Home Buyers - Insurance Energy Works Certificate

Is your insurance company requesting electrical certification before you can make an offer on an Auckland property? A number of insurers request certification before confirming cover, especially for homes built pre-1980, and without cover, finance may not be approved. Don't let the deal slip away.

We can arrange the site visit directly with the listing agent. On site we carry out a full electrical system check. If it's safe and up to code, we issue a CoV (Energy Works Certificate) on the day, the document your insurer requires. If issues are found, we build a report that stays confidential to you unless you choose to share it, and provide formal quotes for remedial work, typically sent to the vendor.

eCertify's fixed Auckland price is all inclusive: callout and mileage, inspection and testing, certification or full electrical report.

Why the certificate is the thing that unblocks the deal

The sequence is what makes this urgent. The insurer wants electrical certification before it confirms cover. The lender wants cover confirmed before it approves finance. Your solicitor wants finance confirmed before a condition goes unconditional. So a single missing document sits at the front of a queue that has a date on the end of it.

An energy works certificate is a current assessment of the installation, certified by a registered inspector. It is not a document anybody has to go hunting for in the vendor's old paperwork, which is exactly why insurers ask for it on older homes where that paperwork usually does not exist.

We can arrange access with the agent

You are usually asking for access to a house you do not own yet, on a deadline, while trying not to make the vendor difficult. We deal with the listing agent directly so you are not the one chasing it. Tell us the property and your condition date when you book and we will work back from it.

What we do on site

We go through the whole installation, not a sample of it: the meter box and main switchboard, consumer mains, the main earthing system and its connections, protection and RCDs, then circuits, socket-outlets, switches, light fittings and fixed wired appliances, with a full suite of testing alongside. Damp areas, outdoor fittings and anything that has clearly been added to over the years get particular attention.

How long it takes

About an hour on site for a standard home. If the installation is safe and up to code the certificate is issued on the day and you can forward it to your insurer the same afternoon. That matters when the condition date is the week after next.

Who sees the report

You do, and nobody else unless you say so. If we find problems, the report stays confidential to you. That is deliberate. It is your due diligence, and what you do with it is your decision, whether that is asking the vendor to fix it, using it in the price conversation, or walking away. Where you do want remedial work quoted for the vendor, we can prepare that separately and send it to whoever you nominate.

If the installation does not pass

You get a full electrical report rather than a certificate, with every issue explained in plain language and formal quotes for the remedial work. In practice that report is often worth more than the certificate would have been, because it tells you what the house is going to cost you after settlement.

What the price includes

The price is fixed and includes GST. It covers callout and mileage anywhere in Auckland, the inspection and testing, and either your certificate or the full report. Any work beyond the visit is confirmed with you before it starts.

Buying and not sure where to start? Our buying and selling page covers the electrical side of a property transaction from both ends.