Insurers given storm damage ultimatum
February 07, 2008
INSURANCE companies are being told to sort out problems over fixing storm-damaged homes in Sydney's west by Monday - or be named and shamed.
NSW Emergency Services Minister Nathan Rees today said the companies' practice of using only builders on a preferred list was the main reason Blacktown householders whose roofs were damaged by a hailstorm on December 9 still hadn't had them repaired.
"We're finding that with this preferred builders arrangement, that simply means that some builders who are looking for work can't get a look in, and I want that fixed," he said on Fairfax Radio Network.
"We meet with them (insurance companies) again on Monday and if they don't have a plan for relieving the delays then we'll be naming them publicly.
"I want to see their plans and if their plans don't stack up or they're dragging their heels, then we will certainly name them."
There had been problems obtaining tiles over the holiday period, he said, but "on further analysis, this preferred builder arrangement that most of them have seems to me to be the bottleneck.
"We have demand for labour and we know we have a supply of labour, and in the middle there's this bottleneck and that's what I want to fix.
"Insurance companies need to get on with the job, and if they are telling me that they can't find the labour, the answer is simple, pay them a bit more. These are rich companies that in some cases are making tens and twenties of millions of dollars of profit."
Source : http://www.news.com.au
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