Claims row hits homes
CYCLONE victims have been short- changed and recommended Band- Aid fixes in a growing insurance scandal that puts thousands of disaster assessments under a cloud.
At least three of Queensland’s top insurers have used an unlicensed building firm and unlicensed consultants.
The company has already been censured, with at least 10 other cases believed under investigation.
Many claims, which could stretch back five years and involve insurers QBE, RACQ and Youi, recommended cheaper repairs that favoured the companies over homeowners.
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission censured US- based Crawford & Company in December for operating without a licence after Cyclone Debbie. to be
In one case where a tree partially knocked a home off its foundations, a building report recommends a structurally unsound property be repaired rather than rebuilt.
In another, a homeowner was quoted $ 120,000 on the basis of a report by a gas fitter but discovered the work would cost more than $ 220,000 when assessed by a licensed builder.
The period Crawfords operated unlicensed includes three of Australia’s most expensive cyclones; Debbie ($ 1.565 billion); Oswald ($ 1.13 billion); and Marcia ($ 544 million).
QBE, RACQ, Youi, Crawfords and the Insurance Council of Australia insist no regulations were breached because no actual work was carried out to produce the reports, known as a “scope of works”.
QBCC confirmed the regulator considered scopes of work part of the building process.
In the cases under investigation, Crawfords subcontracted production of the scope of works to a wholly owned subsidiary, CRD Building Consultants and Engineers.
CRD national manager Mark Williamson said the company was attempting to clarify QBCC’s position.
ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller said it was a “matter for the QBCC” to resolve.
David Keane, owner of Solve My Claim, said he had received about 10 complaints involving the company.
“Building scopes have been the biggest dispute in Cyclone Debbie and that is from insurance companies having much lower scopes than local builders and other qualified builders,” he said.
QBE and Youi conducted investigations into the use of the reports but neither found evidence of a breach.