Terms and conditions for an insulation installer

Insulation claims rarely arrive the week after the job. They arrive the following winter, when mould appears in a bedroom corner and the homeowner says the insulation caused it. Your terms decide whether that is your problem or the property's. I draft customer terms for insulation installers, covering surveys, ventilation, guarantees, grant-funded work and consumer cancellation rights, for a fixed fee of £995 in five working days.

Who this is for

Installers of loft, cavity wall, external and internal solid wall, underfloor and room-in-roof insulation in England and Wales, trading as sole traders or limited companies. Most of you sell directly to homeowners, and many also work as a subcontractor to a managing agent, a funder or a main contractor. Those two relationships need different treatment inside one set of terms.

What matters in an insulation installer's terms

What the survey found, and what it could not

Your price assumes a property in a particular condition: a sound roof, walls without penetrating damp, a cavity that is clean and of the right width, an exposure rating that suits the fill. None of that is fully knowable from a survey and a borescope. The terms should record the assumptions the quotation rests on, make the customer responsible for disclosing known defects and previous fill, and give you a priced route to stop, report and vary if what you find behind the wall or above the ceiling is not what was surveyed. Without that, the quotation becomes a promise about the whole building.

Ventilation, condensation and the winter complaint

Make a house airtight without addressing airflow and moisture has to go somewhere. This is the single biggest source of insulation claims, and it usually turns on what you advised and what the customer declined. Your terms should state that adequate ventilation, heating and occupant behaviour are the customer's responsibility, record any ventilation works you recommended, and set out what happens if the customer refuses them. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a service must be performed with reasonable care and skill, so the terms cannot remove that duty. They can, and should, define the boundary of what you were engaged to do.

Guarantees, warranties and what you cannot promise

Homeowners hear 'guaranteed' and understand something very wide. Your terms should say precisely what the guarantee covers, for how long, what voids it, whether it is backed by an independent guarantee agency and what the customer must do to register and keep it alive. Equally important is what you do not warrant: valuation outcomes, mortgage or remortgage decisions, insurance acceptance and the future views of surveyors, which matters a great deal where spray foam is concerned. Say so in the terms and in the quotation, not only in conversation on the doorstep.

Energy savings, grants and headline prices

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 information a consumer relies on when deciding to buy becomes binding, so a predicted saving quoted in a sales appointment can end up as a contractual promise. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 also bans drip pricing, meaning a price advertised to consumers must include all mandatory charges. Your terms should describe modelled savings as estimates based on stated assumptions, make grant or funding eligibility a condition rather than a guarantee, and say clearly who pays if funding is withdrawn or the property is later assessed as ineligible.

Lofts, access and everything stored up there

A loft contains the customer's possessions, old boarding, water tanks, cables, downlighters and sometimes asbestos. Your terms should require the customer to clear and provide safe access, exclude liability for stored items you were asked to work around, and allow you to stop work and charge for an abortive visit where access is not ready or suspected asbestos is found. Where you strip out old material you are transporting waste, which requires registration with the Environment Agency under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 and the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011. Certain work also needs notification under the Building Regulations.

Consumers at home, and getting paid by funders

Where the contract is agreed at the customer's home or by phone and email, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give fourteen days to cancel, and starting work inside that period without the customer's express written request can leave you unpaid. Where you install as subcontractor to a funder or main contractor, the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 bans pay-when-paid and implies adjudication, and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you interest and fixed compensation. Your terms should use both, rather than waiting for the funder's monthly cycle.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Can my terms say condensation and mould are never my responsibility?

A blanket exclusion of that kind will not hold against a homeowner, and it invites a court to strike the whole clause. What works better is defining the scope of the installation, recording the ventilation advice given and any recommendation the customer turned down, and making occupancy and heating the customer's responsibility after handover.

The funder's contract is imposed on me. Is that worth looking at?

It usually is. Funder and managing agent contracts tend to push remediation, retention and guarantee obligations down to the installer, sometimes for the life of the measure. I review incoming contracts of that type separately, and your own customer terms should be drafted to sit alongside them rather than contradict them.

What if I am asked to insulate a property I think is unsuitable?

Your terms should give you the right to decline or to proceed only on a recorded written instruction from the customer, with the unsuitability and your advice set out. Installers who fill a wall against their own judgement to keep a job rarely win the argument that follows, unless the file shows exactly what they said.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a heat pump installer

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.