Deal on attic insulation?

micks_address

Hi folks,

Had guy at door this evening claiming he was seai affiliated and that they were offering a subsidy on top of grant to encourage attic insulation take up.

Anyway long story short. For 275 they will put 300 mm of insulation in attic. Insulate tanks and put walk ways to tanks and vents in sofits.

Only money I would pay is on work completion.. They obviously claim grant.

Is it a good price? They also say a ber assessment included

I'm dubious to honest. Guy phoning me tomorrow to follow up.

Thanks,
Mick

DGOBS

Only advise to you is NEVER DO BUSINESS ON YOUR DOORSTEP WITH A STRANGER

B-D-P--

Does he work for a company? What's their website?

micks_address

B-D-P-- wrote: »

Does he work for a company? What's their website?

http://www.reil.ie

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

http://www.reil.ie

Actually this is a legit offer. Checked with someone I know in the seai and they confirmed it's valid

MAJJ

micks_address wrote: »

Actually this is a legit offer. Checked with someone I know in the seai and they confirmed it's valid

Hi Mick, thanks could you please share more info as it comes in.

micks_address

MAJJ wrote: »

Hi Mick, thanks could you please share more info as it comes in.

Will do

jmBuildExt

micks_address wrote: »

Actually this is a legit offer. Checked with someone I know in the seai and they confirmed it's valid

If it is legit, their margins are very thin at best.

How big is your attic.
They will get 300 from seai + 50 for the BER IF you havent claimed it already.
So max take is 625.
They would prob fitit ina day and are spending 250 on insulation... how much walk way is included.... Then maybe they have someone that does the BER assessment (They need this to get the 350 from seai)

The model is probably to get you to "upgrade" once you are hooked initially.

micks_address

jmBuildExt wrote: »

If it is legit, their margins are very thin at best.

How big is your attic.
They will get 300 from seai + 50 for the BER IF you havent claimed it already.
So max take is 625.
They would prob fitit ina day and are spending 250 on insulation... how much walk way is included.... Then maybe they have someone that does the BER assessment (They need this to get the 350 from seai)

The model is probably to get you to "upgrade" once you are hooked initially.

I don't know how much incentive the seai give them..

jmBuildExt

micks_address wrote: »

I don't know how much incentive the seai give them..

300 for the attic insulation and 50 for the BER assessment (if you the homeowner haven't already availed of the 50 already).
Anyway - its a good deal if it is legit... but they have a website... so it must be

Ah no it certainly seems to be legit, they are obviously sacrificing on the price in the hope of securing further business.
But as mentioned above, Its unusual to have people bearing gifts at your front door without some catch or swizz

TheBody

It sounds like the deal of the century! I got a quote last week of €975 to add 150mm of insulation to my existing 150mm. (4 bed detached house).

micks_address

jmBuildExt wrote: »

300 for the attic insulation and 50 for the BER assessment (if you the homeowner haven't already availed of the 50 already).
Anyway - its a good deal if it is legit... but they have a website... so it must be

Ah no it certainly seems to be legit, they are obviously sacrificing on the price in the hope of securing further business.
But as mentioned above, Its unusual to have people bearing gifts at your front door without some catch or swizz

I was totally dubious and the guy didn't make it sound anyway legit. My contact in the seai is though and they said they are registered with them.

jmBuildExt

micks_address wrote: »

I was totally dubious and the guy didn't make it sound anyway legit. My contact in the seai is though and they said they are registered with them.

Well it doesnt mean the guy at the door was from the company. Is there any mention of the offer on the site?
He was prob going to ask for some money up front and leg it...

micks_address

jmBuildExt wrote: »

Well it doesnt mean the guy at the door was from the company. Is there any mention of the offer on the site?
He was prob going to ask for some money up front and leg it...

No money upfront. He took my number as says someone will call today. No money to be parted with at all until works complete.. I'm still dubious but curious to see if they will call me

sbsquarepants

jmBuildExt wrote: »

Well it doesnt mean the guy at the door was from the company. Is there any mention of the offer on the site?
He was prob going to ask for some money up front and leg it...

I wouldn't give any money up front - but there's nothing odd about these people going door to door - it's happening all over Dublin and surrounding areas anyway. I have a guy coming back in a couple of weeks to do my walls -I'd only just done the attic myself but that was on offer also.
I think it's to do with the government needing to meet agreed CO2 limits in a hurry or face fines.

TheBoyConor

Ah! They have an interwebz site so they have to be 100% above board, right?

