John Watson
Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,885
Well it finally happened, knew it would, Helen and I got away with it for years.
When you move furniture, especially old antique furniture, when there is pictures and other sort of things hanging on the walls, while cleaning carpets someday, sometime, something is going to get broken.
Yesterday, Helen and I cleaned for a client who is a Sculptor, Painter, Poet. He lives his work, His house is not only his studio but a piece of art in itself. The house is flowing with art the way the walls are textures the colors it is painted the wall hanging paintings the antique furnishings.
Most of his paintings are acrylics and gold leaf with prices starting at $4900 with most in the 10,000 and higher bracket. His brass sculptures are double and triple digit figures. The client, although very wealthy is what most would call a fruitcake. He has a different way of living and enjoying life compared to the norm, what ever that is....
We were cleaning the dining room, living room and hall. The carpets in the 3 bedrooms and main studio were just replaced and the installers broke a couple of things too. "they just knocked things right off the walls" he said.
Before we started we explained that we try to take every precaution while cleaning, Helen handles the hoses, watches my back and the walls when I am waltzing with Miss Wanda. We use sliders and skidders and lifters and blocks and tabs and on and on about what we do to be more careful than the other guy.
There was 7 pieces of furniture to move, The client and his wife had already moved things out from the wall so they could vacuum. They said they moved this stuff all the time because of their always rearranging their pictures and other art works. 4 of the pieces were antique cabinets and dressers of sort 3 had mirrors as part of them.
While putting sliders under the last piece, just lifting with the lift buddy, the mirror and frame fell off the back to the floor. It hit the wall and a piece of colored plaster was chipped and gouged, the mirror broke when it hit the floor.
As most know, a company has to have special insurance for this type of damage, most insurance company's call this negligence and it is not covered unless you have that special policy.
Helen and I both yell, but it doesn't help, the thing still hits the floor.
The client and his wife both come from the rear studio in a hurry when they heard us yell and the crash.
The first thing his wife said"See I told you that mirror was going to fall the next time it was moved" What appeared to be a very solid mirror bracket holding the 2 pieces together was actually previously damaged and they forgot to tell us. They almost dropped it when they moved it out from the wall. They said no problem, they needed to replace the mirror anyways and he could repair and paint the wall for he had a fer other touch ups to do already.
Whew, Now to see what happens for the next seven years.
On previous occurrences when employees broke things, they told the client we had special insurance for these type of things and some of the values soared.
Monday, I will call my Insurance agent to make sure we had the proper coverage. One never knows when something like this will happen
When you move furniture, especially old antique furniture, when there is pictures and other sort of things hanging on the walls, while cleaning carpets someday, sometime, something is going to get broken.
Yesterday, Helen and I cleaned for a client who is a Sculptor, Painter, Poet. He lives his work, His house is not only his studio but a piece of art in itself. The house is flowing with art the way the walls are textures the colors it is painted the wall hanging paintings the antique furnishings.
Most of his paintings are acrylics and gold leaf with prices starting at $4900 with most in the 10,000 and higher bracket. His brass sculptures are double and triple digit figures. The client, although very wealthy is what most would call a fruitcake. He has a different way of living and enjoying life compared to the norm, what ever that is....
We were cleaning the dining room, living room and hall. The carpets in the 3 bedrooms and main studio were just replaced and the installers broke a couple of things too. "they just knocked things right off the walls" he said.
Before we started we explained that we try to take every precaution while cleaning, Helen handles the hoses, watches my back and the walls when I am waltzing with Miss Wanda. We use sliders and skidders and lifters and blocks and tabs and on and on about what we do to be more careful than the other guy.
There was 7 pieces of furniture to move, The client and his wife had already moved things out from the wall so they could vacuum. They said they moved this stuff all the time because of their always rearranging their pictures and other art works. 4 of the pieces were antique cabinets and dressers of sort 3 had mirrors as part of them.
While putting sliders under the last piece, just lifting with the lift buddy, the mirror and frame fell off the back to the floor. It hit the wall and a piece of colored plaster was chipped and gouged, the mirror broke when it hit the floor.
As most know, a company has to have special insurance for this type of damage, most insurance company's call this negligence and it is not covered unless you have that special policy.
Helen and I both yell, but it doesn't help, the thing still hits the floor.
The client and his wife both come from the rear studio in a hurry when they heard us yell and the crash.
The first thing his wife said"See I told you that mirror was going to fall the next time it was moved" What appeared to be a very solid mirror bracket holding the 2 pieces together was actually previously damaged and they forgot to tell us. They almost dropped it when they moved it out from the wall. They said no problem, they needed to replace the mirror anyways and he could repair and paint the wall for he had a fer other touch ups to do already.
Whew, Now to see what happens for the next seven years.
On previous occurrences when employees broke things, they told the client we had special insurance for these type of things and some of the values soared.
Monday, I will call my Insurance agent to make sure we had the proper coverage. One never knows when something like this will happen
