Quidos Accreditation has always strived to maintain the highest quality standards within the energy assessment industry, and in September 2010 took a stand against “reverse auction” panels after it became apparent that quality is being compromised by cost with the launch of these panels.
“We should not devalue the industry, the EPC and ourselves ”
These panels allow assessors to bid for the lowest price to complete the job – but the lowest price is by no means the best price. IIn a bid to combat these sites and ensure quality within the industry, as of 1st October 2010, the Quidos Domestic Energy Assessor insurance policy no longer supports or caters for EPCs which originate from such Reverse Auction panels.
Katie Fielden, Quidos Accreditation Manager explained: “In the past years Quidos assessors have achieved an excellent pass rate on quality assurance audits. We would wish to uphold and indeed reinforce the quality of reports; unnecessary price driven auctions simply cannot be healthy for hard working assessors and therefore we shall fully support such considered views of select industry stakeholders and of our own insurance company, and hence now urge our assessors not to compromise the quality of reports conducted”.
Since we implemented our new policy we have had an overwhelming response from Assessors concerned about the industry and the methods of the panels, however there are still Reverse Auction panels operating and having a negative effect on the industry. We would like to take this opportunity to remind our members that any Quidos accredited member who accepts work from reverse auction sites that they will be uninsured, and if they are using any Reverse Auction websites to source work, they will be placed on 100% QA regime.
“Websites such as NextDayEPC are examples of how quality standards are dragged lower and lower, and Quidos does not want to contribute in anyway to this attempt to degrade the industry with business practices that only benefit charlatans and promote low value ethics.” added Philip Salaman, Managing Director of Quidos “As an industry we must focus on the long term goal of reducing energy consumption and promoting efficiency within the built environment. We should not devalue the industry, the EPC and ourselves by accepting the lowest possible fee and then inevitably compromising quality and indeed accuracy”.
For more information on this issue or the Quidos Accreditation scheme please visit www.quidos.co.uk or call 01225 318 400 to speak to a member of the team