And how can you be sure the guy even works for the company he claims to work for? He could equally be a smooth speaking con artist trying to hook and trick you.

I'll repeat the advise of the first reply - Don't do business or even engage with door-to-door salesmen.

It's very often a scam and a lot of them nowadays are very slick and professional in their way about it. Websites, business cards, false ID cards, legit looking literature and merchandise, etc etc. But it is still often a scam.

donegal.

why not contact the company and ask for a quote?

elbyrneo

micks_address wrote: »

No money upfront. He took my number as says someone will call today. No money to be parted with at all until works complete.. I'm still dubious but curious to see if they will call me

Ring the number on the website and ask to speak to the guy who called at your door. At least you will then know if he and the website are one and the same...

sbsquarepants

TheBoyConor wrote: »

I'll repeat the advise of the first reply - Don't do business or even engage with door-to-door salesmen.
.

This is just nonsense!

Don't give your bank details, don't pay him up front and so on but lets face it - it's pretty bloody hard to pretend to insulate someones attic!
When it comes time to pay just ask yourself this simple question.

Did a couple of burly blokes turn up one day in a big van and stick a shít load of insulation in your attic or not?

micks_address

ok so guy phoned there now.. he said its 275 after job is completed.. he said company that will do work is national retrofit construction based in lucan.. he said they will phone me in couple of weeks, then arrange a date.. job will usually take 4 hours.. I'm out nothing yet so will wait and see..

TheBoyConor

how do you know they are using the right materials?
How do you know they are doing the job properly?
How do you know they are not taking dodgy shortcuts at that price?
How do you know they are not just casing the place for their sidekicks who will come an rob you blind a week later?

Cold callers raise a red flag for some or all of the above!

I wouldn't buy anything on the doorstep. Nothing.

micks_address

TheBoyConor wrote: »

how do you know they are using the right materials?
How do you know they are doing the job properly?
How do you know they are not taking dodgy shortcuts at that price?
How do you know they are not just casing the place for their sidekicks who will come an rob you blind a week later?

Cold callers raise a red flag for some or all of the above!

I wouldn't buy anything on the doorstep. Nothing.

Well they are seai affiliated and the seai apparently inspect a random number of jobs. Also the ber assessment would pick up dodgy work?

I was totally dubious till contact in seai confirmed it was legitimate

TheBoyConor

Could be just a faudulent BER assessor though.

Tbh, door-to door operations are just too shadowy for me. I would not recommend them at all.

Over and out.

keithdub

I got it done my self 2 lads and 2 hours they were waking in next door to do theirs not a huge job

micks_address

keithdub wrote: »

I got it done my self 2 lads and 2 hours they were waking in next door to do theirs not a huge job

Biggest job for me is to clear the crap from my attic

PauloMN

Is your attic very small? Sounds too good to be true really. First off, the company selling to you has to take their cut, seeing as they are not doing the installation. Even if the actual installation crowd get the €300 grant, they must be working for free when you take the costs of materials, few hours labour for (I presume) a couple of lads and a van to run.

Personally I'm in the "never deal with door to door salespeople" camp, but if I was you, I'd be at least finding out more about the installation crowd (references etc.). And have a good look at the completed job to make sure it's been done correctly (make sure all parts of attic are done, incl. the awkward spots, the walkway to the water tank and the actual tank insulation before you part with a penny. I'd be insisting on a proper receipt showing the SEAI registration also.

rightjob!

Theres nothing wrong with companies doing door to door sales,happens alot.

Plenty of phone,electricity,gas companies do the same so cant see why some lads are saying scam.

If you do your homework on the company offering to do the work you will be fine.

Markcheese

Just going to point out... They're only gonna make money out of this if they do the job to seai spec and can claim the grant... So it's gonna have to be reasonable... If they can do several Jobs in the 1day in the one street it makes them more likely to make a few bob... And you're not putting money down so there's no way of anyone doing a runner...yes they may try sell you a few extras... What business wouldn't? You only buy if it suits you...
I can't see how you can lose...

micks_address

Markcheese wrote: »

Just going to point out... They're only gonna make money out of this if they do the job to seai spec and can claim the grant... So it's gonna have to be reasonable... If they can do several Jobs in the 1day in the one street it makes them more likely to make a few bob... And you're not putting money down so there's no way of anyone doing a runner...yes they may try sell you a few extras... What business wouldn't? You only buy if it suits you...
I can't see how you can lose...

