Preparing for your BER Assessment, a Homeowner’s Checklist

January 27, 2020

A Building Energy Rating, or BER, is an energy label that indicates the energy performance of your home.

Before your BER Assessor visits your home, you will need to prepare for your BER assessment. This includes gathering documentary evidence for works done on your home, to ensure you are receiving the most accurate BER rating.

In the absence of relevant documents, your BER Assessor will be required to use ‘default values’, which are conservative estimates of the performance of certain aspects of your home. This may result in your home receiving a lower BER rating.

SEAI’s checklist will help you prepare for your BER assessment and ensure you have all the required documents.

What should I expect when a BER Assessor calls to my home?

Your BER is calculated based on the amount of energy your home requires for space heating, hot water heating, ventilation and lighting. In order to complete this calculation, your BER Assessor will need to collect information on various aspects of your home.

To collect this information, your BER Assessor will need access to all areas of your home including the attic, lighting systems, ventilation, meter cupboards, heating systems and controls, hot press and all doors and windows.

During the BER assessment, the information collected by your Assessor will include a number of calculations, measurements and photographic evidence.

How long does a BER assessment take?

This will depend on the complexity and size of your home. Typically, it takes an hour to complete an assessment on an average sized 3-bed semi-detached house.
Your BER Assessor will then enter all the information collected into a software tool called DEAP, which is used to calculate and generate your BER. Your assessor will be able to advise on the time required to complete both the survey and calculations of your home.

What do I receive when my BER assessment is complete?

Once your BER assessment is complete, you will receive your BER Certificate and Advisory Report. The BER Certificate will indicate the BER rating of your home, and the Advisory Report will provide recommendations for home improvements that could increase the energy efficiency of the building and improve your BER rating. Your BER Assessor will indicate to you when you will receive these documents.

Having all your documents and paperwork prepared prior to your assessment will significantly reduce the time it takes to receive your BER Certificate and Advisory Report.

For full article click here: https://www.seai.ie/blog/ber-checklist/
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