Would you please be so kind to elaborate, as to what you mean, as one can still renew their Fensa Certificate at http://www.fensa.co.uk/asp/certificate.asp
Hi Its the certificate or its value as replacement windows(glazing units)have to comply to Part L of building regulations when manufactured .It only ever applied to the double glazed units anyway. Trickle vents in the windows, their requirements well out of date and not building regulations in the way they state .What the FENSA fitter is signing off as building regulations compliant today is spurious. They have been taken to the advertising agency about their advertising. !Cant Sell Your Home Without One. 93% Of Homes Have A Fensa Certificate. Its just part of a monopoly,glass and the double glazing industry .The windows and standards of workmanship can be very poor and as long as the double glazed units comply then thats compliant .Bit like a Brain Washed Britain
Do the fitters need any formal training before they are approved for FENSA? I had a Vevo Windows ( www.vevo-double-glazing.co.uk ) installer quote for installing my Windows and Doors and I wondered how difficult it is to become FENSA approved.
No training required . All semi skilled paying fees to feed the Glass & Glazing Director Pension Funds. Thats the sad part that fully qualified say a reputable joinery firm manufactures the fully compliant window the trade mans has to employ a semi skilled registered installer to fit them and you only have to see many of these fitters workmanship on the T.V programmes or the have to joint the fold of the semi skilled. Fact And True
When I looked at getting registered you had to pay FENSA to look at 2 of your installs per year and then you could self certificate.
How do they look at the first 2 if you are not registered ? They only check the correct energy double glazed sealed units have been fitted and they all have nowadays as with the plastic windows they comply with the Min C rating.. Fensa is nothing really do with with quality workmanship when fitting windows and doors that why its semi skilled. Amazing that if you have perfect windows and need to replace all of glazing units do don't have to be registered .
Sorry can I add I am surprised no one realised that FENSA had anything whatsoever to do with that qualification/skill or trade experience or workmanship .Fensa Is the value of the Glass Part L of building regulations After all most competent person could fit a window. its all about whats been fitted .I thought most people knew that. In reality any D.I.Y enthusiast should be able to fit the window and as long as the supplier gives the energy rating/window to be able to show compliance then as with fitting a bathroom its up it to the owner .I thought those like ScrewFix etc would have looked at this long ago . it really is that simple .Ask Fensa Say I told you so of you want ? This market should have been opened up way back and only related to when energy glass was first introduced 1992 and that required windows to be fitted with that glass .That required at the time Building Regs .Local building inspectors simply could not cope hence FENSA G.G.F who introduce the energy glass created their own MONOPOLY . Its the most under developed sector of the market relating to PART F of building regulations because thats how they want to keep it . If you purchase a retro house the windows may be great,But As With All Building Work Its The Quality Of The Installation ? I think all may find that those with the FENSA certificate will sign off whats the most profitable for them .Its Double Glazing After All .Nothing more nothing less. Would FENSA like to comment why SCREW FIX customers should not be able to install their own windows ? YOU DONT WANT THEM TO .Simple as that thats why those have to pay to join them . I do hope I have not upset anyone but in reality this is only the truth .
It is perfectly possible for anyone to replace their own or someone else's windows. They have to pay a fee to their LABC who will check after installation that it meets current building regs. If you are registered to FENSA you can self certificate which saves your fee to the LABC but you do have to pay for their two visits. Windows aren't only made from plastic.
Yes it is possible to make the application before and after installation . Yes we have a joinery firm manufacturing "A" Energy wood windows and all windows today have to meet certification energy standards ,so why FENSA. You are just fitting a fully compliant product. The point being if you have 6 windows and a door and the door has a limited amount of glass you don't have to either apply to LABC or be FENSA reg to fit the door.
From very limited experience with FENSA, I thought that one of the primary purposes of the scheme was to ensure that the installation work was to a correct standard and underwritten with insurance for the end customer. The manufacture of the window has to comply with building regs so it seemed to me that the two areas were in fact 'joined up' for the client which surely must be a good thing?
It's all bull*•*^ going to get to the point where any work done in domestic property will have to be registered with the council by registered trades. All it will do is bump the prices up costing the homeowner more and more so some middleman can make money for nothing. I've fitted plenty of windows and doors and will continue to do so, I'm not fensa registered and won't ever be. My customers aren't bothered either, all of this will not stop cowboys. Now I don't mind being registered and vetted by any scheme as long as it's not costing me x-amount of money each year to do so. I've been in the trade nearly 25 years and the method of fitting windows and doors hasn't changed. The only difference is the invention of expanding foam, plastic wedges and we've moved on from screws and plugs to frame fixings to concrete screws.
