Eligibility to carry out Green Homes Grant work

[MisterBoy]

I would love to use, and encourage others to use trusted local tradesmen I have used before for this Green Homes stuff. Many of them are independent 1-man businesses or sole traders and I wondered how much of a faff is it for them to get TrustMark or MCS accreditation - is it realistic?

Anyone here sorting this out to be eligible for what could be a big source of work?

 

[sircerebus666]

Surely it would be upto them to get accredited

If they are good I suspect there order book is full to bursting and they don't need the extra work

 

[wannocks]

MCS accreditation is difficult and expensive, and the scheme ends in March 21. I would think most small firms that don't have it already wont bother.

 

[MisterBoy]

Surely it would be upto them to get accredited

If they are good I suspect there order book is full to bursting and they don't need the extra work

Well obviously it's up to them, but I have people I know and trust so I'd rather I could use them for such work, so I'm just interested.

I wondered if it'd be like the eat out to help out scheme where every tom Dick & Harry gets enrolled or if it's realistically only something bigger companies would be able to do, the paperwork is too onerous for a 1-man-outfit?

 

[sircerebus666]

Pass but again it's up to the local trades if they want to get involved

Think this is just wishful thinking on your part , I suspect they can't make as much profit on those types of jobs hence why they won't touch them

 

[scbk]

A friend had a new oil boiler put in a couple of years ago, paid by a grant scheme as elderly relative lives there.
The fitters were apparently from Liverpool! Only 400 miles away.

 

[Best Glaze]

We are TrustMark endorsed and I have to say since the Green scheme was announced we have had numerous leads. Not too sure about the paperwork side of things as we haven't actually been given any details about HOW the scheme actually works, we have just been told we should carry out green scheme works as we are trustmark registered.

 

[Diver Fred]

I've been looking into the Green Homes scheme and initially very concerned that all the companies I could find to do the work I wanted were large national ones, many of which tried to appear to be 'local' by having a local-ish 'phone number or 'office' (presumably the local agents home).
As I at one time worked for a company that adopted TQM I had some concerns that the large companies would be more focused on doing the paperwork associated with 'Trustmark' rather than doing the job.
Eventually I found a 'proper' local company to do the work, with only 2/3 employees. The chap who came out to do the quote told me that since they became TM registered they have seen an increase in queries. That agrees with 'Best Glaze' comments above regarding requests for quotes.
Biggest problem now is getting the paperwork through HMG.

 

[Best Glaze]

I would love to use, and encourage others to use trusted local tradesmen I have used before for this Green Homes stuff. Many of them are independent 1-man businesses or sole traders and I wondered how much of a faff is it for them to get TrustMark or MCS accreditation - is it realistic?

Anyone here sorting this out to be eligible for what could be a big source of work?

We started and gave up, too much red tape, too many hoops to jump through and goalposts being moved as well as misinformation from the scheme co-ordinators. Never worth the hassle.

 

[JP_]

What I don't understand is why these grants cannot be given to DIYers. The government could save money by providing materials for DIYers for free, rather than giving cash to large building contractors.
I've not had a penny help for making my house more carbon efficient. Wondering if I should have just got a grant, but the grant probably would not have covered the whole job, and it would (I think, I did have a quick look about 2 years ago) actually cost me more than just buying insulation and doing the work myself.