Efficient homes ltd  

The Efficient Home installation crew did a fantastic job of installing our new solar battery, the installation was very neat and tidy and tucked away under the stairs as requested. I would definitely highly recommend Efficient Homes to anyone looking for new solar panels or for adding a solar battery to and existing installation.
Nigel

Despite being registered for no cold calls with the Telephone Preference Service, I have received multiple unwanted calls from this company.

The latest has been 2 calls on consecutive days from "Jackie" who tried to tell me it was "not a sales call" and that my solar PV system was "overdue for an assessment" and that the company that installed it was no longer trading. Neither of these statements are true, the system is working fine (I monitor its results regularly myself) and the company that installed it is still in business (I use them to service other parts of my home energy system e.g. ground source heat pump).

Clearly the callers take no notice of what they are being told when their prospective customers tell them that they are not interested. I made this very clear yesterday, and yet I get a further call with exactly the same spiel from the same person!

Regardless of some of the positive experiences that other reviewers have noted, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

I have also taken the opportunity today to report them to the TPS to note that this company is making illegal calls to a number registered with their service.

Already had solar panels and Efficient Homes installed battery storage. Very efficient service, friendly staff and trades worked well and cleanly. No bull, just honest advice given.

Arranged to have a visit from Efficient Homes earlier this week to check over my exisiting solar pv system which was fitted over 10 years ago.

Gave me some much needed reassurance that my system was doing as it should after all of these years. And was a good insight into just how well the panels contribute to my homes overall electric consumption!

Had Efficient Homes install a battery system for me within two weeks of calling them for the first time. The office members I dealt with and the team that installed the battery were both really helpful throughout. And the overall price was one that was much better than some of the other quotes I had received. Definitely recommend. Mr Jones

I've had solar panels for 7 years or so, but was aware I wasn't making best use of them. Jesse from Efficient Homes called, offering a health check of the panels. I took them up on the offer and also discussed battery options with them.
I had my first 3kw battery fitted a year ago. That has made a difference to my bills as the battery can charge and discharge 2 or even 3 times some days.
With bills soaring, I decided to invest in some more storage, arranging to go from 3kw to nearly 10, again via Efficient Homes.
We did have a hiccup over battery compatibility, but that was resolved quickly, with no fuss.
I would happily recommend this company and its staff, especially Zac, who has been in my loft twice during the recent heatwave!!

We received a phone call from the office of "Efficient Homes" offering to inspect our 2x PV Solar Panel systems (4kw front of house; 2kw to the rear) which are approaching 10 years old ~ we thought it might be a good idea as inverters tend to 'die' around that age !
However, upon arrival, Keiran went into his routine; stating he had no intention of clambering around in our loft; instead informed us of the benefits of Battery installation ~ he was talking to the 'already converted to battery installation' but we'd not been able to get a local firm to give me any information at all !!
Despite the subterfuge to gain entry to our home; his visit was not wasted on us, although the company are based in Kent he assured us that was not an issue; we happily signed up !!!
The batteries were fitted a week ago and thanks to the SUN for putting in a daily appearance we have not used a single unit through our electric meter ~ the real test will be on cloudier and wetter days but we remain convinced to date !!!!
The only 'down' side was his visit didn't allow us to "look around" at other suppliers for alternative quotes; yet the price wasn't outrageous for a 6.5kw battery store.
On the other hand, their fitter revealed 1 of our inverters was showing a "fault" light but seems to be still performing, possibly at a slightly reduced rate ??? We shall attempt to contact the PV installers with a view to repair or replacement.
Many thanks to Efficient Homes for a swift installation.

Cold called for something we wanted to do in any case. Surveyed and assessed under slightly false pretences, but no real problem! Installation was all great and tidy. Now really interesting figures of charging/discharging! Should have done it when solar PV installed but not available then.

