Every Energy Performance Certificate comes with a recommendations report listing measures that could improve the rating. It is generated automatically from the assessment data, so it is a starting point rather than a plan. Reading it properly means knowing which measures suit your building, which order to tackle them in, and which ones the software suggests but your property does not want.
The short version
The recommendations list is software generated from standard assumptions, not a bespoke survey of your home.
Measures are ranked by modelled cost effectiveness, which is not the same as the right order for your building.
Fabric first is the sensible sequence. Insulate and seal before you spend on heating technology.
What is the EPC recommendations report?
When a domestic energy assessor visits your property, they record data on construction, insulation, glazing, heating, controls and hot water. That data goes into the government approved calculation methodology, which produces both your rating and a list of suggested improvements with modelled savings and an indicative rating uplift.
The important thing to understand is that the recommendations are produced by the software, not written by the assessor as a design proposal. The methodology holds a library of standard measures and applies whichever ones the recorded data says are missing. If it has logged no loft insulation, it will suggest loft insulation. It does not know that your loft is a converted room, or that the access hatch has been boarded over, or that you already tried and hit a problem.
That is not a criticism of the system. Standardisation is what makes ratings comparable between properties. It just means the list needs interpreting against the real building, which is where a domestic energy assessment carried out with proper local knowledge earns its value.
Why does the order of the measures matter so much?
Because the building fabric determines how much heat you need in the first place, and the heating system only determines how you supply it. Install a heat pump into a leaky, poorly insulated house and it will work hard, run at higher flow temperatures and never perform the way the specification promised. Insulate the same house first and the demand drops, so a smaller and cheaper system does the job well.
This principle, usually called fabric first, is why the sequence in the recommendations report can be misleading. The list is ordered by modelled payback, which tends to push cheap measures to the top regardless of whether they logically precede the expensive ones. Draught proofing might sit above loft insulation. Both are sensible, but doing them in a considered order avoids paying twice.
| Stage | Typical measures | Why it comes here |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Seal | Draught proofing, gap sealing at floors and skirtings, letterbox and loft hatch seals | Lowest disruption, immediate comfort gain, and it exposes where heat is really escaping |
| 2. Insulate | Loft or room in roof insulation, cavity or solid wall treatment, floor insulation, hot water cylinder jacket | Reduces the heat demand permanently, which sizes everything that follows |
| 3. Control | Room thermostats, thermostatic radiator valves, zoning, programmer upgrades | Cheap relative to the saving, and it makes the existing system work properly |
| 4. Generate | Heating system replacement, heat pump, solar photovoltaic panels | Largest outlay, and correct sizing depends entirely on stages one to three being done |
Which recommendations often do not suit older Liverpool housing?
This is where local building knowledge changes the answer. A large part of Merseyside housing stock is solid wall Victorian and Edwardian terrace, built with no cavity and no damp proof course, designed to let moisture move through the wall and evaporate away.
The recommendations report may suggest internal or external wall insulation on such a property. It can be the right measure, and it can also cause problems if applied without understanding the moisture behaviour of the wall. Adding an impermeable layer to a wall that relies on breathability can trap moisture, push the dew point into the structure and produce damp and timber decay where there was none before. Done properly with vapour open materials and attention to detail at reveals and junctions, it works well. Done as a generic install, it can create a defect worse than the inefficiency it cured.
Cavity wall insulation is the other one to think about. If the property has cavities and they are clean, sound and not exposed to driving rain, it is usually a good measure. If the cavity is narrow, already partially filled, bridged with debris, or the elevation takes heavy wind driven rain, filling it can move water across to the inner leaf. Our guidance on buying a home covers how survey level affects the depth of information you get on questions like these.
You can look up any property’s certificate and its full recommendations list on the official find an energy certificate service on gov.uk, and the Approved Document L guidance sets out the energy efficiency requirements that apply when work is carried out.
How do you read the savings figures sensibly?
Treat them as comparative, not predictive. The modelled saving assumes standard occupancy, a standard heating schedule and standard internal temperatures. Real households differ enormously. A couple out at work all day will not see the same result as a family at home heating to twenty two degrees.
What the figures are genuinely useful for is ranking. If one measure models at several times the annual saving of another, that gap is meaningful even if neither absolute number matches your bills. Use them to sort priorities and ignore them as a forecast.
What if you are a landlord?
The recommendations report is the natural place to start planning, because it tells you which measures the methodology thinks will lift the rating and by how much. For a portfolio, the useful exercise is looking across all your certificates together, finding the properties closest to a band threshold, and identifying where a modest measure moves a property up a band rather than spending heavily on one that will not shift. Our landlord services include stock condition work that dovetails with this, because condition and efficiency questions usually surface together.
Before you commission any measure
Check the assessment data behind the recommendation is actually correct for your property.
Establish whether your walls are solid or cavity, because it changes everything that follows.
Ask how the measure handles moisture, not just heat, if the property is older.
Confirm whether the work needs Building Regulations approval and who is certifying it.
Get the certificate reassessed after the work, otherwise the improvement is invisible on paper.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to carry out the recommendations on my EPC?
No. For an owner occupier the recommendations are advisory only and there is no obligation to act on any of them. The position differs for rented property, where minimum energy efficiency standards apply to the rating itself rather than to specific measures. Even then you choose which measures to use to reach the required band, so the report guides rather than dictates.
Will doing the recommended work definitely raise my rating?
Usually, but not always by the amount shown. The indicative uplift assumes the measure is installed to the standard the methodology models. Partial installation, or work that cannot be evidenced to the assessor on reinspection, may deliver less than projected. Keeping certificates, guarantees and installer paperwork matters, because the next assessor can only credit what they can verify.
Why does my EPC suggest insulation I already have?
Almost always because the assessor could not verify it. An assessment records observed and evidenced construction, so insulation hidden behind plaster or in an inaccessible loft may be logged as unknown, and the methodology then assumes a default. If you have installation paperwork, providing it at the assessment allows the correct value to be entered rather than a conservative assumption.
Is solar photovoltaic always worth doing if it is recommended?
It depends on roof orientation, pitch, shading and how much electricity you use during daylight hours. The methodology accounts for orientation and pitch but knows nothing about your usage pattern. A household that runs appliances during the day gets far more from generation than one that is out until evening. Roof condition matters too, because there is little sense mounting panels on a covering near the end of its life.
How long does an EPC last?
Ten years from the date of issue, and it stays valid even if you carry out improvements in the meantime. If you have made meaningful upgrades you will normally want a new assessment sooner, because the old certificate still shows the old rating and that is what prospective buyers and tenants see. A new certificate can be produced at any time.
Should I get advice before acting on the report?
On low cost measures like draught proofing or controls, generally no, just get on with it. On anything that alters the wall build up, the ventilation strategy or the heating system, it is worth understanding your specific building first. Those are the measures where a generic install can create a new problem, and where the cost of getting it wrong dwarfs the cost of asking.
Making the list work for you
The recommendations report is a useful document that is easy to misread. Taken as a ranked menu of standard measures it is genuinely helpful. Taken as a bespoke specification for your house it can send you spending in the wrong order.
If you want an assessment that comes with a proper conversation about what the list means for your particular property, get in touch with Trust Surveyors.