One job at a time, in your own time
This is the route most people take. You pick an upgrade, find a contractor from SEAI's registered list, apply, get approval, get the work done, and SEAI pays you the grant afterwards.
You pay the bill first. The grant lands in your account when the job is finished and the paperwork is in. Some registered contractors will invoice you for the amount after the grant instead and take SEAI's payment themselves, but that is their choice, not your right — ask before you sign.
What each upgrade is worth
Amounts run from apartment to detached house. Last checked 2026-10-03.
| Upgrade | Grant |
|---|---|
| Attic insulation | €1,100 to €2,000 |
| Cavity wall insulation | €700 to €1,800 |
| Internal wall insulation | €1,500 to €4,500 |
| External wall insulation | €3,000 to €8,000 |
| All new windows | €1,500 to €4,000 |
| External doors | €800 each, two at most |
| Heat pump | up to €10,500 for the unit in a house |
| Pipes and radiators for the heat pump | €1,000 to €2,000 |
| Boiler scrappage, when oil, gas, storage heaters or solid fuel come out | €2,000 |
| Air-to-air heat pump | €9,500 |
| Heating controls | €700 |
| Solar panels for electricity | up to €1,800 |
| Solar hot water | €1,200 |
The heat pump line is the one worth reading twice. The unit grant, the pipework grant and the boiler scrappage grant for leaving a fossil fuel behind are three separate grants that stack on the same job, which is why a heat pump can carry more grant than everything else put together.
SEAI increased the heat pump package on 3 February 2026 and raised cavity wall amounts the same day. On 29 September 2026 the €4,000 renewable heat bonus became a €2,000 boiler scrappage grant and the unit grant rose, so the package is now up to €14,500 for a house and €11,500 for an apartment. Replacement heat pumps get a smaller grant, with no scrappage or central heating grant. Air-to-air totals €9,500. Source: seai.ie heat pump systems page, read 2026-10-03.
The rules that catch people out
Age of the home. Insulation, windows, doors and heating controls need a home built and lived in before 2011. Heat pumps need one built and lived in before 2021. Since 6 October 2026, solar panels and solar hot water take homes built and lived in before 2025.
Approval first, always. Work that starts before your grant offer is issued is not eligible, and money spent before that date can sink the whole claim.
A new rating at the end. Every grant needs a new energy rating done afterwards by a registered assessor, before SEAI will pay. You arrange it and you pay for it; SEAI put €50 toward it on your first application only.
Once per measure, mostly. A measure already grant-aided at your address cannot be claimed again. Walls are the exception: cavity can be followed by internal or external insulation later, and internal can be followed by external — but never the other way round.
Pre-1940 and stone-built homes are not eligible for the individual wall insulation grant at all.
Two clocks, and the one grant that really does expire
Once SEAI issue your grant offer, you have 30 days to accept it. Miss that and you apply again from the start.
After you accept, you have eight months to get the work done and claim. If the contractor runs late, SEAI's own guidance says to send the paperwork in anyway with a covering letter explaining the delay, and they will still consider it. There is no penalty for not starting at all — you can cancel and reapply.
Solar panels are the exception and they are strict: after eight months the grant expires and will not be paid. Solar has its own extra step too, because the connection has to be registered with ESB Networks, which SEAI say takes at least four weeks.
Grant amounts are locked in on the day you apply. If you cancel and reapply later, you get whatever is on offer then — better or worse.
Payment takes about four to six weeks after complete paperwork reaches SEAI. Jobs picked for inspection stay on hold until the inspection is done.