Speeding up energy assessments

by Vanessa Blount

While domestic energy assessors find themselves tested by a tough market, growing competition is fuelling demand for those at the top of their game.

Ask anyone in the street what a Domestic Energy Assessor is and, chances are, they will look at you blankly and not have any idea what you are talking about. Unless, that is, they are American, and think you mean the Drug Enforcement Agency.

So how has this new acronym, now added to our plethora of already over used abbreviations, impacted the housing market? What does the future hold for this new hybrid job borne from surveyors and Mr Joe Public looking to change career?

DEAs constitute about the only human point of contact in the Home Information Pack production line; they are the face of the HIP provider, thus it is extremely important for the individual instructing the HIP to have confidence in the DEA, hence why many estate agents now have their own DEA in situ.

Turnaround time

As well as a duty of care and professionalism, DEAs should be judged according to their turnaround times. While this may not have seemed relevant a few months ago, first-day marketing will almost certainly now happen, which means that DEAs will be under even more scrutiny to offer a efficient service, in a competitive timeframe.

The length of time it takes a DEA to provide their report will become a key benchmark in their sector, since vendors’ sale boards won’t be allowed up outside their houses until their HIP is complete. As estate agents know all too well, there is a much greater chance of a vendor changing their mind if there is any delay, hassle or issue, in terms of DEAs accessing the property.

But vendors can add their own complications to the process, such as when they change their mind about marketing their property between instructing the HIP and receiving the completed document. It is imperative that any delays in the production of the HIP are known to the estate agent at the earliest possible moment, if they are not the HIP provider. By ensuring that the individual instructing the HIP, be it the agent or their client, is kept abreast of all relevant information at every stage of the HIP process, the industry can start to build meaningful databases of reputable DEAs in their area, detailing their average turnaround times, service, locality and price.

DEA remit

So, what are the attractions of a DEA career, given the aforementioned pressures? It certainly is not as lucrative as one may have first imagined. I recall one publication headline suggesting that a DEA’s earnings could be as high as £80,000 per annum, based on £140 per inspection.

In reality, I don’t think earnings are even a third of that. Given the competition, the minefield of systems with which they have to work to enable instructions to be received, and the need for first-class time management and communication skills, who could blame DEAs for feeling downtrodden and upset with the cards they have been dealt? Fortunately, we have found a large number of DEAs who are attentive, professional, responsive and happy to do their utmost to deliver, despite the pressures they are under. Moreover, most HIP providers will be able to give many instances of same day turnaround, though it is more important to look at benchmark and average turnaround times.

We report that, on average, our DEAs turnaround a report in under 3.5 days. We believe that this success is due to two main reasons: great technology, meaning it is easy for the DEA to accept instructions and return reports to us; and the quality relationships DEAs are building with agents. In summary, market conditions are currently against DEAs, but this has given rise to increased competition, which in turn has driven down prices and ensured professionalism of the highest standard.

With a 3.5 average turnaround time, Energy Performance Certificates will be completed within two days – the 3.5 day average is due to property access restrictions. Of course, efficiencies can and will be made in terms of technology as time goes on, but these will be driven by market forces that, currently, are just not there. It will be interesting to see if the impact of first-day marketing will force these changes, though this is unlikely in the current climate.

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