I’m selling my house and found that the D2 Ber certificate had expired. I engaged a qualified Ber assessor and he surveyed and submitted a report advising that my new Ber was E2. I had a new condensing boiler fitted so am wondering how the Ber rating has gone down. I’ve asked the assessor and he stands by his E2 rating, saying that perhaps other information was available to the assessor who had given the house its original D2 rating. This makes no sense to me.
When one is constructing a new house, it is a relatively straightforward matter to plan for and determine a specific Ber rating as all the facts are known – including the nature and type of construction and in particular the nature, type, quality and rating of the insulation products. Because all of this information is available to an assessor, they will be able to determine the rating using a mathematical equation. It is also worthwhile noting that when one is planning and constructing a new house it is also a relatively straightforward to plan for and achieve a high Ber rating.
It is of course also possible to apply the same principles when planning for and upgrading an existing dwelling house, if all the relevant facts are clearly available to the assessor. However, when working with existing properties, many of the facts are already established and one is working within limitations already in place, and hence it can be a lot more difficult to achieve a high Ber rating. Accordingly, when one is refurbishing/upgrading an existing house, a lower target such as a B rating will be set which is more readily achievable given the limitations/restrictions already imposed by the existing structure.
This then brings us to the third category, and this is the category that I suspect you are falling into. This is when a house has already been built and is in place with no planned upgrade. While the situation will vary from house to house, it can be possible to have a very good understanding of what the house was constructed of at the time of original construction, by reference to the regulations and standards in place at that time. Of course, this depends on the age of the house and it is generally easier to have an idea of what might have been included during the construction of more recently built houses. There is also the whole question of information and records of what has been built, which tends to be comprehensive in cases of, say, housing estates, but can often be scant for one-off houses.
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If there is a lack of information around the construction details, the assessor will have to make certain presumptions around the nature of construction or in the alternative to allow the calculations to include “default” presumptions. In the absence of clear information, the default position or any assumption by an assessor tends to be low on the basis that it is not possible to justify a higher rating without the factual data to back this up.
It is also worth noting that when the whole process began, there was an inevitable shortage of Ber assessors. Whereas there was a need to undergo training to be an assessor, there was a tendency, and perhaps a necessity, at that time to train persons with limited experience in construction, in order to meet the demand. However, as the supply of assessors was met, it has become harder to become an assessor unless one has strong knowledge, experience or expertise in a related construction area.
So it’s possible that the first assessor who calculated the D2 rating – while no doubt trained – may not have had huge experience in construction. Alternatively, they may have made positive assumptions around the nature of the construction details or may have been given incorrect data on the nature of construction from the outset. Any or all of these factors may have contributed to the calculation of a higher rating.
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Your second and more recent assessor is presumably only relying on actual facts which they can stand over, thus giving rise to a lower and more conservative Ber rating. You will no doubt be aware of the old saying “garbage in equals garbage out”. In other words, if the incorrect data (or data which cannot be stood over) is inputted at the start then this will give rise to a different result. Accordingly, with older houses where there is insufficient/inaccurate data, it is likely that any Ber ratings are more indicative rather than scientific and these could easily be out by a grade or two. This does tend to be a problem with older properties, particularly at the lower grades.
In other words, the result has to some extent been calculated by various assumptions and default factors as opposed to scientific evidence. Science can only be applied when the full facts are known.
Your situation is unusual in that you have ended up dropping a grade whereas I would suspect that more often than not, if the facts were known, the grades could actually be increased. Accordingly, given that your most recent assessor can only rely on the facts, it may be that you are being penalised with a lower grade simply due to the lack of available data.
Consequently it might be worthwhile arranging to have some investigative works (opening-up works) undertaken to determine factual information such as the type/depth of insulation within say the floor and external walls, and if this proves to be better than what has been presumed, and the information is provided to your assessor, then it may be possible to have the calculation redone to see if a higher Ber rating can be proven.
However, the reality is that ratings at this end of the scale are at the lower level and you may wish to consider various other upgrades with a view to significantly improving on your Ber rating. You will note from his report that the Ber assessor will have set out various measures in how the Ber rating can be improved.
There are also grants available for energy upgrades, and the Ber assessor or your local chartered building surveyor should be able to help you plan for upgrading works and seeking available grants.
Val O’Brien is a chartered building surveyor and member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.
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