Can i claim on insurance after a botch job by my uncle?

Question

Having got my uncle to replace my garage roof, I subsequently find the job has been done incorrectly and the roof is now leaking badly.Can i claim on my house insurance to get the job done properly?

Answer 1

Your insurance policy will NOT cover this damage.

Regarding roofs, your policy will cover storm damage, which this isn't, and it may cover accidental damage, if you've paid to include it, but even so, it will exclude faulty workmanship and normal wear and tear.

If you try to lie to the insurance company, you may find yourself without any insurance at all, so I wouldn't suggest that either. And believe me, they have ways of finding out.

So, you have two options. Call your Uncle and get him to fix it properly, or get in a professional contractor.

Answer 2

this is why you do not do business with family members. really the only thing you can do legally, (and the only thing that will fly in court) is to sue your uncle, for the damage he caused. you might not even be able to get the full cost of repairs out of him through court. if you dont want to sue your uncle, and you're looking into whether or not you should put it through your insurance, it might work, especially if you have a good coverage plan, but most lawyers are going to probably be telling you to either find a way to pay for the damage yourself, or go to your uncle and ask him to put you in the position you needed to be in, in the beginning.

if it was free, then your uncle probably didnt hardly know what he was doing, and you should have been paying more attention to his background. (he's your uncle, you should have been able to notice his workmanship before he offered to do anything) although i dont know many people who would look at a problem and say "if you can fix it for free, its bound to be a quality job!"

however, it being low or no cost might be a better reason for your insurance company to step in and get a better contractor.

with some insurance companies (the cheaper ones) they might hear you telling them this and think "if he's dumb enough to hire someone who did this kind of a job on his roof, then his rates need to go up, he must be a higher liability than we thought he was, who knows what other abuse his property has sustained through neglect, or other workmanship we dont know about?"

so now you know. be aware! be wiser next time! many profesional contractors will give you an estimate for free, and its always good to know exactly whats wrong with it before you let someone fix it at no cost to you.

Answer 3

Should get your uncle to put it right.
You could get it done again and then tell the insurance company that you had it fixed quickly so that no further damage was done when it started to leak. This would be a retrospective claim but do not mention your uncles input as they will chase him for the money.
Quite a good lesson for you to get it done properly by a tradesman. You could probably claimed on your insurance initially and saved all this problem.
Best of luck.

Answer 4

I doubt you are going to get your insurance company to pay for this. They did not see the condition of the roof originally to assess damage/repair needs.

On top of that, this situation sounds like they will just say you had a shoddy contractor ( which happens to be your uncle) and they are not going to sympathize......just a hunch......good luck!

Be careful with what you tell them too....they are experts and can tell if any material is new or not.

Answer 5

i work for a claims department doing motor claims and i would say probably not for the work done by your uncle but maybe for any resulting damage say your garage were to flood ect...if your uncle owns a company then he would have insurance to cover his workmanship otherwise you'll end up paying for repairs yourself as it isn't accidental damage.

Answer 6

you should be able to since your roof is leaking but I dont know for sure. Call your insurance company and ask them. Good luck

Answer 7

No just take it down and start again or get a pro in insurance would just laugh as it's not really a house issue

Answer 8

If he`s insured the insurance should pay out otherwise it`s" Hi Uncle, you know that job you did for me..."

Answer 9

most have a section in the policy for accidental

ie diy idsay your uncle was helping you with some diy and you accidentally f####d up

worth a try but read your policy first

if not try money saving expert . com
martin and team are full of ideas

Answer 10

normally insurance doesn't cover mistakes made by your contractor the contractor should correct the mistake or have his general libility insurance pay to have the corrections made . .