What does an OVK inspection cost? How pricing works

What an OVK inspection costs cannot be answered with a figure, and anyone quoting a general price per flat is guessing. The price is set by five factors: the number of flats or premises to be inspected, the ventilation system type, how access to the flats is solved, what the report must contain beyond the minimum, and how the inspections are grouped geographically. This guide covers what you are actually comparing when you compare quotes.

The five price drivers

Factor	Why it matters
Number of flats and premises	The inspection is carried out in every unit — working time is essentially linear in the count
System type (S, F, FX, FT, FTX)	An FTX system has more measuring points and requires K certification, a more expensive resource
Access	Rebookings and repeat visits to unopened doors are the most common cost surprise
Contents of the report	A digitally structured report, photographs and recommendations are extra work and should be priced separately
Geography and grouping	Fifteen buildings in the same week in the same area cost less per building than fifteen scattered call-offs

Two of the rows are within your own control. Access and grouping are the client's responsibility and the only places you can influence the price without compromising quality.

Why do OVK quotes differ so much between companies?

Usually because they are not quoting for the same thing. Common differences: whether repeat visits to unopened doors are included or charged individually, whether recommendations and photographs are included in the report, whether the certificate is delivered ready to display, and whether travel and set-up are inside or outside the price. Ask for those three items to be shown separately in the quote and the comparison becomes possible. The cheapest quote with access visits outside the fixed price is routinely the most expensive invoice.

What is not in the inspection price

The inspection establishes the position. The cost that follows from what it establishes is a different budget:

• Remedying remarks — rebalancing, duct cleaning, terminal replacement, work on units. This is the large and unpredictable item. See how to remedy an OVK remark.
• Re-inspection where the report did not pass.
• Administration — reading the report in, recalculating the next date, replacing the stairwell certificate.

In an older portfolio never rebalanced after window replacements or pipe renewals, the remedial work is often larger than the inspection. Budget for both, not only for the item you have a quote for.

Making the procurement comparable

1. Specify the system type per building, not just the number of buildings. It determines which qualification is required and therefore the hourly rate.
2. State how access is solved — master key, notice routine, number of visits included.
3. State the report format you want, and whether the certificate is to be delivered ready.
4. Group the call-offs by area and year based on when the buildings actually fall due, per the interval table.

Point four requires knowing the due date per building before you go to market. That is exactly what OVK tracking in Emphyx calculates from the reports, and it is also what makes the difference between one planned procurement and fifteen individual call-offs. What Emphyx itself costs is on the pricing page — a different thing from what the inspection costs, and we do not conflate them.

We deliberately publish no guide prices for inspections. We do not buy them, the market varies with region and year, and an invented benchmark in a procurement is worse than none at all.