In quite a few cases we’re using components made by German or other continental European companies – either made in Germany or made elsewhere (e.g. China) but distributed via Germany. In general, it’s proving significantly\u00a0more economical to source those direct from Germany rather than via UK distributors.<\/p>\n
Since\u00a0the UK Passivhaus industry is still relatively immature, it’s not a surprise that most of the Passivhaus-certified components come from Germany, Austria and surrounding countries where Passivhaus is a more established standard. However, the components that need<\/em> to be Passivhaus-certified tend to be big-ticket items like windows and external doors, or MVHR units and suchlike where using UK distributors and installers is generally a wise precaution.<\/p>\n For some other items, we’re using German manufacturers for non-Passivhaus reasons. For example:<\/p>\n The shipping charges are generally very reasonable (e.g. \u20ac19 for all the taps) and mostly the shipment is handled end-to-end via\u00a0leading\u00a0courier companies such as DHL and DPD which are very familiar names to UK consumers.<\/p>\n For any eligible building materials, the\u00a0HMRC let you reclaim VAT paid in any EU country the same as if it had been paid in the UK.<\/p>\n For something like a tap there’s absolutely no difference between the product you would buy in Germany and the one\u00a0you would buy in\u00a0the UK. For other products (kitchen appliances, for example) there are more likely to be differences in the labels on the front panel which would be in German rather than English, and any portable electrical appliances would come with the wrong sort of plug, and swapping it might affect the guarantee, so for those I’d recommend buying from the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In quite a few cases we’re using components made by German or other continental European companies – either made in Germany or made elsewhere (e.g. China) but distributed via Germany. In general, it’s proving significantly\u00a0more economical to source those direct … Continue reading \n
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