Tell me about your business and which region you cover.
I am the … of …, a limited company. I design and install air source heat pumps for domestic customers in England.
The MCS onboarding call, answered
80+ questions an assessor asks on the MCS Installer Onboarding call, each with an answer you can say out loud - personalised to your own business. For installers in England.
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Five of the answers
What scheme checks does MCS run on you?
MCS carries out both initial and ongoing checks (IOR) covering my financial performance, insurance status, checks on directors and persons of significant control, information in the public domain, how I treat customers, any previous complaints or legal proceedings, and monitoring of the compliance of my installations.
What is your certified scope specifically?
The design and installation of … air source heat pumps for domestic properties in England, up to 45kW - the heat pump and the wet system. My ASHP qualification is …, so I install … units and do not work on refrigerant circuits. The electrical connection is completed by a qualified electrician the customer arranges separately.
What must you give the customer before they sign?
I give the customer a copy of the Customer Commitment at the first point of contact. MCS requires it that early, not just before signing (CC; IOR). Then, before entering a contract, I provide the pre-sale information and system performance estimate required under MCS 031.
How do you comply with data-protection law?
I comply with the General Data Protection Regulation and all data-protection rules (IOR): collecting only the data I need, storing it securely with controlled access, and informing customers how their data is used, including that their name, address and contact details are shared with MCS for its customer outreach. Managed in ….
The gaps are where your own details go once you have set up your profile.
Where the call sits in the process
You apply to a certification body. They pass the application to MCS, which assigns you an account manager, and that account manager holds the onboarding call - roughly fifteen minutes, and the first step of MCS scheme checks. Only after that does your certification body carry out its own assessment of your processes and a completed installation.
So the call is early, and it is the first impression the scheme forms of your business. It is also the only stage where the outcome turns on how well you can articulate something, rather than on a document you either have or do not. That is what makes it worth rehearsing.
What the assessor is listening for
Two documents sit behind the questions: the Customer Commitment and the Installer Operating Requirements. The assessor is checking whether they are embedded in how you operate, and the tell is specifics.
"We give the customer pre-sale information" is a description of a document. "Our quote pack includes the performance estimate and the pre-sale information, and the template will not produce a quote without them" is a description of a business.
Which is why the answers in this guide are written in your terms rather than in general ones. You enter your company, your certification body, your quality management system, your consumer code and your operating scenario, and every answer comes back naming them - so what you rehearse is what you will actually say.
The call does not stand on its own. What your certification body wants to see before it is set out in how to prepare for the MCS assessment, and what follows once you are certified - the first audit, and what assessors actually check - in the MCS audit process.
Questions
What is the MCS Installer Onboarding Call Assessment?+
A short call, around fifteen minutes, that forms part of becoming an MCS certified installer. An assessor asks about your business, your scope, your processes and how you handle customers and complaints. It is the first of three assessments, ahead of a desk assessment and a site assessment - so it is not the last hurdle, but it is the one you can prepare for word by word.
Is the MCS assessment call the same as the onboarding call?+
Yes. The same fifteen-minute call is described as the onboarding call, the MCS assessment call and the readiness assessment depending on who is writing. It is the first step of MCS scheme checks, held with your MCS account manager after your certification body passes your application across.
When does the onboarding call happen?+
After you apply to your certification body and they pass the application to MCS, and before the certification body assessment. You are assigned an MCS account manager first, and they are the person who holds the call.
What is it actually assessing?+
Whether you understand the Customer Commitment and the Installer Operating Requirements, and whether they are embedded in how your business operates. It is not a technical exam about heat pumps. The difference between passing comfortably and struggling is whether you can describe your own processes in your own terms rather than quoting a document back.
Can you fail the onboarding call?+
The call is not a pass-or-fail exam in the way a written paper is, but it is an assessment: answers that show the requirements have been read rather than adopted lead to more questions, more evidence and a slower application. That delay is the real cost of being unprepared for it.
How is this personalised?+
You enter your company name, your certification body, your quality management system, your consumer code and how you work, and you pick your operating scenario. Every answer in the guide is then written in your own terms, so you are rehearsing what you will actually say rather than adapting somebody else’s answers.
What is an operating scenario?+
The Installer Operating Requirements group installers into four scenarios, A to D, by the size and complexity of their MCS work. Your scenario changes what is expected of your records, your complaint handling and your supervision, so it changes several answers. Your certification body agrees your scenario with you.
Does this cover Scotland?+
No. This guide is written for installers working in England.
Is it included with your MCS consulting?+
Yes. If you buy the MCS accreditation consulting package, this guide is included at no extra charge. Bought on its own it is £49.99.
Ready for the call?
80+ questions with an answer in your own business's terms, ready before the assessor rings. One payment, yours to keep.
Get the guide - £49.99Doing the rest of the certification too? The stage guides cover the five applications before it, and this guide is inside the certification body one.