Damp proofing quote: how to spot an inflated price and pay the fair price
A damp proofing quote is not just a piece of paper. It is the document where everything is decided: the cause identified, the method proposed, the scale of the works and the final amount. Yet for one and the same wall, two proposals can show considerable gaps. The wall has not changed. What changes is the business model behind each offer. Knowing how to read a costing and how to recognise abusive practices is what separates the homeowner who pays the fair price from the one who unknowingly funds an entire chain of middlemen.
What really inflates an invoice
The price you pay does not reflect the cost of the treatment alone. It absorbs a complete chain: the company that canvasses you, the door to door salesperson paid on commission, the lead generator, sometimes the subcontractor who actually carries out the work. Every link takes its margin, and that margin ends up, line after line, in your quote.
Then comes the famous “free” survey. There is no such thing as a free visit: the travel, the technician’s time and the prospecting are all funded by the invoices of the customers who sign. Humidistop carries out no home survey and says so plainly, since these visits “are often billed indirectly by certain companies, which generates unnecessary costs for the customer”.
Finally there is oversizing, the most expensive item of all. Chemical injection along the entire run of wall when part of it is sound, drainage with excavation, tanking, complete renewal of the renders: these heavy works can run into several thousand euros. Sometimes they are justified. Often their main merit is to push up the total.
Damp proofing quote: the warning signs that should make you step back
Some clues never lie. When they start piling up, take a step back before you sign.
- Door to door or telephone canvassing, followed by a visit offered very quickly.
- An exceptional discount, valid only if you sign the same day.
- A single global figure, with no breakdown item by item, no surface area and no quantities.
- A survey presented as free, followed by a pressing proposal.
- One single solution put forward straight away, before the origin of the damp has even been named.
What all these situations have in common: you are being sold an emergency. Damp in a wall, on the other hand, has taken years to settle in. Nothing justifies deciding in twenty minutes.
The reflexes that protect your budget
First reflex, have the cause identified before any costing. Condensation, lateral infiltration and rising damp do not call for the same treatment, and a proposal drawn up without a clearly named cause is built on sand.
Second reflex, insist on the detail. Every item must be named, quantified and costed separately. If you cannot compare line by line, then the document was designed not to be compared.
Third reflex, compare approaches and not just amounts. Chemical injection requires heavy works, offers medium term durability and partially blocks the water. Drainage requires excavation and channels water away from around the building. A dehumidifier dries the air, not the walls, with a short term effect. The ATE and ATG devices from Humidistop, for their part, act directly on the walls, over time, with no heavy works and no chemical products.
Fourth reflex, never sign under pressure. A serious company accepts that you take the time to think it over.
The Humidistop approach: free advice and direct factory pricing
Humidistop built its model in direct opposition to these practices. A French company founded in 2012 by William Coignard, with over 14 years of existence behind it, it designs and manufactures its devices in France, in an ISO 9001 certified factory, with a 10 year manufacturer’s warranty.
No rebilled visit, then, but a simple method: you send a few photos of your walls and you are guided free of charge towards the right model. The sale takes place directly on the website, with no middleman, at direct factory prices, with payment available in 3 or 4 interest free instalments. No door to door salesperson’s commission is added to your invoice, for one simple reason: there aren’t any.
This approach convinces far beyond private homeowners. Devices are installed in town halls and churches (Buzy, Bardos, Guiche, Labastidette, Ponsonnas), the French Ministry of the Armed Forces highlighted the ATG Geostop solution in its request for Hôpital Bégin, and the ATE LC30 is stocked by Leroy Merlin and Castorama. The solution has been covered by Sud Radio, Ouest-France, RTL, Le Figaro, France Bleu, La Quotidienne, RMC and CNEWS.
Is a home survey essential before a damp proofing quote?
No. Humidistop made the opposite choice, precisely because these visits are often billed indirectly. A few photos of your walls are enough to be guided free of charge towards the right model.
How do you compare two proposals based on different methods?
Bring each one back to three questions: which cause is being treated, what level of works is involved, what durability is announced. A job costing several thousand euros deserves to be set against a solution with no heavy works, with results generally visible within 18 to 24 months.
Damp proofing quote: pay for the treatment, not for the chain of middlemen
A well built damp proofing quote is recognisable by its clarity: an identified cause, detailed items, no sense of urgency. The rest belongs to sales, not to building. By going through a French manufacturer selling direct, you remove the commissions, the rebilled visits and the oversized works.
Send a few photos of your walls and get free advice: contact the Humidistop team for clear guidance, with no canvassing and no pressure.
