Dunedin contractor caught on CCTV failing to fill insulation revealed as ex-police officer

A Dunedin man is shocked after a former senior police officer charged him $4700 to insulate his walls, but left half of them empty.

The homeowner, who declined to be named, said he recorded the actions of Jason Bracegirdle — a former police detective now also working as a private investigator — on CCTV.

Bracegirdle was contracted to retrofit wall insulation, which involves drilling a hole and pumping the product into the cavity, into all walls of the home.

CCTV footage supplied by the homeowner shows Bracegirdle drilling into a wall, then filling the holes with putty without installing insulation material.

The saga began a few months ago when the homeowner contracted Bracegirdle through distributor Cosy Home to install CosyWall, a brand of retrofitted insulation product, around his home.

Once the job was done, the homeowner said he had a “gut feeling” something was off.

He reviewed the CCTV footage and used thermal imaging equipment to scan the walls, which showed some parts of the walls — he estimated 50-60 per cent — had not been filled with insulation.

The homeowner said he was “shocked” upon making the discovery and requested an auditor, who had to fly in from out of the city, to assess the job.

During two visits with the auditor present, Bracegirdle drilled a series of test holes around the property so the walls could be assessed.

After testing a hole with an endoscope, the auditor told the homeowner there was “nothing there” and that they were “looking at a void”, the homeowner said.

After more insulation was injected during the visits, the homeowner accepted the walls were as good as they could be.

However, when a builder visited the house for an unrelated job he noticed other issues, including inappropriate materials used to jam the house’s ventilation and shrinking mortar putty, leading the homeowner to once again question the work.

The homeowner said he had paid the $4700 invoice because he thought the work had been done, but now wanted a refund or for the work to be fixed.

“My battle right now is to get my house reinsulated properly, and I don’t want the local contractor to do it based on the behaviour I’ve seen.”

When the Otago Daily Times contacted Bracegirdle, he said he had been advised not to say anything and declined to comment.

CosyWall is a brand supplied by Safe-R Insulation.

Safe-R Insulation general manager Wade Maurice said it had been working closely with the homeowner.

Its auditor found areas of the home had been missed due to “the drill pattern”, Maurice said.

“While most of the walls were filled, recommendations for remedial works to fill the missed spaces were made and carried out by the distributor.”

However, further assessment revealed more work was required, he confirmed.

Safe-R had arranged for the work to be done, but the homeowner indicated he wanted someone else to do it, Maurice said.

The company also offered to pay a third party to do the work.

“We have spoken with him at length and done everything we could to address the issues and remedy the situation.”

Safe-R had been working with Cosy Home for five years and this was the first customer-driven complaint Safe-R had received that had prompted it to provide ongoing support in this way, Maurice said.

The distribution agreement between the two companies was due for renewal and they would be “discussing the way forward” over the coming weeks, he said.

tim.scott@odt.co.nz