Do you check tradesmen's insurance?

[cryan]

Yes well, I worked in construction. No one on site without CSCS card, don't start a job without a risk assessment, method statement, hot works policy, ladi, ladi da! Not condoning it but just wait! But back to the OP, I don't think it's unreasonable to provide proof of insurance and in fact could be a good sales ploy. Just can't understand why so many (most) marine contractors are so reluctant to give a written quote.

I generally always give a written quote before any work although I can understand why some don't. A few times this year for example you quote based on what you have been told and what you can see before you without dismantling too much. The customer agrees but when you start to dismantle the job it becomes apparent that the story you were told is not entirely true. It is usually then a bloke tied up in the next berth comes along for a nose about and tells you all about the smoke, fire and brimstone that the customer forgot to mention. Your now faced with telling the customer that the original quote will double. This is always met with backlash and sometimes threats of telling everyone around that your quotes are all lies and you must be a cowboy and should be on TV as such. The first time it happened I was a bit startled and offered to do the job for original quote plus 10% but after that I just walked away and said sorry but the work was beyond my original quote and if they wished it I was happy for them to seek other engineers.

You would be amazed how many people lie to engineers. Its almost as if they think they will get in trouble for breaking the boat?

 

[chinita]

Does it really matter. If it is anything like any PI insurance I've ever had, it is not whether they are insured when they do the job but whether they are insured when you make a claim.

So you could check, find they have perfectly valid insurance, but when the rig comes down 18 months later find they've since made a career change and allowed their PI to lapse.

I think that is the point of the six year Statute of Limitations isn't it?

Whether or not your insurance is in date, you are still liable for a claim against you for six years following the date of the work.

 

[Coaster]

I think that is the point of the six year Statute of Limitations isn't it?

Whether or not your insurance is in date, you are still liable for a claim against you for six years following the date of the work.

I believe that the six year period starts from the time that the customer could reasonably have been expected to discover the defect, not from the actual date of the work, with a long stop of 15 years. That is what I'm advised by experts in professional indemnity insurance.

If the OP doesn't mind a bit of drift, can I ask if anyone here has ever made a claim against a contractor, concerning a matter that might be covered by insurance(s), and if so what the outcome was?

 

[GrahamM376]

One point on this is that most boat policies don't cover people working on your boat or damage caused by them to your boat or others. So if a neighbouring boat gets damaged by someone working on your boat and the uninsured worker has disappeared into the distance (as they do when things go wrong) then you may well have to foot the bill as you employed/contracted him.

 

[lpdsn]

I think that is the point of the six year Statute of Limitations isn't it?

Whether or not your insurance is in date, you are still liable for a claim against you for six years following the date of the work.

Maybe, but that won't be very useful in many cases though will it? If the PI insurance has lapsed the insurance company won't entertain a claim even if the tradesman was insured by them at the time the work was done. That's the way PI insurance works.

Yes you could still take him to court, but it is a fair bet he won't have much in the way of assets by the time you get there. If it is a Ltd company and he's not actively trading (I avoided the term ceased trading deliberately to put a positive slant on things) the company may only have a few hundred in assets.

 

[Crabman]

Maybe, but that won't be very useful in many cases though will it? If the PI insurance has lapsed the insurance company won't entertain a claim even if the tradesman was insured by them at the time the work was done. That's the way PI insurance works.

Yes you could still take him to court, but it is a fair bet he won't have much in the way of assets by the time you get there. If it is a Ltd company and he's not actively trading (I avoided the term ceased trading deliberately to put a positive slant on things) the company may only have a few hundred in assets.

the company may only have a few hundred in assets.Few hundred in the UK ,That's aiming a bit high isn't it.

 

[Crabman]

Yes you could still take him to court, what about her, sexist sh*t and cr*p.I know lets take everyone to court that way premiums go up and survey fees go up , boo hoo. Arse hol*s.