I was recently “cold called” by Jacqui of Efficient Homes who offered todo a free service on my Solar
Install. As my system has been in for over 10 years I thought why not as she did not seem be pushy. I explained that I was waiting for a battery installation from a company called EEC Solar who won the contract to supply solar panels and battery storage from a council scheme auction. They proved to be a total wast of time and after 12 months of waiting and endless excuses with still no install date I decided that I had enough. Josh from Efficient Homes did the survey and found my solar Install to be in good order and needed no upgrades. We discussed battery installs and I decided later to go ahead with a 6.5kwh AC coupled battery storage system. Efficient Homes fitted me in to do the work in less than a week after the initial visit from Josh. Zack and his team did the install. They did a neat and professional job. In fact I have no hesitation in saying the company right from the boss Jesse through to the installers seem to work together to make a successful team and a pleasant customer experience. The battery installation seems to work well in the daytime as well as at night with bigs savings of electricity from the grid with less cheap electric exported back to the grid.

Our installation (10.5kW) was done 10 days ago and took 2 hrs from its start to having the display working on a laptop. I followed the output to the grid daily and our total consumption for the first week was just 3.2 units (75p !). This was an average summer week and without the battery we would have consumed about 60 units (£15 worth), although our panels generated about 80 units. A large and unexpected effect (which the computer display allows one to follow easily) is that the battery and controller handle the fluctuations of the solar input caused by passing clouds so that home consumption is prioritized. I had expected the storage to improve the night time availability of electricity but I had not expected it to give such a large boost to our daytime usage. I am delighted with this outcome and can recommend that anyone with solar panels should instal batteries.
I had a long and useful face to face explanation of the pros and cons of a battery installation from Efficient Homes, followed by an written estimate. Their installation was done within a couple of weeks of my agreeing the estimate and the installation was quick and efficient, as described at the beginning.

Install was carried out August 2021.
On the positive side, the installation works very well and I'm saving lots on my electricity bill and getting money back from my supplier.
However,
The whole experience was a nightmare from start to finish.
1/ No survey was done they relied on satellite photos, so much so they sent the scaffolders to my neighbour.
2/ The installers didn't turn up when they were supposed to, and were shoddy and rude.
3/ The installation was supposed to take 2 days, it took 3 weeks.
4/ They ripped up a new floor and tried to stick it back down with Caulk.
5/ They failed dismally trying to get the battery into my loft, and damaged my paintwork.
6/ After a week the meter and switchgear fell off the wall, and had to be remediated.
7/ They did not bring the correct size breaker, and stole one of mine instead which was twice as large as it should have been.
8/ I purchased 10 panels, which they said would fit on the front roof, wrong, only 6 would fit (see 1/ ) they left the spare 4 in my garage.
9/ I had to re-employ them to install the remaining 4, plus an additional 4 on the side roof.

10/ The MCS certificate I was given ( which you need very badly) was not issued by Efficient Homes, Their sub contractors issued it.

I would not use this company again.
At the time my job was done:-
They did not appear to have installers /engineers of their own, all the fitters/engineers I had contact with were sub-contracted out. I got the impression they were sales oriented only.

They assure me that they have changed since, I am only honestly reporting my experience at the time my installation was carried out.
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Update January 2023.

Since my original review I have had further problems with the installation.
I now have rainwater dripping on my bed thanks to badly installed solar panels.

Credit where credit is due, when informed of this problem, and after some verbal jousting, new scaffolding and a pair of extremely good solar panel installers arrived.
On time and as promised.
They discovered broken roof tiles glued together with bathroom sealant, and punctured roof felt with a black plastic rubbish sack glued over the damage.
They also found that the entire installation was so shoddy that they had to remove all the support elements and replace them with new ones.

I will say that I cannot fault the speed and professionalism I experienced correcting this problem, however, it's a shame it had to be corrected.

I am uprating my star score due to this.

However, not once has anyone said to me (apart from the new installers who assured me they work direct for the company) the simple and magic words "I'm Sorry" or "I apologise for this".
I cannot recommend this Company.

We are happy with the installation now, although there were some problems with it when it was first installed. We were panicking because we were just about to go on holiday so we wouldn't have been able to get it fixed in time. There were two issues with the system which required the electrician to come back twice (as fixing the first revealed the second issue).

That said they were really quick to fix it and they did so during a weekend (we were going on holiday on Monday).

There were some miscommunications here and there, and our installation was delayed the first time because I had COVID (fair enough), then because of stock issues, and then again because the scaffolding was booked on the wrong day (the latter only caused a couple of days delay). We were told the stock was already in the company's possession, so we weren't exactly sure why we were then told the batteries had not yet arrived a bit later.

