Should heat pump installers work with an SEAI One Stop Shop?

This guide is for heat pump installers and firm owners, not homeowners looking for a One Stop Shop. It sets out how the scheme looks from your side, what your three routes involve and what to ask before you commit. SEAI facts come from its own pages as read in November 2026, and those pages change.

What is an SEAI One Stop Shop, and how does it win customers?

A One Stop Shop (OSS) is a company registered with SEAI to manage a whole home energy upgrade for the homeowner and take the grant off the price upfront. It wins customers by offering one managed package instead of several tradespeople.

SEAI describes the service as information and technical direction, completing all the works, discounting the grant from the cost charged to the homeowner and monitoring energy savings. Its homeowner page for the service lists a home energy assessment, project management, the grant application, the works, a follow-up BER and finance support.

SEAI's list of registered One Stop Shops showed 32 providers in November 2026, including Bord Gáis Energy and Electric Ireland Superhomes. The list shows the counties each one services: some cover every county and others name only a few. Some also offer building works, which SEAI says it does not support, inspect or oversee.

What does it take to become a One Stop Shop yourself?

You need the ability to offer the full range of energy upgrades and a minimum of €1 million annual turnover, then you must get through two SEAI stages. SEAI says its criteria include those two but are not limited to them, so read the registration guidelines before you start.

The process on SEAI's registration page runs in four steps:

SEAI says registered providers get set grant amounts per measure and government-backed funding that ensures payment for completed work.

For a firm that only installs heat pumps, the full range of upgrades is likely to be the sticking point. Work out how you would cover or manage the rest before you spend time on the forms. SEAI's registration page gives no timeline for the two stages, so ask the One Stop Shop team at onestopshop@seai.ie before you plan around a date.

Can you work as a subcontractor to a One Stop Shop?

Yes. SEAI's support page for One Stop Shops says a contractor registered with SEAI can work as a contractor or subcontractor for an existing One Stop Shop, and tells you to contact a registered company to see if you can join.

The SEAI pages read for this guide set no commercial terms between a One Stop Shop and a subcontractor. Scope, payment and who answers for the design are yours to agree in writing before the first job.

SEAI's support page also says works must follow the SEAI Domestic Technical Standards and Specification, so the technical bar stays the same.

One difference matters for heat pumps. The same page says the Heat Loss Indicator threshold of 2.3 W/(K·m²), which it lists as a Better Energy Homes requirement, no longer applies under the One Stop Shop scheme, which uses a designer or installer led approach instead. On an OSS job, who designs the system and signs it off becomes a real question.

How do you compete with One Stop Shops for direct customers?

Compete where a full managed package is not what the customer wants, or where you can be closer, clearer and quicker. SEAI itself says that where the cost of a complete upgrade is not right for a homeowner, they can use individual grants and upgrade in stages, which keeps a heat pump job open to direct installers.

Three things are in your control:

• A clear speciality. An OSS sells breadth. You can sell depth in heat pumps: design, sizing, commissioning and service. See heat pump installer training and registration for the credentials that back that up.
• Local presence. Check the county list against your own patch. Where few providers list your county, a local firm that answers quickly and turns up is a real alternative.
• A fast, clear quote. The homeowner will compare an OSS offer with yours. Show the full price, each grant part with its maximum and what the customer pays, as set out in selling with the SEAI heat pump grant.

You will not be alone in the direct market. SEAI's July 2026 blog on joining the retrofit sector says there are over 600 SEAI registered contractors across Ireland available to install heat pumps, and that 88 contractors have registered to install them since January 2024. Your edge has to be something a customer can see. For the wider market, see the Irish heat pump market.

Comparison: direct sales, subcontracting or becoming an OSS

Direct sales keeps the customer relationship and every cost of winning customers with you. Subcontracting trades that for work you do not have to find. Becoming an OSS means taking on the whole job and the whole scheme.

Source: SEAI, One Stop Shop registration and support pages and contractor registration page, November 2026.

Questions to ask before you sign a subcontract

Ask these eight questions and get every answer into the contract before you sign.

1. Scope. Which jobs, house types and counties are covered, and can you say no to a job?
2. Design. Who surveys, sizes and designs the system, and who answers for it if it underperforms?
3. Paperwork. Who completes and submits the commissioning and declaration documents, and in whose name?
4. Payment. What is paid, when, and what happens if the grant payment or an SEAI query delays it?
5. Call-backs. Who pays for remedial work and service visits, and for how long?
6. Your own customers. Can you still quote and install for your own customers, and can the OSS approach them?
7. Volume and exclusivity. Is there a minimum or maximum number of jobs, and are you tied to one OSS in your county?
8. Exit. What notice applies, and what happens to jobs in progress?

Typical mistakes when working with One Stop Shops

Most problems come from treating a One Stop Shop as a single buyer, or from signing before the terms are clear.

• Treating the 32 as one market. They differ in counties served, in whether they offer individual upgrades and in whether they do building works. Pick the ones that fit your patch.
• Waiting for work to appear. SEAI says to contact a registered company and ask. The list shows who is registered, not who needs a subcontractor.
• Signing without payment terms in writing. The SEAI pages read for this guide set none.
• Putting all your work through one OSS. If that relationship ends, so does your pipeline. Keep direct customers alongside it.
• Mixing up the two schemes' rules. The Heat Loss Indicator threshold applies under Better Energy Homes but not under the One Stop Shop scheme.
• Comparing subcontract work with your direct costs on a guess. Work out what a heat pump customer costs you to win before you decide what work is worth taking.

For the wider picture of winning heat pump work, start from the heat pump installer guide.