The answer
What should your installer hand over, and what should you check afterwards?
Handover is part of the installation, not an optional final chat. Get the as-built design, certificates, settings, warranties and owner access to monitoring; have the controls demonstrated; and agree who responds to faults. In the first year, compare energy use with comfort and occupancy across seasons, not with a single bill or sunny week.
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What should be handed over before final payment?
Keep final drawings, equipment models and serial numbers, commissioning and electrical records, any MCS certificate, network paperwork, warranties and the planned service schedule. The as-built documents should show changes from the original design. Make sure you own the login to each monitoring portal rather than relying on the installer's account. Ask for a demonstration of normal controls, hot-water schedules, alarms and what to do if the system stops.
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What should you measure?
For a heat pump, note electricity use, delivered heat if metered, room comfort and hot-water availability. For solar, record generation, on-site use and export. Put those beside the design forecast and its assumptions. A changed tariff, new occupant, added EV or longer business opening hours can alter a bill without proving an equipment fault. Keep a simple log of those changes.
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When should you ask for help?
Check for alarms and obvious control mistakes soon after commissioning, then review heating in cold weather and solar through brighter months. A persistent comfort shortfall, repeated fault or sustained generation drop warrants investigation. Agree who handles warranty defects, routine servicing and a question about whether the original design is performing. If a setting is changed, record what it was and why so troubleshooting does not become guesswork.
Is the system working as you expected?
Set up a one-page monthly record that someone will actually maintain. Note electricity and fuel use, solar output or heat-pump figures where available, room comfort, hot-water problems, faults and any important change in occupancy or tariff. A community hall should add opening hours; a business may need production or trading hours. Context is what turns a number into an explanation.
Book a short review after the first weeks of operation. Check that the programmed schedule matches real use and that everyone who needs monitoring access has it. Then look again after the first cold spell and after a brighter season. If the installer adjusts a heating curve or inverter setting, write down the old value, new value and reason so the effect can be judged later.
Do not wait a full year to report repeated alarms, a cold room or an array that has stopped generating. A warranty contact, maintenance contractor and design-performance contact may be different people. The handover should name them and explain how quickly each type of issue will be handled.
What to check next
Your next steps
Where we checked the facts
Check the original information.
These official pages back up the rules and technical details above. They can change, so check them again before spending money or starting work.
Apply this to your own property
Which improvements should come first?
A free survey checks heating, power and cooling together to see what may work for your building before you price the work.