Paul van Oord, managing director of Pricewise Insulation has had first hand experience with insulation theft. He says that it is almost unbelievable that people have the nerve to enter construction sites after the insulation batts have been installed and pull them straight out of the walls before the plasterers have had a chance to come in and line the walls. The loose insulation goes into a truck, whereupon it is advertised on websites such as Gumtree, well below the market price, making it an attractive option for bargain hunters.
While at first glance it may appear as though the customer has secured himself a bargain, it’s not all good news. Not only is he unwittingly in possession of stolen goods, which is a criminal offence, but it is highly probable that the workmanship around the installation of the material will be poor. If there are any problems or the customer has any complaints, he will be lucky if he will be able to get hold of the people who did the job for him. The chances of getting any mistakes rectified are even lower.
Mr van Oord explained that there were a few tell-tale signs consumers should look out for if they came across an insulation sale at an unusually low price. “First of all, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But there may be a legitimate reason behind the sale, for example a company which is going out of business and simply clearing out all their stock quickly,” he explained. And while he could understand that consumers might want to secure themselves a bargain, he warned that they should still be on the alert for dodgy dealings.
Just as these underhand insulation dealers were quite happy to steal the insulation batts from the builder or home owner, they will very likely continue their unscrupulous dealings with their customer. They may show their customer the bags of insulation they have brought with them, to “confirm” that they have the specified r-value, but as soon as the customer turns their back, they are likely to pull out the stolen loose lower r-value insulation batts out of the truck from behind the bags and install these instead.
Consumers should ideally be on site before the installers commence their work to ensure that the bags on the vehicle are what they actually ordered, and during the installation to ensure that the same bags of insulation are being installed.
Another warning sign is turning up to the site with an unusually high number of loose batts. A small number of loose batts leftover from a previous job is standard, while a number of batts disproportionate to the total amount of insulation is not.
Pricewise Insulation recommends asking for the contractor’s ABN and confirming that they are a legitimate business before proceeding with any suspicious insulation suppliers or installers.
Media Contact
Company Name: Pricewise Insulation
Contact Person: Paul van Oord
Email:Send Email
Phone: 1300 729 639
Address:11 Buch Ave
City: Epping
State: VIC
Country: Australia
Website: https://www.pricewiseinsulation.com.au/
