What an energy retrofit quote should say in writing

An energy retrofit quote is comparable only if it prices each measure separately, names the metered baseline the saving is claimed against, and lists its exclusions as exclusions. A single figure per square metre of floor area is not a quote. It is a position from which a contractor can later argue that almost anything was extra.

The published range for insulation, glazing and HVAC taken as one package is €120 to €380 per square metre nationally, median €210, and Nicosia sits on that baseline exactly. A spread of more than three to one is not evidence of dishonest pricing. It is evidence that "retrofit" covers wildly different scopes, and the only way to tell which one is in front of the client is to read what the document commits to.

Why written scope matters

On a retrofit the disputes are rarely about workmanship. They are about whether something was in or out, and they surface halfway through, when the building is open, the plant is disconnected and the leverage has moved.

Three things make that worse here than on a normal fit-out. Much of the scope is concealed until it is opened. The project is sold on a number that has not happened yet: the saving. And grant support attaches conditions to the sequence, so a step taken in the wrong order can put money out of reach that good building does not recover.

Nicosia adds its own reason. The inland location gives the widest temperature range on the island, hotter in August than the coast and genuinely cold on winter nights, so a specification has to answer both ends of the year. A quote copied from a coastal job and repriced will under-specify insulation thickness and plant turndown, and the omission stays invisible until the first full year of bills.

The eleven items a quote needs

Anything absent from this list is a decision deferred to a moment when the client has less negotiating room.

1. Each measure on its own line, with a quantity and a unit. Roof insulation using thermal board is published at €15 to €40 per square metre, median €24; split units to 12,000 BTU at €550 to €1,200 installed, median €780. Without line items, neither can be checked against anything.
2. The floor area the rate applies to, and how it was measured. Gross internal, net lettable and treated floor area are three different numbers on the same building.
3. The metered baseline. A full year of consumption at the current tariff, with existing sub-metering identified. A saving claimed against an unstated baseline cannot be tested afterwards.
4. Product performance, not brand names. Glazing by U-value and solar factor, insulation by thickness and thermal conductivity, plant by capacity and seasonal efficiency. Standard double glazed aluminium runs €180 to €420 per square metre, median €260; a thermal-break frame supplied and fitted €190 to €450, median €280 — a gap easily swallowed by a substitution the quote never had to justify.
5. Who commissions the energy performance assessment, and when. Support schemes require one before the works and one after. The "before" one has a deadline that has already passed once the strip-out starts.
6. The electrical scope in full. Board replacement, submains and rewiring are triggered by new plant rather than by the energy measures, and on the 1970s to 1990s stock that dominates Strovolos they are likely rather than possible.
7. Making good and redecoration after insulation, ducting and window replacement — larger than owners expect in an occupied building.
8. Access and working hours. An empty building, floor-by-floor phasing and out-of-hours working are three different prices for the same construction.
9. A programme including approval durations. Envelope alterations engage the permit chain, on drawings certified by a registered engineer. Rooftop photovoltaic carries a separate connection application of roughly 45 days, with a load assessment where network capacity is constrained.
10. Exclusions and provisional sums, listed as such — asbestos survey and licensed removal, structural repair found on opening, and photovoltaic, which is recorded per kWp rather than per square metre at €700 to €1,050 installed, median €850, and belongs on its own sheet.
11. Payment stages, retention, defects period and the VAT rate applicable to the property and its use. All four stated, none assumed.

Payment stages

Tie money to evidence rather than to elapsed time. A retrofit has natural verification points, each producing a document: the pre-works assessment, the strip-out and survey, completed fabric works, plant installation, and — separately — commissioning and balancing.

That last distinction carries most of the risk. Handing over an air conditioning system is not the same as commissioning it, and an installed but unbalanced system will run, pass a visual inspection and quietly miss the performance the business case rested on. Retention should release against commissioning records and the post-works assessment, not against the final screw.

Percentages and the length of the defects period are negotiated terms and belong on the quote in writing. What matters more than the split is that no stage payment falls due before the deliverable it evidences exists.

Variations and how they are priced

Variations on a retrofit are normal. Uncontrolled variations are not, and the difference is whether the rates were agreed before anyone had a reason to argue.

The quote should carry a schedule of rates that survives into the contract: labour per hour by trade, the mark-up on subcontracted work and materials, and unit rates for the items most likely to grow — additional insulation area, additional glazing units, additional plant. Where the rate exists in advance, a variation is arithmetic. Where it does not, it is a negotiation held under time pressure with the ceiling open.

Two procedural points are worth insisting on. Variations are instructed in writing before the work happens, with a price and a programme effect stated; and any variation touching the envelope, the plant capacity or the sequence is checked against the grant conditions first, because a change made for sound construction reasons can still break eligibility.

Red flags

• One number for the whole job — no measures, no quantities, no area basis. It is not comparable to anything, including itself six weeks later.
• A saving expressed as a percentage with no baseline. The percentage is of something. If the document does not say what, nothing can be verified later.
• Plant sized before the fabric work is specified. The correct order produces smaller plant and a smaller bill; the reverse prices capacity the improved envelope will not need.
• Glazing specified on U-value alone. In Nicosia the summer outcome is decided by solar factor and by what shades the glass.
• Photovoltaic folded into a per-square-metre rate. Different unit, different subcontractor, different approval path, different payback.
• Grant handling described vaguely. Support of up to €12,000 toward insulation, glazing and heating upgrades turns on the building's completion date and use, and on assessments taken in order.
• No named ETEK-registered professional where the work touches structure or the envelope and certified drawings will be required.
• Pressure to start before the pre-works assessment. No construction reason for it, at least one financial reason against it.

Common questions

How many quotes make a comparison meaningful?

Enough to expose scope differences, which in practice means at least three, all priced against the same written scope document. Three quotes against three contractors' own interpretations produce three numbers that cannot be compared. Issuing the measure list, quantities and area basis centrally is what turns quotes into evidence.

Should the cheapest quote be discounted automatically?

No, but it should be interrogated for what it omits. Against a Nicosia range of €120 to €380 per square metre, median €210, a quote well below the range is usually pricing a narrower scope rather than the same scope more efficiently.

Who is responsible if the predicted saving does not appear?

In most cases nobody, unless the contract says otherwise — which is why the baseline and the commissioning evidence matter more than the projection. A contractor can reasonably be held to installed performance; holding one to a building's total consumption means agreeing a measurement method, degree-day correction and an occupancy assumption in advance.

Does an energy retrofit need a building permit?

Work confined to the interior and to plant replacement generally does not. Anything altering the envelope — external insulation, new openings, fixed shading, a rooftop plant enclosure — engages the permit chain and requires drawings certified by an ETEK-registered engineer or architect. Rooftop photovoltaic engages a separate connection application to the Electricity Authority of Cyprus of roughly 45 days.

What should be checked before signing?

That the scope document and the quote describe the same job; that exclusions are written down; that payment stages match verifiable deliverables; that the schedule of rates for variations is attached; and that the pre-works energy assessment is booked. The district coverage pages and the Nicosia energy retrofit page list the contractors recorded as working locally, with what each registration proves.

Energy retrofit contractors recorded in Nicosia

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