I agree - I don't know why the SEAI don't publicize this better - maybe they only have certain pot of money to go around. Once I knew it was SEAI approved then I was happy enough.. even the guy that phoned me yesterday.. I said to him how I was dubious about it and he says people always are as its a sketchy enough process.. he even phoned me from a mobile instead of a landline.. As you have pointed out though... no money till job complete so can't really loose on it

TheBoyConor

rightjob! wrote: »

Theres nothing wrong with companies doing door to door sales,happens alot.

Plenty of phone,electricity,gas companies do the same so cant see why some lads are saying scam.

If you do your homework on the company offering to do the work you will be fine.

Because door to door sales that relate to building works have a reputation for being super dodgy. My dad was a building contractor and regularly got calls to come sort out the substandard work and cock-ups made by travelling door-to-door tradesmen. Shoddy leaky gutters being fitted, crazy roofing, sinking footpaths and unravelling driveways. Often work was done by pushy salesmen who for example, offer to put up new gutters for 300 then tell the owner that their roof is in a bad way and advise that it needs work. Then they rip half the valley down, throw it back on in a shocking state of workmanship and charge the owner as much as they think they can get away with.

Often this is being done against elderly people.

So forgive me if I have little confidence in door to door insulation "experts" who want to go into your attic. All of a sudden they'll be telling you "oh your valley is suffering dry rot, sir. Our company specialise in that and since were here already we will do you a good price on it. "it's a fair deal bass, take it!

rightjob!

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Because door to door sales that relate to building works have a reputation for being super dodgy. My dad was a building contractor and regularly got calls to come sort out the substandard work and cock-ups made by travelling door-to-door tradesmen. Shoddy leaky gutters being fitted, crazy roofing, sinking footpaths and unravelling driveways. Often work was done by pushy salesmen who for example, offer to put up new gutters for 300 then tell the owner that their roof is in a bad way and advise that it needs work. Then they rip half the valley down, throw it back on in a shocking state of workmanship and charge the owner as much as they think they can get away with.

Often this is being done against elderly people.

So forgive me if I have little confidence in door to door insulation "experts" who want to go into your attic. All of a sudden they'll be telling you "oh your valley is suffering dry rot, sir. Our company specialise in that and since were here already we will do you a good price on it. "it's a fair deal bass, take it!

To be fair that applies to all business.

SEAI work is inspected so they will do it to SEAI standard.

Im not saying to trust everyone who knocks at your door but i wouldn't turn your nose at it either.

TheBoyConor

But is there a way of verifying they are approved or endorsed some way by SEAI ?
Like they could be chancers going under the name of another legit company to carry out the scam. They could have fake ID cards, copies of brochures, fake invoices etc etc. It's not unheard of.

jmBuildExt

then they wont get the seai money and the job certainly wont be worth doing to any standard.

rightjob!

TheBoyConor wrote: »

But is there a way of verifying they are approved or endorsed some way by SEAI ?
Like they could be chancers going under the name of another legit company to carry out the scam. They could have fake ID cards, copies of brochures, fake invoices etc etc. It's not unheard of.

You receive paper work to state that your home has been approved for the grant,you can also check up that your installer is registered with SEAI.

Along with google searches and previous customer reviews you can gather alot of information on the installer.

Calahonda52

micks_address wrote: »

Well they are seai affiliated and the seai apparently inspect a random number of jobs. Also the ber assessment would pick up dodgy work?

I was totally dubious till contact in seai confirmed it was legitimate

You don't know if the guys at the door on the phone are from the company.
Did you ask about insurance?
If one of them comes through the ceiling or/and leaves the liathróidí on a nail on the way down, what happens?

Conservatory

I’d throw a roll of yellow insulation down in your attic for 275 no bother.

micks_address

I will post pics of the job if and once its done. Probably be early August.
Thanks,
Mick

TheBoyConor

For 250 I will throw a roll of the cheapest insulation around the edges of the attic hatch and the places that are easily visible. For the remainder of the attic I will insulate it with black bags of rubbish that have come off of one of my other cowboy jobs.

sbsquarepants

TheBoyConor wrote: »

But is there a way of verifying they are approved or endorsed some way by SEAI ?
Like they could be chancers going under the name of another legit company to carry out the scam. They could have fake ID cards, copies of brochures, fake invoices etc etc. It's not unheard of.

I think you're looking too hard to find a scam that just isn't there!

