Comments on: Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) and Home Inspectors numbers updated

By: Alison Brown

Alison Brown — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:40:18 +0000

Let me know if you are successful at claiming under Credit Consumer Act.
I am trying but they keep asking me for more and more info.!!!

By: Mr David Brooks

Mr David Brooks — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:26:27 +0000

Hi
Like many others I have paid £3,000 to become an Home Inspector. after being told by the training centre their would be plenty of work at £120 per property.
To find EPCs being sold as low as £9.99+VAT and no work.
As a Gas fitter I have been at properties when the “inspector”?? called to carry out the EPC, with no camera, steps, or even a tape?? took seconds at the property then left.
So what a waste of my time and money.
I am now hopping to obtain a refund via my credit cards

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:54:43 +0000

I am still trying to complete my portfolio to qualify as a HI; I started this training last May but although they say you can fit it around a full-time job; it is almost impossible to complete it within the contracted 12 months given. I now hear that it will potentially cost a lot more if the portfolio isn’t up to standard at the cost of £50 per hour of assessment. I wonder now why on earth I started this and am in a quandry as to whether or not to bother finishing it. That was quite likely the worst £8500 ever spent and still nothing to show for it.

By: Big Ron

Big Ron — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:35:25 +0000

I have only recently stumbled across this thread today and it makes very informative reading. I am genuinely saddened by some of the amounts spent and the information given.

I currently have an oportunity where if I could obtain the necessary qualifications I would have a steady(not super) flow of work for HIP’s (Including EPC’s ?)

My question to you informed people is exactly what qualifications would I require to undertake the full mandatory parts of the HIP and ay suggestions of a reputable firm who just provide the distance learning and the software ?

My general understanding is that it would cost me £70 ish to produce and the open market price is around £200 ??

Happy to be put straight as really only starting looking into this today and have some time for sensible research.

By: Oldboy

Oldboy — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:23:46 +0000

Hi
Let me add a few more ‘Facts’ for you
I have been a qualified and accredited DEA for 2 years
I trained as a Home Inspector and having got less than halfway through the course, and having spent over £3000, found that the government had changed its mind and that the course and qualification were irrelevant!
Having completed 5 training inspections on domestic properties, I asked the training provider (SAVA) that as I had completed over half of the requirement of the DEA course could I just complete the Energy Assesment part of the qualification. YES they said and charged me another £600 for the priviledge!
Since qualifying, to date I have been met with annoyance and disdain by estate agents and public everywhere who do not like, want, or understand the need for an EPC.
I have completed over 150 certificates in that time and have a good reputation for what I do.
If I’m lucky I get a fee of £50 for producing a certificate out of which I have to pay the lodgement fees and travel costs and in fact earn less than the Governments minimum wage criteria and I know of one DEA who charges £25 for doing the inspection and producing the certificate.
Over 2 years I have earned in the region of £7500 and out of that I have had to pay lodgement fees of £7 per time, travel costs and a bad debt of £800 from a ‘Panel’ HIP provider who didn’t pay me and went into liquidation
I thought about training as a Non-Domestic Energy Assessor
but have the same feeling as you about the ‘Con’ with these training providers who never give me the full story and can’t, or won’t give me any indication of what fees i can expect to be paid for this kind of work. What with this, and this Governments ability to change its mind feel that it will be throwing good money after bad.
My advice is: If your’e looking for a job don’t waste your time, effort and money on this scheme, go and stack shelves at ASDA, you’ll be much better off. You won’t make much but at least you won’t have torn a hole in you bank balance.

At least the sun is shining today!

By: James

James — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:44:21 +0000

Thanks so much for all the info. regarding these courses and training centres. I am so relieved that I didn’t take the plunge into almost ‘life breaking ‘ debt in my current financial situation.

The weakness that these places play on is the fact that you see it as a lifeline and really want to believe it’s true, when in reality it’s the reverse.

What a sick world we live in, to further people’s suffering
like these frauds do.

My immediete alarm bell went off when I saw it in the paper (having no experience of this kind of work) allowing any tom,dick and harry to come in, be passed as able to do it (how many people get sent away?????) and £6000 taken from in a matter of days. If this isn’t a con, what is ???!!!

I’m so glad not to be turning up tomorrow.

