Free roof insulation, is it true?

[OneOfOne]

We have had a number of people come to the front door, junk mail and even a phone call last night about the "free" roof insulation. We have enquired with the people a couple of times and it seems it is in fact "free". However, we had our roof insulated about 3 or 4 years ago after the old stuff was taken out and the ceiling cavity vacuumed out (took about 2 tons of dirt out!). At the time, the government would only give you a rebate if the ceiling had not been previously insulated, so I had to pay all of the ~$3000.

The maximum for the insulation is only about half of this and we have a house of about 21 squares, so if we were able to get the insulation, I expect we would only be able to get half of it done.

Has anyone actually taken them up on the offer? Seems too good to be true, what is the catch.

[Baron von Richthofen]

My mother has, did not cost a cent and a good job

[Louwai]

We have an appartment in St Kilda. Each of the 27 appartments was granted a $1200 rebate from the Gov. All together it was enough to fully insulate the entire building at no cost to the owners.

The townhouse we live in in Brisbane was recently done at no cost to us.
As was the 3br house we have in Brissy, this also was done just 2wks ago at no cost to us. I checked the house last weekend & wasn't happy with the job. The company came back & fixed it during the week.

All at no cost to us.

[Kal]

I took them up on the offer, didn't pay a cent.

[mithrandir]

This free insulation thing has caused a number of house fires.

Unqualified installers putting insulation over people's downlights. :mad2:

Like Trevor, we'd have to take out the 30 year old insulation and pay for around 20sq.

That's if you can get the batts. I read of one installer spotting a load being delivered to Bunnings, walking in and telling them he'd buy the whole load. They just transferred it to his truck.

[multiweb]

Yeah they did that at my mother in laws place. Also only insulated half of the roof then went. Found out afterwards. We had to call them back and chase them to finish off and fix up the stuff ups. Lots of chonky joes around. And that was the govt paying exercise.

[mswhin63]

That was in relation to the old funding system, this had to be changed to known registered companies. As a result the companies are now marketing more heavily. Still a good idea to check at least if they have Public Liability Insurance.

[JimmyH155]

Last November, my next door neighbour had this man around to give him a quote for insulating the roof. Our houses are very similar, but only have a roof space over half the roof. He sent the man round who measured up and wrote me out a quote for doing half the roof (50 sq metres) for - guess what - $1200, exactly the same as the Government offer. :D
I said "Whats the catch?" and he said "Nothing. You sign this piece of paper authorising us to collect from Government,- wont cost you a brass razoo!"
Two days later, a rather dischevvilled and sour lot turned up to do the job. I watched them rip off the tin, squirt in the cellulose, them nail the roof back on. Looked ok.
A couple of weeks ago, we received a strange letter from the company saying..."as you know, the Government requires two quotes for insulation.""
I thought - here we go.:mad2::mad2: The heavies will be round in a weeks time demanding the $1200 cash and sorry the Govt wont pay up. :eyepop:

I had a couple of sleepless nights then suddenly, yesterday, we get a letter from Kevin saying "Our records indicate that you have had ceiling insulation installed etc. etc., .... A payment has now been paid to your installer by the Australian Government..... We will also be inspecting some homes to check...etc etc.....

HEY HEY GREAT STUFF. YES IT WORKS, WE DID NOT PAY A PENNY!!!!!:D:D:D:D

[Rodstar]

Another satisfied customer here....we had insulation installed by a friend who is a builder. He quoted $1700, $1600 of which would have been covered under the federal government scheme. In the end, he had batts left over, and the price was only $1600. All covered by the government.

Try not to be put off by the fire stories. So long as the person who instals it is a licensed tradesperson of some description, they will be aware of the fire hazard. In short, the batts should not be placed within 5cm of those pesky downlights. It means some gaps in the coverage of batts, but will completely prevent fire hazards.

[wmzaphod]

My Brother thought he'd take advantage of this offer for his rental house. He got 3 quotes and all three were magically $1600 (think this was the initial rebate). He thought this a bit strange and finally got another installer to quote.

This fourth installer must have actually visited the property because he reported back that the house was already insulated and would only have cost about $800 to do anyway (honesty is not completely dead). This rebate was being rorted and I think that's why it went down to $1200 :question:

[Vartigy]

Same deal. Our job was a little larger than the $1200 rebate. Only cost us $100.
Only problem was the suppliers couldn't keep up with the "sudden" demand for insulation. Not like they didn't have 2 year warning.

[that_guy]

my paranoia senses are telling me that this is just a way for the government to put hidden surveillance equipment to monitor us... But then again... FREE insulation!! YAY!! If you are an international terrorist BEWARE!

[multiweb]

:lol: No worries there. Most of the contractors can't even install bats correctly. I don't think they could handle CCTV equipment. ;)

[that_guy]

the perfect cover!! ;)

[Louwai]

Only concern I'd have there is the down light issue. if you have any????

There are specific "covers' which can be put over the down lights to keep the insulation away from them.

[norm]

My advise is to get a few quotes, ask questions such as:

1. what are the batt ratings R3, R3.5 etc
2. where are the coming from China, Indonesia or Australia
3. Most importantly do they meet the minimal AS standards.

There are a lot of shonky installers around and literally anyone can be certified to install them. Make the effort to go up the manhole and check the workmanship. Its not rocket science, but there is a lot of bad Sh*t going around.

Its a rorters paradise and us tax payers are funding the scammers out there.

Norm

[Lee]

Some backyard bozo's around doing it - I saw these fellows turn up to do our neighbours place. A bomby corolla, with batts jammed in the bak seat and tied to the roof with rope! :)
"You get what you pay for" holds true at all times....

[Matt Wastell]

We had it done - our place is small so there was no out of pocket expenses - we paid a $300 deposit that was fully refunded when the job was done - a very happy customer.
We checked up on the company that did the work and there were no issues with them. The choice is really yours!

[leon]

Seems like there are a few angry red faces in this thread, they came to my door as well and once I heard the word free i politely asked them to leave.

Nothing in this world is free.

leon

[dugnsuz]

Yeah - I've had them installed...
http://www.todae.com.au/Products/downlightfittings/isolitedownlightguardsafetyinthecel ing/
:thumbsup:

[Lismore Bloke]

An insulation company had ours all ready to install, then came the excuses:

The machine has broken down ...
We can't get the grade you want ...
We can supply this stuff (not what we wanted) ...
Oh you don't have to worry about covering downlights, just go over them ...

See you later - job cancelled.

If we can't get the insulation we want I'll pay for it myself and have it done by a local, reputable firm, not by some unknown out-of town outfit. These insulation installers are coming out of the woodwork. Lured by government subsidies and relying on the word "free" to bring in the customers. No thanks.

[OzRob]

They are not 'free.' They are paid for by tax payers. I had my house insulated at no cost to me and it is rented out while I live overseas. It was all done from overseas using a reputable company.