Company caused damage to my property

tomoney

Hi all

A company caused damage to my property whilst installing Cavity Wall Installation under my insruction. A hole was drilled right through into my papered Hallway. They admitted liability straight off.

They have offered to repair the hole strip the wall paper and plaster and paint (missus wants it painted).

So far so good

They advise the work should take a maximum of two days to complete so I advised my Dad if he could be in when they do the work to which he replied that he can't but the company should reimburse for my lost time out of work. ie pay me my two days salary. Is this correct as when I think about it, yes i am out of pocket but what if my 'footballer' Salary meant two days pay would be £20000! (it doesn't by the way lol)

NeilF3485

Not sure if the company will do that (or are liable for it anyway). Would assume they can agree to do it at a time/day when someone is able to be there (you, your Dad, or otherwise) where you wouldn't have to take time off work. Even if that means a weekend etc.

Can't comment on their legal obligation i'm afraid, just offering my two penneth!

Dave101t

id say they dont even have to repair it, seeing as you gave them authority to drill the wall in the first place. whatever they offer is good enough.

NeilF3485

Also just occurred to me that if it is just a drill hole, why does it necessitate stripping the paper, filling hole and re-plastering and painting seems an awful lot for a drill hole?

tomoney

Sorry let me clarify, I instructed them to carry out the works and during installation they drilled right through my hallway ripping the wallpaper

BargainGalore

I think its reasonable for them to repair it as they have but nothing more, accept that and move on

T_T_2

I'm inclined to agree with others. In my opinion their offer to 'make good' on the damage they caused seems fair and reasonable for both parties. Asking them to cover the costs of your time off work seems a little unreasonable, particularly if you are on a salary whereby you would be losing holiday rather than money.

Idiophreak

Give them a key and head off to work. Unless *you* want to be there to supervise - in which case, I'm not sure why you'd expect them to pay for it...

tomoney

ok, cheers for the help guys and gals

tomoney

Ok I need to update you guys on this as things did not go how I would have like them

I managed to work form home whilst they commenced the work

The damage was to wall paper so the whole area needed stripping and I advised I would accept it to be painted. So they began stripping and put lining paper up to paint on. Over the two days they did not manage to complete the work so further work is required. I have already noticed now that the lining paper is beginnig to lift and bubble and the surface is very uneven. I have been told that they should have 'skimmed' the walls first? but the did not so any little blenishes show through.

I have asked the manager to reply to me or ring me and I am happy to pop out at lunch for him to see the standard but I have yet to get a reply even though I have chased. 2 weeks ago I advised him of the issues

What action should I take, I feel like getting a local company in to strip the walls, skim and paint and send them a bill but I cant find a company local to me that does it all in one, they want a plaster to do the work that I find. They wont sub contract the plastering out?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Tom

Flyboy152

Dave101t wrote: »

id say they dont even have to repair it, seeing as you gave them authority to drill the wall in the first place. whatever they offer is good enough.

Of course they have to repair it. :wall:

If you asked garage to service your car but they dropped it off the ramp, would you say, "oh well, my bad, I did ask you to serve it after all. Tsk, what am I like."