FAQ · Price & value · SE Queensland
Why are you dearer than the cheap quote?
Because I quote to do the job properly and not come back and fix it. The little extra buys a franchise owner-operator working to one system, a photo of every job, a fixed written price, a transferable guarantee, and cellulose we make ourselves. Cheap insulation gets paid for twice.
It’s a fair question, and I get it on the phone most weeks. Someone’s rung around, got three numbers, and ours isn’t the cheapest. So let me be straight with you about why. I quote to complete the job properly and not have to come back and fix it. The cheapest quote almost always has something left out of it, and the thing that’s left out is usually the bit that matters once the truck’s gone and the manhole’s shut.
Insulation isn’t like a fridge you can compare side by side in the shop. You only insulate your roof once. You’ll never have the same house with the cheap job in it one year and the good job the next, so you can’t stand in your living room and feel the difference between them. You just have to pick one and live with it for the life of the house. That’s exactly why I won’t shave my quote down to win the job and then short-change your roof to make the numbers work. For a little extra cost you get a far better result over the life of your house, and that’s what you’re really buying.
“I quote to complete the job properly and not have to come back and fix it. A very cheap quote is a very cheap solution, but you’d be lucky if you’re just not buying trouble for the future.”
Value, not price
Here's exactly what the little extra buys you.
The cheapest quote saves you money by leaving things out. Ours puts them back in. In writing. Five things you're paying for that the bargain price usually isn't.
A franchise owner-operator, not a cheap subbie
Your job is done by a Comfort Zone franchise partner running their own family business to our systems and standards, not an unbranded van of per-square-metre subbies who are gone by smoko.
A photo of every job
Every job is photographed to the same system, and the photos are checked before you're invoiced, so you see the finished roof, including the spots you can never climb up to check.
A fixed, written price
The quote is the price. We don't increase a quoted price once we've started, and there's no surprise "electrical re-route" line item on the day.
A transferable Life-of-House Guarantee
Our cellulose carries a written guarantee that passes to the next owner if you sell. We don't know of another insulation in Australia that carries this.
We make our own cellulose
We manufacture our cellulose at our own Tiaro factory, one of very few cellulose makers left in Australia, so there's no middleman markup and the product's already ours.
None of that shows up in the headline number on a cheap quote, but every bit of it shows up in your roof, and in your power bill, for the next 40 years. It’s the same system on every job, run by a franchise owner-operator held to a quality standard. That’s the difference between a price and a job done properly.
The maths the cheap quote hopes you skip
Cheap insulation is the thing people pay for twice.
Here’s how the cheap job actually costs you more. If it’s done badly, with gaps left in the batts, loose-fill blown thinner than the R-value you paid for, your house stays hotter than it should, so you keep paying for it every quarter on the power bill. Even small gaps hurt: the Australian Government’s yourhome guide notes even a small gap can greatly reduce the insulating value, and Sustainability Victoria’s Energy Smart Housing Manual shows the effective R-value collapsing as more of the ceiling is left uninsulated (p.63): even a 5% gap can drop an R3.5 batt’s effective R-value to R2.1, about 40%.
Then, when you’ve had enough of the upstairs being an oven, you pay a second time. To have someone climb up, strip out the cheap job, cart it to the tip and do the whole thing properly. I’ve pulled plenty of those jobs out. Done right the first time, insulation is the cheapest air-con and the cheapest heater you’ll ever buy: the same yourhome guide estimates roof and ceiling insulation can cut heating and cooling costs by up to 45%. The cheap quote that doesn’t deliver that isn’t cheap at all.
One last thing
I’m not dearer because I’m pushing a pricier product.
I want to be fair about this, because it’s the bit people get suspicious about. The extra in my quote isn’t a fancier product or a bigger number to oversell you. I sell all three insulation products and I’ll quote you the right one for the job. polyester under a floor, batts if that’s genuinely what you’re after. I don’t door-knock, I don’t cold-call, and I won’t lean on you to “sign today.” You come to us.
And I won’t oversell you an R-value you don’t need for our climate. Here in Climate Zone 2 the NCC’s minimum added ceiling insulation is about R2.5, and we install to around R3.0, not a sky-high number you’re paying for and don’t need. The dearer part of my quote is the work, the proof and the guarantee around it being done right. That’s the whole difference.
Straight answers
Price & value. The questions I get asked most.
Why are you dearer than the cheap insulation quote?+
Because I quote to do the job properly and not have to come back and fix it. The cheap price usually leaves something out. Your job subbed to the cheapest bidder, gaps you can't see, no photos, no real guarantee. For a little extra you get a Comfort Zone franchise owner-operator working to one system, a photo of every job checked before you're invoiced, a fixed written price, a transferable Life-of-House Guarantee, and cellulose we make ourselves in Tiaro. Cheap insulation is the thing people most often pay for twice.
What's actually missing from the cheaper quote?+
Usually the things you can't see on the day. A cheap quote often hides the job being subbed out to whoever's cheapest, paid per square metre, so speed beats quality and nobody owns the result. It can mean batts squeezed in with gaps, or loose-fill blown thinner than the R-value you paid for. It rarely includes before-and-after photos of the finished roof, and it almost never carries a real, transferable guarantee. None of that shows up in the headline number, but all of it shows up in your roof. That's the gap between the cheap quote and ours: ours puts the missing bits back in, in writing, with a franchise owner-operator who's building their own reputation in your area.
Is cheap insulation really more expensive in the long run?+
Often, yes; that's exactly the trap with the cheapest quote. If the job's done badly with gaps and the wrong depth, your house stays hot and your power bills stay high, so you're paying for the mistake every quarter. Then in a few years you pay again to have someone strip it out and do it properly. You only insulate once, so you can't stand in your living room and compare the cheap job with the good one; you just live with whichever you bought. I'd rather quote it once, properly, than have you pay for it twice.
Do you charge more because you push a more expensive product?+
No. I sell all three insulation products and I'll quote you the right one for the job, polyester under a floor, batts if that's genuinely what you want. I don't upsell whirlybirds or a higher R-value than your climate needs. Here in Climate Zone 2 the NCC's minimum added ceiling insulation is about R2.5 and we install to around R3.0, rather than overselling a number you don't need. The dearer part of my quote isn't a fancier product; it's the work, the proof and the guarantee around it being done right.
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Ready to insulate it once, and properly?
Get a fixed, written quote for the right product at the right R-value for your roof. No door-knockers, no “sign today,” no surprise line items on the day. Whatever you decide, I’ll give you a straight quote for your roof.
Peter Johnson
Owner / installer · Comfort Zone Insulation Team® · Since 1986
Want the bigger picture? Read how not to get ripped off by an insulation company in Brisbane, see what our Life-of-House Guarantee covers, or just get your quote started.