Commercial Energy Assessors
Discussion
Looking around at stuff to do and one thing which may interest me is being a freelance Energy Assessor.
It seems the boat has well and truly sailed with the residential side and obviously with the recession timing isn't great, but on a longer term view it might be ideal as a contract-based role alongside other stuff I do.
I already work for an energy management company and I know a lot of the concepts behind DECs etc but I'm unsure how much prior building/surveying experience is required to get into the commercial market.
Anyone done this and can give a bit more detail?
It seems the boat has well and truly sailed with the residential side and obviously with the recession timing isn't great, but on a longer term view it might be ideal as a contract-based role alongside other stuff I do.
I already work for an energy management company and I know a lot of the concepts behind DECs etc but I'm unsure how much prior building/surveying experience is required to get into the commercial market.
Anyone done this and can give a bit more detail?
I don't quite value the regulatory parts of it (I do agree it's a bit of a nonsense, does anyone even read the display energy certificates on public buildings) but I do see value in reducing energy costs and improving the work environment for people. So, CEA might be a good route to go down.
i have heard that there are far fewer people doing it when it comes to commercial buildings.
You could set yourself up and then talk to the big real estate companies and offer them 10% for referrals. They are all looking to maximise short term income and it would give you an easy access to the market and the relevant contacts.
oh, and for that i want 1%
You could set yourself up and then talk to the big real estate companies and offer them 10% for referrals. They are all looking to maximise short term income and it would give you an easy access to the market and the relevant contacts.
oh, and for that i want 1%
covmutley said:
i have heard that there are far fewer people doing it when it comes to commercial buildings.
You have heard wrong I am afraid. Lots have jumped on to the commercial bandwagon. I am still getting 2 or 3 offers from newcomers every week, and with the commercial property market flat on it's face, they won't be picking up much business at the moment.I am really dubious of the volume of work that is out there for all these "assessors". Even if the property market was booming I doubt if there would be enough work available to keep assessors busy enough to be able to make a decent living out of it.
I am also concerned about any "profession" which comes about purely because of a few pieces of government legislation. If there is a change of government (highly likely) or eevn a change of heart of the current government (not out of the question), then in an instant the requirement for such reports could disappear overnight.
I am also concerned about any "profession" which comes about purely because of a few pieces of government legislation. If there is a change of government (highly likely) or eevn a change of heart of the current government (not out of the question), then in an instant the requirement for such reports could disappear overnight.
The company I work for do commercial EPCs. I am not an accredited assessor but I do carry out the surveys; I survey the building and give my notes to someone who enters the data which is then checked by one of the assessors. I toyed with putting myself forward for getting accredited but decided against it as I was worried that I would end up doing the same thing day in day out..
To get accredited you have to take an exam specific to the interface you are using. There a few on the market - Hevacomp, Carbon Checker or the basic iSBEM which runs in Microsoft Access. We use Carbon Checker which is a really s
t 3D modelling package.
Regarding the buiding / surveying experience, you will need to be able to demonstrate your competance in a building surveying or M&E discipline. I work for an M&E consultancy; I don't know of any building surveying companies that are doing them. One of our assessors had trouble getting acreddited; he failed the exam a couple of times and when he finally passed, they wouldn't accept his application as he isn't chartered. The directors managed to persuade them to accept his application in the end.
I'm not sure if I'd fancy doing it TBH. It is boring work and it really pisses me off everytime I see how inaccurate and full of holes the SBEM methodology is. I can imagine your PI insurance premiums being high (you have to put the details on the certificate).
If you fancy going for it I think there is plenty of work out there though.
To get accredited you have to take an exam specific to the interface you are using. There a few on the market - Hevacomp, Carbon Checker or the basic iSBEM which runs in Microsoft Access. We use Carbon Checker which is a really s
t 3D modelling package.Regarding the buiding / surveying experience, you will need to be able to demonstrate your competance in a building surveying or M&E discipline. I work for an M&E consultancy; I don't know of any building surveying companies that are doing them. One of our assessors had trouble getting acreddited; he failed the exam a couple of times and when he finally passed, they wouldn't accept his application as he isn't chartered. The directors managed to persuade them to accept his application in the end.
I'm not sure if I'd fancy doing it TBH. It is boring work and it really pisses me off everytime I see how inaccurate and full of holes the SBEM methodology is. I can imagine your PI insurance premiums being high (you have to put the details on the certificate).
If you fancy going for it I think there is plenty of work out there though.
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