My dad removing Chimney and internal wall - will his public liability insurance cover me

[mrbg07546]

Hi my dad is a self employed for a a company.

I am asking him to do work on my house - removing internal wall and chimney.

He has public liability insurance, if anything goes wrong am i covereD?

also my uncle told me if its not a supporting wall dont bother with calculations, just make sure you got correct beam in and if its no supporting leave it - he does a lot of work for building control. would you agree?

 

[Chud]

I wouldn't think so - public liability is there to cover you against things that happen in public or to members of the public e.g. a photographer who falls whilst walking backwards knocking over an OAP who then needs ongoing medical attention (true story iirc). It won't help you at all, it might help your dad if he drops a chimney on someone passing by on the pavement.

Professional indemnity is the other bit of insurance most self-employed will have and covers them against accidents or claims against them when they're out working. You would need to check on the terms of the policy to see if you would be covered - it may be it is only in force when he is doing work contracted through the company...but would you really claim against your dad for damages?

 

[Chud]

This is geared towards photographers but the insurance types are covered here:

http://www.aaduki.com/what-insurance/

 

[^woody^]

Professional indemnity

... is for professionals such as surveyors, engineers, doctors, dentists, CI5 agents, etc, to protect them from claims of negligence.

It's not for professional tradesmen, who have public liability insurance to protect them from injury claims from their work.

 

[^woody^]

Your dad's insurance will only protect you if you are paying him for his work and there is a contract in place. If he's doing this as a favour, then the cover might not be valid. He needs to check his policy.

If you need to put a beam in, then it's a supporting wall, and your uncle should not be doing any work for building control if he does not know the difference.

 

[bernardgreen]

dont bother with calculations, just make sure you got correct beam in

If you do not calculate then how can you make sure you have got the correct beam in place. If you select a very oversized beam then calculation would not be essential if you are good at guestimating.

I share woody's concern about the advice your uncle is giving you.

 

[Nakajo]

In my limited experience, if there's any way you can avoid having your family involved in your construction projects (in anything other than a financial capacity), so much the better.

 

[ashburnham]

Public Liability Insurance covers the policyholder for any injury or damage caused to a third party or the third party's property whilst performing the declared occupation. If there is no formal agreement/contract for the job he is doing then this is not classed as his occupation so would be excluded from cover. It would come under general DIY work in your own home. The only place to look for cover in this instance is your home insurance policy but there is a fair chance that it will exclude DIY work, especially to this degree. As long as the work is not on his own home (i.e. he has no financial interest in your property) and if he is intending to hit you with a proper invoice/bill for the work and it's going through his books then you are a customer as much as any other customer.

 

[^woody^]

One school of thought is that if you think the person doing the work needs to insure himself, then he probably shouldn't be doing the work in the first place.

 

[^woody^]

In my limited experience, if there's any way you can avoid having your family involved in your construction projects (in anything other than a financial capacity), so much the better.

My kids have no problem with their dad doing work for them, for free.

 

[Nakajo]

Perhaps they're just too polite to say.

 

[bernardgreen]

My kids have no problem with their dad doing work for them, for free.

Like wise, but to be fair my daughters did give me a lot of help in the renovation of the cottage.