I'd be 99.99% certain that it's a legit offer. What will almost certainly happen is a crew will turn up and insulate the attic to a reasonable standard, then leave.
It's attic insulation ffs, it's not the most technically demanding of jobs. You don't need a team of MIT trained engineers - you need a bloke with some insulation and a half an hours "training".

micks_address

Hi folks,
So the day has come. Lads insulating attic as we speak. The company phoned me Monday to see if they could do today. Naturally this lit a fire under my ass as the attic was a complete disaster with crap up there. So started clearing Monday night. 4 trips to the dump later and a load of boxes in other rooms and the attic clear. I'll post some more when the job done. Seems like reputable outfit. They are putting down extra boards for me for storage. Part of me doesn't want to but we'll need the space for decorations for xmas etc. Approx 150 euro extra for the 3 by 3 metre space. Boards are backed with insulation. Reckon the job will cost 275 plus 150 for the extra boards which is still decent I think. They talked about power to shower etc and having to leave certain gaps etc so the job will pass inspection so I'm reasonably confident they know what they at.

They also fitting vents to soffit. Will post some pictures later when job is done.

Thanks,
Mick

micks_address

https://youtu.be/7sFTfuEe6lQ

Video of completed work. Happy enough. BER assessment to follow. They were at it most of the day. Supervisor called to check the work and got chatting for a bit. He says they get the 300 from the grant and 275 for the job from the customer. They can only make money if they get two jobs done per day. Interested to see if there's a noticeable difference come winter. Put a load of vents in the eve. He said the job wouldn't pass inspection without it. They put heavy lagging on water pipes and tank. Boards for storage grand to. 150 extra for the boards. 275 for the job itself.
Thanks,
Mick

Sleeper12

I suggest that you inspect the job yourself. If you have an electric shower they can't insulate over the cable. A 6mm cable might have been fine when the shower was installed but insulating over this cable is a major fire hazard. They also insulate over shower transformers. The amount of blown transformers we replace a few months after an insulation job is unreal. Some transformers costing 200 plus installation. Spot lights is another fire hazard after insulation.

micks_address

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I suggest that you inspect the job yourself. If you have an electric shower they can't insulate over the cable. A 6mm cable might have been fine when the shower was installed but insulating over this cable is a major fire hazard. They also insulate over shower transformers. The amount of blown transformers we replace a few months after an insulation job is unreal. Some transformers costing 200 plus installation. Spot lights is another fire hazard after insulation.

Thanks I'll check when I'm back home. They did make a big deal about the shower cable and asked me to show them where it was. Mentioned a certain gap had to be left. Same with spots that are in walk in wardrobe. The restocking of crap starts next week.. Well Xmas decorations and less toys from kids hopefully..

Ethereal Cereal

Any update on this? Are you happy with the job, and how much did you end up spending. Theres a few of us on the main thread thinking about getting contractors in...

thanks a mill!

micks_address

No complaints.. definitely made a big difference to the house. Done almost 3 years now maybe? Only issue in that time was one of the vents they fitted fell out and I had to glue back in to soffit

poker--addict

Looks like they are one stop shop scheme only now

Sleeper12

Amazing to think it was so cheap 5 years ago for 300mm installation going through SEAI. Today you can expect to pay around €3K for 300mm installation if going through SEAI. BER can be as high as €300 & now they charge an extra €30 to €50 to fill out the BER section of the SEAI application. It's working out cheaper not looking for the grant. & skipping the BER cert.

On a positive note SEAI insist on ventilation being installed in the roof itself. This means that you can cover the entire attic in 300mm making it airtight. Leaving gaps in insulation to allow air into the attic from the eaves is not the recommended route anymore.

I have 300mm. I'm putting in 300mm stilts & another 10mm before flooring it for storage. This gives me a full 400mm insulation. It's totally airtight once an insulated fold down stairs is installed

micks_address

wow its 3k now? how much is the grant? i have to say it made a major difference to the house but if i had to pay 3k for it id be a little hesitant! sounds like the standards have improved

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120497811#Comment_120497811

Thanks for the update. Any further info on the guidance around blocking off the eaves if you have roof vents? Is it a silly amount of ventilation and is it a reasonable job to retro-fit - ie, it does not demand ridge-vents I presume as the eaves will be blocked off anyway.

Sleeper12

As far as I know vents in the soffit are fine. The problem is that you don't get the installation in as far as you would if you have roof vents. I had 6 vents put in. 3 front and 3 back. Roofer took a tile off for each vent. He wasn't 20 minutes doing all 6 vents.

RidleyJones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120498114#Comment_120498114

I got quoted 5k and that was after taking off the 1500 grant.