Charge for getting a quote for damp issue?

Phibsboro

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone had an experience in this area and might offer some advice. I have an issue with damp under the front window of my 1910's terraced house in Dublin. It has been there for years I think but never got moldy etc so it didn't really bother me. But recently the damp managed to short out a socket on that wall so I think I need to get it looked at.

I contacted 3 different places, based purely on a quick online search. Of those 3, 2 are charging to come out and look at the situation before submitting a quote - one is 200eur, the other 150. The one company who isn't charging has a name that is obviously designed to come first in a Golden Pages listing, which for some reason I am finding a little offputting! Is charging for the initial visit a standard in the industry?

Reading around this area, there appears to be a lot of confusion and name-calling in terms of how to deal with damp in old housing stock. Does anyone have any experience of how to resolve an issue like this?

Finally if anyone has an actual company recommendation I'd really appreciate a private message.

Thanks

Gumbo

I assume it’s to stop you getting a quote outlining how to fix it or address the problem and then you go do it yourself.

Same for mechanical repairs on cars. 90% of garages charge for estimates and then that charge comes off the total bill.

jmBuildExt

Were you planning to claim on your insurance to do the work?
I had similar experience recently in the car industry, as kceire alludes to, but the reason was (at least the reason given to me) it was an insurance quote.
It was for some panel work after a guy hit me, went to a non-affiliated place to get a quote for the fix. They wanted to charge for the quote in case the insurance company wouldn't pass their quote. The price of the quote would be taken off the final bill.
I ended up just going to one of the insurance company's affiliated places. Less hassle.

Phibsboro

I can't imagine its an insurance situation as it has been there for years, I am not intending to claim. Just a slightly usual way of doing business.

Again, if anyone has any experience with a reputable company I'd appreciate a message.

the_pen_turner

i hear a lot of companies threatening to do this in lots of areas of construction. its great to see some actually doing it. its to reduce the nuber of 'customers' ringing up loads of companies to qute for work and then never going with them .

not getting the job is part and parcel of the industry but when you never had a chance to get the job or they never really were going to do the job at all it starts taking the piss
going out an quoteing jobs is expensive and time consuming.

hopefully this will become the norm

Phibsboro

I used to work in sales many years ago and I'd have loved to have gotten paid for all the sales calls I made But I guess an industry will do whatever it feels is the most profitable for it and in times of plenty you'll get stuff like this. I imagine come the next recession they wouldn't be charging to quote for work

It is particularly annoying in this area where none of the main companies will give an indication on their websites as to how much a typical repair will cost. It feels like it is in the same kind of area as roofing and guttering, where you get absolute gangsters mixed in with ordinary contractors. One of the guys who replied looking to be paid to do a quote has a facebook page and he responds to all inquires bar those asking for a ballpark figure of his charges.

Has anyone experience of actually resolving damp issues in a 100 yr terraced house?

mickdw

Personally, I believe many of these specialist contractors are gangsters looking to fleece unsuspecting customers by selling various coatings and injected damp proofing when often issues are more basic and easily sorted.
I'd firstly get a known good builder to have a look at the area in general.
They may note something of issue around the window area such as high ground level externally or a cill issue or poor rainwater systems etc.
All too often the specialists diagnose rising damp as they can charge accordingly.

pm1977x

I had this last year when trying to solve a mold/damp issue, 2 places were charging 150-200 to look at it, the 1 place that didn't charge cancelled on the day and never got back to me so didn't bother chasing them as they were obviously unreliable. Wasn't happy paying for a quote so ended up tackling it myself in the end (with mixed results.)

Edit: just remembered thanks to post above talking about 'gangsters' one company I did a lot of Googling on and found some news articles about how it was set up by a guy on the run from prison in the UK for murder, he was rearrested but company was still going!