Qualit'EnR site audits: the four-year cycle calendar

An RGE qualification is not obtained, it is held. That is the difference between an administrative registration and a professional qualification: after the file is assessed comes a four-year cycle punctuated by audits on real projects. Companies that struggle with these visits are rarely the ones doing poor work — they are the ones that did not anticipate the calendar.

Here is how that cycle is organised at Qualit’EnR, and how to prepare without giving up your weekends.

The rhythm of the cycle

Deadline	What happens
Every year	Validity certificate reissued once the body has checked the company still meets the conditions (insurance, compliance, resources)
Within the first 24 months	First site audit, whose outcome must be satisfactory
In year 3	Additional audit for the critical qualifications: Qualibois and QualiPAC
End of cycle (4 years)	Renewal application

Two frequent misunderstandings to clear up.

The annual certificate is not an audit. It is a documentary check: are your insurance certificates still valid and still correctly worded, is your tax and social-security position up to date, have your resources changed? A certificate not reissued because a document expired has nothing to do with the quality of your work — and it is nonetheless the most common way to lose a qualification.

The site audit is not a documentary check. It is a visit to a real installation, at a customer’s home, with their consent. What the auditor looks at is not in a binder: it is what you installed.

Why two audit regimes

Not all qualifications face the same level of control. Qualibois and QualiPAC undergo an additional audit in year three, because they are treated as critical.

That distinction is technically grounded. On a heat pump or a wood boiler, the performance actually delivered comes down to sizing, hydraulics, settings and commissioning — parameters the customer can neither observe nor attribute. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, in a review published in 2020 in Energy Economics (“Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector”), describes energy efficiency as a credence good: its quality is never fully revealed to the buyer, even long after purchase (see the study). The site audit is the practical answer to that problem: someone checks what the buyer cannot.

In other words, the more performance depends on the installer’s hand, the tighter the control. That is coherent — and it is an argument to reuse as is with a customer surprised by a visit.

Preparing the audit: four things to do upstream

1. Keep project documentation as you go. That is the only real secret. A company whose every file holds the sizing note, product data sheets, commissioning report, recorded settings and customer handover has nothing to prepare before an audit. One that reconstructs documents the day before puts itself in difficulty over work that was perfectly correct.

2. Choose the project presented when you have the choice. Among eligible installations, favour those with a complete file and a reachable customer. That is not cheating: it is the same logic as a well-built reference file.

3. Prepare the customer for the visit. The auditor visits a household. A customer forewarned — to whom you have explained that your qualification entails independent on-site checks — receives the visit better, and takes away a better impression of your firm. A surprised customer worries.

4. Treat findings as findings. A non-conformity calls for a documented correction, under the conditions and deadlines set by the body. A verbal explanation does not close a finding. Good practice: correct, photograph, record, submit.

What the auditor looks at, technology by technology

The content varies by qualification, but the logic is constant: the auditor checks that the installation matches what was sold, that its workmanship meets trade standards, and that its commissioning was carried out and documented.

• Heat pump: sizing and heat-loss assumptions, hydraulic schematic, flow temperature, actual settings, commissioning report, handover of usage instructions.
• Wood energy: matching output to need, flue and exhaust, fuel feed and storage, commissioning and settings.
• Photovoltaics: mechanical fixing and weatherproofing, cable routing and sizing, protections, earthing, labelling.
• Solar thermal: sizing of the collector array and cylinder, primary circuit, overheating protection, control system.

In every case, consistency between the quote, the invoice and the actual installation is a standing point of attention in the scheme.

That last item is worth dwelling on, because it is where honest firms most often trip. A change agreed verbally on site — a different model, a relocated outdoor unit, one radiator fewer — is perfectly legitimate. What creates a finding is the change that never makes it back into the paperwork, leaving a quote, an invoice and an installation that describe three slightly different jobs. The fix is procedural rather than technical: an amendment signed by the customer whenever the job departs from the quote, and an invoice that matches what was installed. It takes minutes on site and removes an entire category of audit findings.

The same logic applies to subcontracting. Where part of the work is carried out by another firm, the audit will look at who did what and under whose qualification. Keeping the subcontracting chain documented — contract, insurance certificates, the scope actually delegated — costs nothing while the project is live and is difficult to reconstruct two years later, which is roughly when the auditor arrives.

The human link: the technical referent

An audit can go perfectly and the qualification still be fragile for another reason: the technical referent’s (référent technique) competence is a continuing requirement, not a permanent acquisition. The referent’s departure is an event to handle immediately — without them, the qualification loses its foundation. Our articles on the technical referent’s obligations and on renewing that validity cover this point.

The remedy used by well-run firms fits in one sentence: train a second person before you need one. It is the only way to stop a resignation notice from turning into a lost market.

An annual routine is enough

If you remember one thing, make it a three-point routine, run once a year on a fixed date:

1. Are the insurance certificates valid, and do they still explicitly name the technologies you install?
2. Is the technical referent still with the company and their competence current?
3. Are the cycle’s audit deadlines in the diary, with a documented project available?

Three questions, half an hour, and most mishaps disappear.

Take action

Open your certificate, note its issue date, and put the cycle’s three deadlines in your diary: annual certificate, audit within twenty-four months, additional audit in year three if you hold Qualibois or QualiPAC. Then check that a recent project is fully documented and ready to present. The detail of the cycle, criteria and steps is on our Qualit’EnR page.