Personal HIPS experiences - please let us know.

[Penners]

OK, so they've got no work. So bucketloads of them will go off and do something else.

Then there'll be a shortage, so the Government will encourage more people to train as Home Inspectors.

Then another party will win a General Election and abandon the HIPS policy, so they'll all be out of work.

Round and round the mulberry bush....

When Governments start fiddling with markets, chaos ensues. The system we've had up to now is far from perfect, but (to misquote Churchill) "it's the worst in the world - except for many of the others."

 

[Nemesis]

Seventy grand a year though P - maybe we should train?

(No - maybe not.)

 

[Penners]

At £12,000 a pop, I might give that a miss.

For that sum I reckon I could train to be a brain surgeon. What on earth can be involved in the training to cost that much?

And I wonder who "promised" them £70k p.a.

Don't be thick, Penners. The person who promised them £70k a year is the same person who charged £12k for the training.

 

[Nemesis]

Yes but Penners - maybe we have (say it gently... ) not got the qualifications to be brain surgeons. Besides we may be too old to train. It takes a few years I gather.

Whereas this...

Bring on the Bisto!

 

[skier-hughes]

At £12,000 a pop, I might give that a miss.

For that sum I reckon I could train to be a brain surgeon. What on earth can be involved in the training to cost that much?

And I wonder who "promised" them £70k p.a.

Don't be thick, Penners. The person who promised them £70k a year is the same person who charged £12k for the training.

A friend of mine, thinking of a career change and working in housing curently thought about this move, and in deed the people who trian you do tell you can earn that much...... don't quite explain how it gets there,a s there pricing odel for each pack meant you would have to work about 27 hours a day for 8 days a week!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Penners]

you would have to work about 27 hours a day for 8 days a week

Sounds exactly like my last job.

Thank goodness I retired while I'm still youthful, fit and mentally agile*.



*and if you believe that.....

 

[Cloudscape]

I've been trying to sell my house. The problems I have had include the bad weather, which kept people indoors, and the interest-rate rise. But the HIPs packs seem to have had an influence too. I put my house on the market in May. I had a buyer pull out in July, just as properties (locally, at least) started to flood onto the market. Lots of people, to avoid having to have a HIPs pack, put their houses on the market. Now there's a glut of available property (locally). Some are overpriced, so they probably don't really expect to sell, but (as I understand it) now their houses are listed with estate agents, they won't need HIPs packs.

 

[Lady_Mari]

HIPS to be extended to 3 bed properties from Sept 10.
(that'll help those poor under-employed chappies)

 

[Penners]

that'll help those poor under-employed chappies

Phew! Thank goodness. I've been so worried that they might not manage to achieve their promised £70k a year.

 

[Nemesis]

Aye, it's good news for some.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6951171.stm

Every cloud etc.

"Hips and EPCs can help families to save hundreds of pounds off their fuel bills, and cut a million tonnes of carbon a year," she continued.

"They also have the potential to reduce the millions of pounds wasted by consumers when buying and selling a home, by increasing transparency and competition in a process that hasn't changed for a generation."

According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average consumer could cut their fuel bills by as much as £300 a year if they follow the recommendations in the EPCs.

Originally, Hips were also intended to include a survey, but this was dropped after objections from businesses involved in the property industry.

And how much will it cost in overall terms to save this alleged amount?

Oh what b*ll*cks!

 

[Cloudscape]

It's a good thing they dropped the survey. I paid for a survey (for a reluctant/tight buyer) on my own house (the one I am selling). The buyer's mortgage company wouldn't accept it, even though it was done by a surveyor they regularly use, because I had commissioned it and it had my name on it. :shock:

 

[Penners]

Oh what b*ll*cks!

:shock:

That's not very respectful to a peer of the realm. Mind you, she's also a Government Minister, so that cancels out the title.

 

[Moo]

Jeff Howell in today's Telegraph has some more disturbing information about the subject.
Apparently the tick-box forms with which the inspectors are supplied don't allow them to give credit for loft insulation that is shared between joists and rafters. It's either/or.
Nor is there a box for floor insulation.

I left the paper behind in the cafe, so am only quoting from memory; perhaps someone who has the Property section to hand can be more precise.

 

[Nemesis]

Is this the article?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nhips129.xml

 

[Moo]

No - it's about the article.

But if you scroll down to the end of the page to 'Related Links' you will find the original article at the top of the list under the title My House.

 

[Nemesis]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1M4UO4EOA05JLQFIQMFCFFWAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nhips229.xml

 

[Inspector John]

I'm a Trainee Home Inspector with over 30 years experience in the construction industry
If you wish to ask me some questions fire away
but please bear in mind I'm a trainee that's has one exam left to finish and a very large portfolio to complete
Please Remember I do not know all the answers this is new so have patients
If I don't know answers, I won't promise anything but I'll try to find out
I've read some of your post's and it's fair enough and understandable to say that you are not happy about HIP's
I will do my best to answer your questions
Please also remember these folks who are training/trained are just like you and me and are out there to earn a living just like anyone else.
One other thing is, I may not be always be able to reply straight away because of other commitments that I have so don't think I've cleared off or left the country
Don't forget I'm here to assist.

 

[Nemesis]

OK - what particular expertise have you in the wide variety of period buildings you will encounter?

 

[Inspector John]

I have Some expertise.

 

[Penners]

Please also remember these folks who are training/trained are just like you and me and are out there to earn a living just like anyone else.

That's an entirely reasonable point, Inspector. Speaking for myself, I have no beef with anyone who wants to train as a Home Inspector. As you say, you have a right to earn a living, like anyone.

My objections are aimed at the HIPS system itself, which I regard as a half-arsed, half-cocked shambles from un-necessary start to longed-for finish. And that well diluted version of my true feelings is - I repeat - aimed at the Government, not at you or your colleagues.

Thank you for having the courage to stand up and offer answers to questions. Here's one to kick off with (a repeat of one I've asked before).

I live in an C18th East Anglian oak-framed house. The inner walls are part lath/plaster, part plasterboard/gypsum skim. The outer skin is cement render on expanded metal lath. Between the two skins is fibreglass insulation matting (at least, wherever I have had occasion to drill or cut into the wall cavity, I have found this). The previous owner told me that he incorporated insulation batts under the concrete floors that he renewed*.

A home inspector wouldn't be able to see any of this. So, if I were having a HIP prepared, how would my house be energy rated?


*Yes folks, the house is a symphony in gypsum and OPC. Mea non culpa!