Getting someone to do quotes and repairs in the Leiria region is still like finding a needle in a haystack, even a month after Storm Kristin swept through the territory. Faced with hundreds of thousands of affected properties and the desperate search for quick solutions, the law of supply and demand is already making itself felt. Prices are rising and if before no one charged for a quote for repairing a roof, today this has become the rule, DN found. In this unprecedented scenario of devastation and “exceptional” support measures, there are also those who are taking advantage of budgets just to ask for support from the State and then choose to carry out the repairs themselves or to put some money in their pockets.local agents tell DN.
The collection of quotes is a safeguard that companies try to guarantee, so as not to waste time and money reaching out everywhere, at all times, without having the guarantee that the service will be awarded to them, explain businesspeople.
According to DN, The amounts being charged for budgets to repair roofs are around R$100, when companies are involved, and R$40 requested by odd-job workers. “Here in Leiria everyone is asking for 100 euros”says the owner of a metal mechanic in the region, speaking to DN. “As there are many requests, they charge the budget, but if the service is awarded, they then discount the value of the work”, explained the businesswoman.
The practice was confirmed to DN by more residents of Pombal and Leiria. “They asked me for 40 euros to come and quote for the repair of the last row of tiles on the roof,” said one owner. “But I thought it was expensive and I didn’t accept it”, said the teacher who still has no solution in sight for her home. The same amount was requested from Miguel, a real estate agent, who was surprised by the method never used before to obtain a quote.
Budgets are essential pieces for the instruction of processes in applications for State support, especially starting from amounts of ten thousand euros, or to be entitled to reimbursement from insurance companies if the damage is covered by insurance. Therefore, all blockages at this stage of the process end up delaying the entire process. The problem in the case of more affected structures is that several quotes must be requested for the same property. “Here at the company we still haven’t got all the quotes, because the person who takes care of the windows is not the same person who takes care of the gate or the roof”, explains the businesswoman who spent more than two weeks without electricity.
When the support system for storm victims was presented by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, the priority was placed on speed, reduction of bureaucracy and trust in citizens. For this reason, works worth up to 5 thousand euros were exempted from inspections, simply presenting photographs proving the damage, with the aim of speeding up the processes. But it didn’t take long for schemes to take advantage of the exceptional regime to appear, according to local agents.
Condominium manager schemes
“A lot of people are taking advantage of State support. They show up to ask for a quote just to have the paper to collect the money and then do the work themselves or ask a friend to flatten everything”, João Dinis, owner and managing partner of TLVE Construções, told DN. “The worst are the property managers who are spending money on account, including things that have nothing to do with the storms, it’s all like that”, accuses the businessman. “That’s why we no longer do repairs, we only do entire roofs. We don’t even waste time on that anymore”, says the owner of the company with facilities in the districts of Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto.
“The other day, a condominium administrator who is a smart lawyer, wanted me to make a quote for her. I presented R$175,000, but she ended up finding another one that was more expensive, for R$200,000, do you know why? This has been a practice for many years, when it was the Pedrógão fires it was the same. Condominium companies always have a contractor they trust _the condominium owners don’t know, nor do they want to bother _ and take 10% 15% of the budget value for your commission.
Regarding the practice of charging for repair quotes, João Dinis considers that “not even 100 euros is worth it”. And, he continues, “just what I spend to send someone from Coimbra to Leiria, pay tolls, waste two hours and take equipment is not worth it. It would have to be at least 350/400 euros, so I prefer not to waste time on that”, he says resolutely. And, he warns, “you need to be careful, because anyone who agrees to quote for 100 euros or 40 euros may not even know what they are doing or be a scammer”. João Dinis had the facilities underwater for five days during the floods in Coimbra, but, he guarantees, “I didn’t ask the State for anything, I just want to keep working”.
Insurance compensable damages due to my time already amount to 750 million euros, almost as much as what has been paid out over the last 20 years of one billion euros. According to the latest update from the Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS) until the end of February, around 140 thousand claims had been received. Of these 115 thousand are residential insurance, 13 thousand commercial and industrial activity insurance and 9.5 thousand automobile insurance.
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