 years ago. Didn’t opt for the battery as we have the clean export guarantee back to the grid. System cost €5,100 after the grant. Should be at break even in three or so years. That gave us the BER at B2. In a 1948 semi-d.

Sorry I can’t be of more help. Good luck with whatever you decide OP.

g