Her place wasn't the only one like it - another friend still speaks with amazement at having to argue with the house salesman to put more than foil insulation into their house. They moved in five(?) years ago.
There's no argument if its not in the contract. People get what they pay for and alot of people just look for the cheapest offer they can get without looking at whats included. A contract is a work place agreement between the employer (owner) and the employed (builder) it s like work choice's and it happens everyday . A builder will gladly supply additional material and labour - its all work , he gets paid for whatever labour and has a small margin on supplied materials .If an employer/owner wants something that wasn't originally agrred on then its just taken food from the employee/builders table.
seems like your ALP/Green coalition up there is a bit slow on the uptake of little Johhny's energy rating initiative
No, this was at the 'negotiating the spec' stage. The salesman was happy to add the extra garage space and a few other details. Then they asked about what insulation the house would have, and were told that the foil crap was plenty.
They're both long time Canberra residents, and laughed at the notion of minimal insulation, but the salesman had to be pushed to tick the box... "nah, waste of money. Reverse cycle air con, you don’t need it".
FWIW, their block was too small to orient the house to face north. The sun belts in on Summer afternoons.
