EPC quotes all over the shop

One engineering firm that went to assessors for quotes on a 15,000m2 building said they ranged from £2,000 to £15,000. “The building was around 20 years old with a more-than-average amount of ready information for that age,” said a senior engineer within the consultancy who did not wish to be named.

“It appears that some assessors are putting out quotes on a purely speculative basis with no real thought in it. Assessors at either end of the spectrum probably don’t know what they’re doing.”

Steve Barlow, senior manager at environmental and energy consultancy Environ said the large range for a quote is because the market trying to understand what clients expect and how much time assessors need for the job. “As-is drawings will definitely lower the price,” said Barlow who is himself gaining an assessor qualification. Environ, which does EPCs, can quote from as low as £1,500 to more than £10,000 depending on what drawings and information is available.

“Also, as more and more software packages become available and people become more familiar with them, time taken to do an assessment will fall as will prices,” he said. “It’s an embryonic market at the moment and we probably need around 1,000 assessors. The question is where is the tipping point when supply of assessors exceeds demand for EPCs.”

Steve Desormeaux, a director of the building consultancy at CB Richard Ellis, said there’s no reason to think that the price will go down soon. “But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future as more buildings come up for sale or rent.” CBRE has around £1.5m in EPC quotes out with clients but as yet a strike rate is only 8%, says Desormeaux.