External wall insulation - varying quotes higher when applying for grant

Cuttlefish

So quite a few neighbours had contractors fitting external wall insulation I managed to talk to the job supervisor and he provided me a quote €15,500 for a 3 bed room semi with garage and when I mentioned the SEAI grant he told me the price is almost double !

Has anyone encountered quotes that skew to almost double figures when you mention applying for the government grant?

chooseusername

There’s a thread on here titled “retrofitting”

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058231800/retrofitting/p4

Start on page 4 @WacoKid ’s first post. Good information on there, after the resident Cowboy on here rode off into the sunset.

Cuttlefish

So resurrecting this thread to see if anyone else has come across this method of business

The external cladding retrofit guys will come to your premises and visually look at it then give you a price ..... €xx, 000 say

you then say OK thats grand and I am gonna apply for the Government SEAI grant and straight away the guy says oh in that case it is €xx, 000 plus €10,000 cos the engineer has to come out to assess etc

Has anyone else had this scenario?

kabakuyu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371403#Comment_121371403

Grants distort the market, contractors feel they are entitled to the grant money and not the householder.Saw a neighbour get attic insulated, approx cost of materials was c.400euro, he was charged 350e plus the grant of 1100e , also had to stump up 295e for BER cert.Work took 2 hours for 2 men.

The whole system is not fit for purpose, it only benefits contractors, suppliers and those in the know.😉

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121372055#Comment_121372055

The process you're outlining is not that described by the SEAI, and there is no 1100 eur grant.

kabakuyu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121387029#Comment_121387029

Sorry but that is exactly how it went but it was 1500e grant not 1100e.He also paid 350e to BER guy,.He made application himself online with contractors SEAI number,after BER cert issued, he returned form and had 1500 transferred to his account which he then transferred to contractor.

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121387890#Comment_121387890

Each time you post the maths have changed. Anyway, I think you're saying that the contractor charged 1500 euros for supply and fit of 400 euros worth of insulation, which was entirely covered by the grant, and that the homeowner paid net 350 which was the price of the BER cert.

How did you calculate the insulation price? 300mm of insulation for 100sqm of detached attic is going to cost maybe 800eur ex. VAT. Anyway, assuming your insulation price of 400 ex. VAT, the maths works out like this:

• Contractor bills 1500, of which 280 is VAT @ 23%
• Contractor buys 400 of insulation (ex. VAT)

That leaves a profit of 820, which is decent but hardly outrageous. If the insulation cost 800+VAT the profit would only be 420 between two lads.

There are two reasons you haven't considered why grants push prices higher:

1. The SEAI can inspect the job, which means it ought to be done right (dunno how often they do that though). Here's a technical bulletin covering common failures.
2. It's harder for the contractors to dodge paying tax because there's an audit trail (and homeowners are often in on the tax dodging too).

From the perspective of the State, they might get back half of that 1500 in VAT and income tax, that they wouldn't have got if the job was done for cash. They also get to track the number of insulation jobs done which probably helps with tracking their energy efficiency projects.

The way I understand the grant there's no reason that the homeowner can't find someone to do it cheaper and keep the difference.

Cuttlefish

Point of my thread was to highlight my experience with getting a quote and how the widely publicised grant scheme is really of no benefit to a home owner. I tried to highlight this with SEAI personnel via email and was more or less ignored. They only advise and help with grants etc which is fair enough but surely they are receiving feedback from people about varying quotes??? And if they are why is it not highlighted as price gouging (is that the correct terminology?)

kabakuyu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390710#Comment_121390710

Maths are simple so I will explain for the last time 1500 grant plus 350 cash extra(from householder) for contractor to do job,total for contractor was 1850e, cost of insulation was 400e,total profit for contractor was 1450 for two hours work minus his expenses (other guy was employee on approx 20e/hr) nice money for 2 hours.😀

Householder got hit for total cost of 650e(cash to contractor plus BER cert)and the taxpayers got caught for 1500 for a job that should have cost 1000e at most IMO.

kabakuyu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390850#Comment_121390850

Price gouging is rife in the grant retrofit schemes,but remember that some people have a vested interest in defending these schemes as they are making megabucks.I have no doubt that in the future the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General will look into these schemes more thoroughly to investigate the waste of taxpayers money.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41089321.html