Help required regarding Contractor/EBS dispute

[Clarej5]

Hey Guys,

I know this is a little outside the norm, but I could really use some advise.

I hired a contractor to install a paving in the drive, during which he managed to cut into an underground ESB line (laid by ESB themselves) costing 500 Euros of damage.

He agreed it was his responsibility initially however today we received an unexpected call claiming he had been in touch with a solicitor and he would not be paying it. He says it is our responsibility as it was on our property.

Personally I can’t get me head around this, it seems impossible that we are at fault when we hired a qualified professional, I would have thought this would have fell on his company insurance if anything??

Any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Again sorry guys, I know this isn’t strictly DIY. Thanks again

J

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Unsure to if the law differs in Ireland, but any contractor in the UK worth their salt should have insurance to cover such an eventuality. Common sense would also say the location of any buried services is ascertained prior to excavation if intending to dig to any depth.

If the location cannot be determined then careful hand excavation should be carried out to determine if any services are present prior to excavation. His insurance should cover the cost, (thats what it's for) but I suspect he may either not have any, or has a large excess which would mean it is not worth his making a claim. His problem, he needs to settle the bill in my opinion.

 

[noseall]

I think it is just a standard insurance backed response, which puts the ball back in your court, i.e. prove it.

The homeowner does have some responsibility to divulge as much info' as possible as to the location of services on their property. Withholding vital info' is a bit of a stinker.

Did you know it was there?

 

[Clarej5]

Thank you so much for the responses, really appreciated.

Proving it shouldn’t be too hard, dated quotes, electronic transfers for payment, and dated photographs of progress (i.e. garden dug out, cobbles in progress of being laid etc etc). Not to mention it was the contractor himself who contacted ESB to inform them he had broken the line. The contractor also lives in the same estate as us and decided to do his own driveway at the same time.

In response to your other question, no we would have had no idea it was there, the driveway has not been modified since the house was built 20 years ago. Should we have known about things like that?

Thanks again.