Thats our point Big Dunk.. We also take the same stance.. I thought we were alone . rd1 .Thats what they want you to think .The product carries the relevant building regulation PART L when its purchased . What do you think the money back guarantee covers .Its not the standard of the fitting. If it were then on the FENSA fitters we have followed around the insurance firm would be bankrupt.. Trust us this insurance has NOTHING to do correct fitting standards and underwritten to that affect ,however it sells insurance ? ./Insurance/Double Glazing/Used Car Salesman ?
I do maintenance /joinery work for student accommodation (I am on their approved / preferred contractors list). The company was taken over last year and I was told I would have to be Safe Contractor registered or I could no longer carry out work for them. I looked into it and they want £180 per year for a one man company to be registered with them (Price goes up the bigger your company or more employees you have). All they do is come out to one job to see your working practices. Needless to say I'm still not registered and still receiving work from the student accommodation. Still working safely with the safety of the residents and staff a priority as I don't want a claim made against me for injuring anyone. Safe contractor rang me several times trying to get me to sign up, I asked the benefits and was told you get stickers for your van, can use our logo on your paperwork (whoopeeedo) and will get more work from it and be able to quote for more work. He didn't get the fact I am a one man outfit do mainly domestic work, won't ever quote for large construction work or contract work apart from the student accommodation I do work for. I have managed without it so far and will continue to do so. If you registered with all the so called trade bodies relating to our work the cost would be hundreds even thousands a year and for what actual gain.
As you say a whoopeeedo sticker for the van and the non for profit members federation with £12M in the bank a bit richer .I wouldnt mind starting one of one like this one with no experience required .If you look into what they are self certification its frighting . Even the inspectors are semi skilled. Like this ? "The situation must be made no worse than the outgoing windows" Customer to FENSA Fitter.Surely What You Have Done Is Wrong. Reply .Well its no worse than it was before. Like this ? "Approved Document N. Compliance with the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998 is also essential." All from the Competent Persons Scheme ,Government Approved of course that alongside the double glazed salesmen/insurance companies selling pretty worthless insurance/the used car salesmen/the lawyers who get extra chasing these certificates that FENSA say you can't sell you home without one.. We now have the politicians to trust . Surely it has to be back to the basics .Recommendation and qualified or able to carry out the work required ..As we say a good D.I.Y person can fit a window The window is complaint so why do you need the insurance? The problem is that these federations are springing up everywhere as soon you will have to have to self-cetificate and have the document to paint your house..Its all just gone crazy the problem is the homeowner thinks they are protected . Has anyone ever witnessed the FENSA protection if they have a bit of a cowboy installation and you complain to them?. Jack Sh---t as long as the double glazed units comply then thats it .
Well there is CERTASS or LABC .Single glazing does not apply or the best thing is if your sell you home and you have had new double glazing (If its one window or all windows ) when asked on the sales details just say NO.. So you are correct if you work around it. But then you don't get your Whoopeeedoo sticker ?
Hi Simple really its about time this FENSA farce should be reviewed as its dated 1992. The windows are PART L Building Regulations self certified at the point of manufacture ..If anyone was to check what they cover regarding building regulation or planning the onus at all times is on the homeowner . And we don't want the whoopeeeedo sticker on our vans when we know 100% that it amounts to complete farce. The market should be opened up to bring it up to date for the good of the trade/homeowner/D.I.Y and not be controlled by a monopoly . Simply the homeowner rightly should have the right that if they were to appoint anyone of the federations /accreditation they should expect to get what it says on the TIN. If they are SELF -CERTIFICATING rubbish then the whole issue needs to be addressed & controlled with LABC taking a far more active role .Remember the window be it plastic/aluminium/timbers is compliant BEFORE its installed. Look down any street to see what SELF CERTIFICATION HAS done for our future heritage ..What is one of their claims RAISING STANDARDS IN INDUSTRY ?. Everyone is on make and the consumer in reality is getting no assurance of any part of the process nowadays for the very reasons listed here Should there be any point of what anyone would try to be proving ask FENSA themselves that we are in fact 100% correct.
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