Cheers and heads up (there’s got to be something real)

By: Jed Smith

Jed Smith — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:08:14 +0000

WARNING! DOMESTIC ENERGY ASSESSOR COURSES, BE VERY CAREFUL!
I completed an interview with one of these training colleges in a large city in the midlands in April 2009.
I am 45 years old and have been out of work for some time, so when I saw this advert in the paper, I thought I would like to have a go at becoming a qualified domestic energy assessor. So I called them and arranged an interview.
The offices were very nice and the staff were friendly, I was quite impressed.
However, The first unusual thing that struck me was… in all the interviews that I’ve been to since I left school in the late 70’s,I have NEVER had to share an interview with another prospective candidate alongside me, but here I was in an interview to commence a DEA’s course with a total stranger. I was uncomfortable with this arrangement but went through with it anyway, since I was already there in the interview room.
We were asked a number of questions in turn and then were shown a couple of video clips about what we were likely to be doing as a qualified DEA. Of course the focus was on the earnings potential and figures starting at around £37,000 per annum were quoted.
It all looked very impressive but alarm bells started ringing from the moment I entered the interview room.
On the plus side, the qualification that you gain once you pass the course is recognised and legitimate, I understand that you even get ‘letters’ after your name. What these DEA training colleges/companies are doing may be legal, but they are also very misleading.
What they don’t tell you is that there are way too many qualified DEA’s out there already (government figures say well over 11,000) chasing far too few clients.
In the interview, I was told the total opposite, and that in fact there were not enough DEA’s for the work available.
The most disturbing thing of all is that they were willing to take over £3800 from me the very next day after I completed the interview. There was no offer of financial help or advice whatsoever, bear in mind many of the people that were applying for these courses would have been unemployed or on a low income.
I am so glad that I did my research because I was more than willing to get a loan from somewhere to pay for the course,
because I didn’t have that sort of money just lying around.
There is way too much competition from other qualified DEA’s who have alot more experience and contacts than any
new-comer to the business. Just be aware that you have to generate most of your contacts yourself, and you would not
have clients waiting as it was implied at the interview.

My advice? Stay well clear of these courses. These are not fly-by-night ‘Del boy’ type operations, these are slick, very well crafted money making schemes in my opinion.
It doesn’t appear to concern these people how you get the money to pay them,they just want it as quickly as possible.
If there is so much work out there, then why can’t you pay them back in installments after you get all this work that they say is available? It just horrifies me to think of the all the money I would have owed, and that I would’ve had no way of paying it back.
I would’ve been screwed twice over… Not enough work, and I would’ve been nearly £4000 in debt at least!
We all know the saying “If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true” Just remember a diamond is very valuable, but if everybody had lots of diamonds then the value plummets. No different with the qualified DEA’s that are out there now. The market is saturated and they are trying to undercut one another in order to get clients.
Don’t waste any money on these courses, you’ll regret it. Just look at all the horror stories you can easily find online of all the out-of-work DEA’s that there are around.
I am so grateful for websites like this, who can warn the rest of us about these unscrupulous organisations, who continue to take money from people who can least afford it.
I have just saved at least £3880. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

By: Nathan Robertson

Nathan Robertson — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:28:49 +0000

Hi All

Thank you all for you posts! I had, similar to many others attended an interview today, which seemed really plausible. Before parting with any of my hard earned cash I wanted to do the due diligence. It would seem that even the commercial assessments will soon be oversubscribed and the real-life experiences listed here simply contradict many of the statements made by the Recruitment ‘Director’ I met. With 6 young children to support I could do without wasting over £6000 +vat.

Has anyone taked to Ed Milliband Minister for Energy & Climate Change? It seems as though the government have once again abdicated their responsibility to private enterprise where the temptation for gain at any cost is too great! The current financial crisis well demonstrates the folly of this.

Regards

Nathan

By: HIP-Consultant.co.uk

HIP-Consultant.co.uk — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:37:15 +0000

The Government released figures as of 23rd May 2008 can be found on the governments Home Information Pack website. Assessor Numbers as of 23 May 2008

By: john

john — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:22:18 +0000

Hello hip-consultant

Could you identify the original source of these statistics. I tried looking at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch

but they do not appear there

Thanks