But generally they answered all queries, and have never given us the impression that they didn't care. In fact I think they went above and beyond when they were quick on the case to fix the issues. It gives you confidence that their workmanship warranty isn't just there for show.

The panels look really sleek with the black frame and they still generate enough electricity during rainy and cloudy days, which has been almost every day since we installed them. With the battery they can also cover most of the heavy hitters like the electric oven and kettle.

Lastly the builders were polite and the electrician who headed the job was also the person doing the survey rather than a salesperson.

Following a cold call we arranged to have a check on our system to stop any further calls. Anthony was very thorough and helpful and not at all pushy. We had been interested in batteries and he left the information for us to take our time over.
Once we decided the installation happened very quickly. Two young lads did the work and they were very polite and considerate.

We did have a blip where an alarm went off on one of the batteries but this was resolved with a telephone call and an email.

No problems since and its good to see we are using our own stored electricity instead of the grids. Looking forward to the better weather when the batteries can be fully charged.

We have not started using the economy 7 system to charge the batteries at night but I will be contacting our electricity supplier about that to make the most of the batteries

We have just been fitted out with a battery system to compliment our solar panels by Efficient homes ltd and we are very impressed. The whole project from first contact to completion in just under 3 weeks full information along the way and Zack and his mate who did the job efficiently and cleanly.We were connected via an app and instructed how it worked.Brilliant

First class service.
Following a helpful and technically well informed assessment of our system, we placed an order and the batteries were installed, amazingly, the following day. The installation was carried out with great efficiency by a dynamic young team of two, who were not only technically competent, but also polite and considerate. The benefits, of course, are yet to be realised, but the "business case" for battery back up to solar PV can only become more compelling in these challenging times.

From first impressions to the completion of the install, I have nothing but praise for all the Efficient Homes staff. Their courteous, professional approach and exemplary standards of customer care is unique.

The initial meeting to asses the performance of our p/v system was thorough and informative, this developed into a discussion about adding solar batteries. Anthony was knowledgeable and patient advising us on the way forward, always at the end of the phone to answer any further queries

Within three weeks the batteries were added to our P/V system. The installers Jay and Zac were polite, personable and helpful, arriving on time and carrying out their tasks with an obvious strong work ethic, very much "can do" people, ensuring everything was done to the customers' satisfaction.

The system is running perfectly and the app provides a range of relevant data. It was competitively priced.

The whole experience with this Efficent Homes was first class. Multi national utility companies could learn a lot about, customer care and delivering a quality efficient service.

Jesse you must proud of your team. I wish you all the best in the future.

Thanks
Peter Lewis

Had a call from Efficient Homes re a free survey on my solar panels. Josh came and checked the system which was working well and suggested I was wasting a lot of power which could be stored in a battery and used when the Panels weren’t producing. Sounded a good idea and agreed to go ahead. The battery was installed and the Ap downloaded to my iPad so I could see it working. The fitters were very friendly and left the place clean and tidy.

The first day I was a little worried as nothing much happened but it was a very overcast day, it the next day (sunny) I saw the battery being charged up, so all looking ok.

A few years ago, as our original installer had ceased trading, Efficient Homes carried out a 10 year efficiency survey and recommended some upgrades to our existing Solar PV system, by installing the Solar Edge system. This has noticeably increased the generation efficiency of the panels enormously, so much so that we have now followed Efficient Homes latest recommendation to install Battery Back Up capability to the system, allowing us to store and use more of our own Solar PV generated energy to power our home. The surveyor gave us all the facts and figures but then left us to decide for ourselves if the upgrade suited our needs. Once we had decided to go forward, the fitting team were with us within a week to carry out the install and commission the system. The fitters were polite, cheerful and had the system installed and running within an hour, without causing any mess or disruption. In these days of increasing energy bills, and the push for greener power, our new battery storage setup makes perfect sense and we look forward to reaping the benefits in years to come.

Very prompt and efficient service. The new storage batteries have completed our small contribution to greener energy. Well done Efficient Homes!

Following a cold call to Efficient Homes, and straight forward conversation regarding my requirements for an up-grade to my PV system, arrangements made, work carried out at a time to suite everybody. Work done without any problems & in a pleasant manner, all good.

Richard Pepper