Check Your Insurance closely folks

[rhino1]

This happened to a friend of mine.... he was doing some VCT work in a large building with a big auto scrubber. At some point, some metal debris from a section of the building he took the machine thru to get to his work area became embedded in in one of the wheels.

The damage was alot... over $50,000 to replace the floor.

The insurance company has initially refused to pay, calling it a workmanship issue, which isn't covered. It is now in litigation.

I had a long talk with a friend who is an agent and he pointed out something I didn't even know.... some policies for contractors exclude coverage while work is in progress. Your only protection is if something happens AFTER you are done working. That tiffany lamp you broke while cleaning for Mrs Jones, not covered because you were still working.

Have a good heart to heart with your agent, go over real-world circumstances and get it recorded. CYA

 

[Ken Snow]

That is absurd, we have been covered for these types of things.

 

[Askal]

The care custody and control exclusion generally applies to something you are in care of. If you are cleaning the carpet and break the lamp it is not considered in your care. If you are cleaning the lamp and spill bleach on the carpet it would be covered. For an extra premeium you can get that exclusion removed and or get an inland marine rider or bailees coverage depending on weather or not you take things from a customers home. If your agent does not know all of this and has not offered these options to you them kick em to the curb.
Al

 

[Ken Snow]

Amen Al

 

[Fred Homan]

What can be done (any way around it) when a property manager wants workers comp when Minnesota state law does not require it for an owner operator? Some kind of other anal law.... :shock: Other property manager do not require it! WTF.....

 

[XTREME1]

You have to have the forms ready showing that since you are an owner operator and you will be the only one doing the work , not only can't you provide this because you can't get workers comp on yourself if you are set up as a sole proprietor also you can't be bonded. There are standard forms for this talk to your insurance guy

 

[Bill G. Martin]

Ken or everyone else......help us sort thru all of this......General Liability usually covers damage to the workarea/ home you are working in....say some one trips over a hose or your employee uses the john, flushes the commode and stops up the commode and later the home floods.....then you are covered.

The CCC clause covers items like a rug you bring back to the shop to clean...and say your shop caught on fire and the rug was destroyed, then the rug is covered.

The inland marine insurance cover something stolen from say your truck, that is a tool box or a Roto Vac.....a piece of your equipment.

But can some one shed some light on the workmanship issue. Say you clean a sofa and the skirt looks distorted....or you are cleaning a rug and the colors mingle.....or you are padding in the home and you have a tip blooming issue. Are you covered or not? These are all incidents that "happen" after your cleaning or the result of your cleaning.

Bill in central Florida

 

[Hoody]

Bill I believe that is where the car custody and control exclusion comes into place.

 

[Ken Snow]

The CCC covers the rug, carpet, furn etc that if we are working on and it is damaged. Our plant burning down and all the rugs being destroyed are covered elsewhere, which I don't remember now but the insurance is paid as % of revenue.

 

[Askal]

A care custody and control exclusion means that coverage is excluded. You pay extra to have that exclusion removed. Items in your shop is bailees coverage if I remember correctly.

 

[Ken Snow]

Exactly right Al- we do buy back the exclusion with a $2500 deuctible so it is rare that we would ever make a claim and the buy back rate is cheap.

 

[floorguy]

while i dont have a shop... i would think when you insure the building (or contents like a renters ins) that would cover it...

CCC covers things you work on....the carpet tip bloom.....the sofa that didnt clean up right,

inland marine covers YOUR equip...if you truck burns down, or stolen, or in a wreck etc...

your basic coverage, is if you damage something as you clean not related to your work...IE walls, windows (broke).....and or people getting hurt....tripping on a hose, slipping on a floor....hence is why sometimes for stripping they dont cover if you do 24hr joints

 

[Dale]

I hear of the "workmanship" issue being brought up in Inspections. In other-words, if the Cleaner was so stupid, he should have know that he could be, or was damaging the floor. Why not have them go to NICFI.org, and search a flooring Inspector who does a lot of VCT. Let him know up front what the problem is. And could he do a report that this was no fault of the Cleaner, that would stand in court?

Sincerely,
Dale