Insurance (rebuild portion of the house) - can I decline to accept the works?

yessuz

hi,

This is probably straightforward question and I am not sure this is the right sub-forum, so Mods please move to appropriate.

In short: we had an accident, 10 months ago now (June 2022), where neighbor's daughter's car rolled into front of our house. this was almost like series of unfortunate events, when the car which rolled in managed to hit not only the door but also managed to hit the wall - at the precise corner with the towing hook.

As a result, about 2 m wide and up to 2 m height section of the wall moved/shifted. there is like 1 cm visible shift on one side, cracks of mortar etc. So as per insurance, that section (from door to window) has to be rebuilt.

It takes forever, really poor management from the insurance's contractor etc... but all in all works SHOULD start in end of April 2023... it is ridiculous and we are not happy with all the delays (as anyone would..)  and we want this (and some internal damage!) to be fixed as soon as possible.

What I am worried about is  that if the works which will be carried are having new brickwork, that section will be clearly different shade on the mortar/bricks (house built in 2014).

Question is: in such case, if result is not satisfactory - can I decline to accept the work and request insurance company to rectify it properly? If mortar it visibly darker/lighter, if bricks are different share/colour of red... etc. Do I have such right to request to redo the work until that is done properly?

Anyone had such situation and would be able to advise?

many thanks in advance!

tightauldgit

You have the right for the work to be done with due care and to a reasonable standard of workmanship but you can't ask for the impossible - if it's not reasonable to expect a new piece of brickwork to match the old exactly or for new mortar to look exactly like decade old mortar then no you can't insist on it. 

I think all you can really do is make sure that insurance co and contractor agree that they will make their best effort to match everything and then if you aren't happy with the work I think the onus would be on you to show that they hadn't done so. 

yessuz

tightauldgit said:

You have the right for the work to be done with due care and to a reasonable standard of workmanship but you can't ask for the impossible - if it's not reasonable to expect a new piece of brickwork to match the old exactly or for new mortar to look exactly like decade old mortar then no you can't insist on it. 

I think all you can really do is make sure that insurance co and contractor agree that they will make their best effort to match everything and then if you aren't happy with the work I think the onus would be on you to show that they hadn't done so. 

hmm.. I know there are pigments for the mortar - they should try to match these (at least)...
Bricks - they should be trying to preserve existing backs - not all of them will be broken after the demolition

the thing is and what I really want to avoid, is if the house will look like 1/4 of the house is somehow new bricks, then house value will suffer from it...

TELLIT01

With a newish house they should be able to obtain bricks which are a pretty good match to the original.  As said above, they should be able to reuse much of the existing brickwork.  They will be able to match the colour of the pointing, and I would stress to them before they start that you expect that to be done.  Some years ago my mother had some remedial work done on the front of her house and the mortar was a perfect match.  The work was done by a brickie with 40 years experience.

Manxman_in_exile

Out of interest, which insurer are you claiming against?

(Your building insurance or your neighbour's daughter's car insurance?  I'm wondering if you are the insurer's client or not)

yessuz

I am claiming via my home insurance (Direct Line), but they went to the neighbors car insurance company (AA insurance)

yessuz

TELLIT01 said:

With a newish house they should be able to obtain bricks which are a pretty good match to the original.  As said above, they should be able to reuse much of the existing brickwork.  They will be able to match the colour of the pointing, and I would stress to them before they start that you expect that to be done.  Some years ago my mother had some remedial work done on the front of her house and the mortar was a perfect match.  The work was done by a brickie with 40 years experience.

yes, I mentioned that... I had claims management company on the CC as well as to express my expectations.

DullGreyGuy

yessuz said:

I am claiming via my home insurance (Direct Line), but they went to the neighbors car insurance company (AA insurance)

So are you claiming from your DL Home policy or have you been redirected to deal with your neighbour Car Broker (the AA)? If you are claiming from your insurance the counterclaim they will subsequently make is irrelevant to this discussion.

If you are claiming from your policy you are bound by the terms of your policy. This will include things like if you have Matching Sets cover or not. The insurer should make a best endevours to match but you have to be realistic and know that weathering will take 12 months or more to take effect. The problem of trying to colourmatch the weathered items now is that when the new items become weathered they no longer match. The long term is more important to consider than the short term. 

yessuz

Ti be clear - I am dealing with my insurance only

GrubbyGirl_2

The house is only 9 years old so the developer will be able to say exactly what bricks were used to get an exact match, though the original bricks could be used if carefully removed.  I don't know if it's possible but could you not ask for the whole wall to be repointed to match the mortar.  If the insurance declines then maybe you could pay for it yourself if that bothers you?

yessuz

Ok..

What is the "repointed" part? What is the process and what will it achieve?

Asking this as I have no clue