cavity insulation british gas

I live near Portsmouth. I wanted cavity insulation and went to British Gas, who sent a surveyor to my house to have a look. The cost of the cavity insulation, including fitting three vents was in excess of £350. The surveyor said it was a lot of money to pay and that there were cheaper alternatives. Next thing I know he whips out a pile of estimate forms belonging to a company that has nothing to do with British Gas. Apparently they will do the same work for £160. I checked the company on the internet, then rang them, they are real and they are quite big as well. The surveyor said that the work would involve two men working for approx 4.5 hours. Thats

9 hours of work. If the materials cost £50 then that leaves £90. Take away the companies profit and then see whats left to pay the two employees. Something does not make sense here. Any comments appreciated.
Reply to
mike
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Is it being subsidised by a gov. grant. My cavity wall insulation cost £200 with the rest paid for by a gov. grant. That was 10 yrs ago though.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

No subsidy from anywhere. The surveyor put me in contact with a familly that had used this company for their cavity insulation and they were quite happy about the work. This familly did say though that the cavity insulation company were charging about £1000 for the same work if they were "doing it for British Gas". I did'ny query that

Reply to
mike

I had CW insulation installed last year. I dealt directly with the company. The total cost was £338, the grant was £150 so I paid £188. If the company will do your job for £160 they will receive grant money of about the same amount, so your calculations don't make sense. The work probably costs about £300 to £350 but you only have to pay the £160 after the grant subsidy. British Gas don't do CW insulation, they sub-contract the work to a CW insulation company and charge you commission. Regarding the BG price being in excess of £350, does this include or exclude the grant? If it includes the grant, so that you have to pay roughly half of £350, it sounds about right bearing in mind the commission that BG have added. But if BG want to charge you £350 excluding the grant then that sounds like a rip-off. Has this 'surveyor' been entirely honest with you?

Reply to
DIY

I checked with my local council about grants and they said I was not entitled to any. The surveyor told me to ring British Gas and tell them that I had found another company to carry out the work. As far as I can see the £160 is what the company charged for the work. Where else are they going to get the extra couple of hundred to top up their profits? By the way, I have moved the geographical location and altered the sums involved by about 15% to protect the ID of the company.

Reply to
mike

Have you checked availability of grants for your post code here?

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Reply to
DIY

When I had mine done the grant was a central gov one and the company did all the paperwork, I just signed a form for the work paid me £200 and they did the rest. I did see an advert for cavity wall insulation grants last year so they are still available.

BG are always expensive but that said I would have thought their quote would have included the same grant.

Ask the company they won't be trying to hide the fact that it's grant aided.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

On the house.co.uk web site (BGs own) the cost for cavity wall installation for a 4 bed detached is £274. I've just applied last week, had the surveyor round within a few days and the work is being carried out on 5th March for the same £274. CW company seemed very professional and gave me confidence that they'd do a good job. This price was after the grant had been applied FYI.

Brian

Reply to
Brianb

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