Paying for work done on insurance

bud888

Hi all,

Hoping for some advice. We had a tree fall down in the back garden during the bad weather before Christmas and we had the repair work done under our house insurance. We approached a local contractor who had been recommended to us to do all the work and he provided an estimate to the insurance company that was subsequently paid directly to us.

My issue here is the original quote was VERY vague. For instance, it stated £850 + vat for decking and fence repairs but it turns out the guy he sent spent two half days repairing and reused all the original fence timber except for a few upright fence posts which he concreted back where the originals had broken. I had no problem with this but I thought there was no way he was going to charge £850 + vat for the work.

He has now been on the phone with my wife looking paid and he claims his bill is the original quote to the very last pound. Is this acceptable? I am going to ask for a breakdown of the work completed so see where he claims exactly all the money was spent.

One last thing, the tree smashed up a brand new Brabantia washing line that cost me over £100. He made a note of it when reviewing the damage and told my wife he would include it in his quote. He is now saying he forgot and there is nothing he can do about it.

Whats your views?

InsideInsurance

Its your chosen supplier and so the contract and issues are between you and him.

The advantage of using your insurers preferred supplier is that they have an obligation created by them selecting them.

Presumably the washing line is just something you buy from the shop and not something needing a professional to "fit" in which case you can probably submit that as an additional element to your insurers though this would be part of Contents and so may attract a separate excess

vaio

If it's a quote (rather than estimate) for "repairs" then as the repairs have been done to bill needs to be paid.

The time to get more specific details of the works included was before you (and your insurer) accepted the quote.

rs65

I don't quite understand your issue. You used the quote to claim from your insurers (and they paid you) but now you think the quote is too vague for you to pay the contractor?

If the washing line wasn't included in the quote then go back to the insurers for that part of the claim.

bouncydog1

I think the OP thinks that the quote was high compared to the time it took to do the work. The quote also said repairs it did not appear to say replace.

OP your claim has been paid, the work has been completed so you have an obligation to pay. Just because you have an issue with the time taken so feel that too much profit is being made by the contractor is unfortunate. He quoted a price that was acceptable to insurers who have given you the money to pay him. Unless the job is sub standard you have been put back into the same position as you were immediately before the loss, so no room to complain I'm afraid.