Recladding not so attractive

Press, 16 November 1981, Page 4

Recladding not so attractive

People should think carefully before recladding their houses with imitation brick and stone facades,, says the Consumers’ Institute.

“Some companies that sell imitation brick and stpne •sheathings are.usjng misleading sales pitches,” said’ the director of thfe institute, Mr R. J. Smithies. “Home Owners are often approached by telephone. The call is usually from a woman who recites a well rehearsed sales script. People swayed by the telephone call are then visited by a salesman.”

Mr Smithies said , that two misleading statements were made in these visits — that the house had been “specially selected” and that the value of the house would be considerably added to. “Promises of a lower price if you allow your house to be used to promote the company’s product are also often made,” he said. In Wellington, the Consumers’ Institute had received reports from about 40 home owners in the last month about recladding sales pitches. "Almost without exception

they had been told their homes had been specially selected and that they, would be increasing the value of their homes. But those statements are misleading, and indeed, ' similar statements were common eight to 10 years ago when the recladding industry was in its heyday,” Mr Smithies said. The cost of the sheathing was something that should be studied carefully, he said. “One big pitch by the cladding companies is that you will never have to paint your home again,”? he said. “But think about it. The cost of cladding your house is usually between $5OOO and $9OOO. If you' invested that money, it would return between $2500 and $5OOO in interest over five years, at least. That is more than enough to pay a professional to paint your house, every five years.” Mr Smithies said that,' worse still, were the instances where people had actually borrowed money to pay for the cladding, which made the deal an even poorer one, financially. He said that it was doubtful that the claddings would add much value to a house. I