Liability Insurance Question

cab470

I am a tile contractor working in a "high rise" apartment building. I was there to remove old kitchen counter and build a new tile counter. In the process when I went to remove the old kitchen sink...(I turned off water shut off's first) a pipe burst and water flooded the kitchen I was working in and the apartment directly below it. Mostly just carpet soaking, that needed a serv pro to come and vacuum dry them out and some damaged ceiling plaster, and ceiling tiles. It was discovered that the previous plumbing job was not soldered correctly and when I pulled on the sink to remove it, the pipe seperated because solder was not done right. This happened "below" the shut off valve. The maintance guys of the building had to try to figure out where the main shut off was for the whole water line so it took them a while and in the meantime the apartments were floodingwith water while they tried to find it.

My question is.... even though what I did caused the pipe to burst and flood, it really was'nt "my fault" so to speak, it was poor plumbing job. Will my liability insurance cover this? The two apartment residents called their respective renters insurance but they also wanted our liability insurance papers.

So what can I expect?
Thank You for your input.....

cleveman

In order to avoid this, I always chain down the kitchen sink directly to the foundation. This will prevent anyone from wrenching it out and exposing my imperfect plumbing.

Are you crazy? Why shouldn't your liability insurance cover this? Was the leak there before you entered the building? Of course not. This is your screw up and you are liable.

Of course the carpet getting wet is another matter. It's not your fault that they didn't have tile.

And the sheetrock damage is not your responsibility. Everyone knows if you don't want water damage, you should just have an exposed concrete ceiling.

Yeah, the more I think about it, you should just ride this out. The apt. should have had a leak sensor installed and this should have shut down the leak in a millisecond.

cab470

We NEVER had this happen before, we've replaced a lot of sinks.....plumbing pipes usually don't just seperate with a tug on the sink....

We also have never had any insurance claims before, not familiar with how the insurance claims work, so just wondering (and hoping) they will cover this incident.

Thank You for your knowledge and expertise of how the system works.

Double-A

Get in touch with your insurance agent and file a report... not a claim, a report. Follow his advise on this. Let him send an Accord Cert to the folks that are asking for it.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Anti-wingnut

Cleve is beating on you a little more that he should here. Your insurance should handle all this "no problem".These things happen, and it sounds like whatever you did, did not really rattle the wall "too much". But you will be blamed, and your insurance will be the first to pony up. I hope you documented the causes, it may help your insurance go after the plumber

cab470

Thanks Double A, and Anti-wingnut....

It was a pretty intense scene fire dept came, police...The hot water steam set off the smoke alarms.....

We're really not "hacks" we have a reputable business for 8 years now.

We have made plenty of mistakes that we could correct, but this was quite a blow below the belt, and to our "pride"

We just can't wait for this nightmare to end....

We have already filed a claim because we "panicked" so to speak and wanted action right away. The insurance adjuster came within a few hours. And the plumber that had come after the mess....said that the pipe was soldered incorrectly and that it probably would have happened to anyone who replaced the sink/counters. We documented, took pictures and kept the pipe that seperated and showed the insurance adjuster.

The customers had previously thought about having granite counters (which most people do) I really wish they had now....

Chris Johnson

This is what insurance is for, this was caused by you and was unforeseen.

You claim is very legit. Now, lets hope all the tenants don't try and get a free ride out of the deal.

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Chris

JonM

Give your insurance papers to their insurance company...put them in a steel cage and let them fight it out...

cab470

Here are some of the photos I took after the initial cleanup work was done. Clearly you can see the poor solder work on the pipe.

Attached Thumbnails

     

rbsremodeling

A lot of insurance policies do not cover multifamily dwellings, apartments, condo's etc.

Most Remodeling contractors are unaware of this fact. You have to specifically have the wording covering multiple units in the policy.

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buildpinnacle

My liability coverage is very specific in this. I swore to be damned during the inital applications when most people lie that I did not work on buildings over two stories and did no work on apartments or row houses

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rbsremodeling

I think most guys are unaware of what their policies should cover or don't cover. As a contractor your contracts and Insurance policies are two things that should be reviewed very carefully and take time to understand them.

We take time to read the directions on our new fangle chopsaw with the laser sights, But have no clue what the our insurance policies covers until its to late.

I guarantee half of the policies held by guys on this forum don't cover something they think it covers.

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genecarp

[quote=rbsremodeling;671027]

We take time to read the directions on our new fangle chopsaw with the laser sights, But have no clue what the our insurance policies covers until its to late.

Thats because the people who write the instruction manuals for our tools want us to understand them, And the people who write our policies dont.

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Chris Johnson

Truth be known, insurance rules should follow all other rules...plain english

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Chris

rbsremodeling

Or marry a smart girl

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rbsremodeling

[quote=genecarp;671044]I took out 8 units in a condo building once. Learn to read and write really quick after that

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Celtic

I was under the impression plumbing pipes were not attached to the sink when one gets to the "tugging" portion of the job

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HomerJ

I would echo what others have said. Your insurance is there for this sort of thing. Let them fight it out.

I'm also confused as to why you were pulling the sink/top while the plumbing was still connected. Shouldn't plumbing disconnection be the first thing done prior to demo?

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Northwest Indiana General Contractor
Northwest Indiana Remodeling Contractor
Indiana Bath Remodeling
Indiana Kitchen Remodeling

Anti-wingnut

Good point, if it is true

Celtic

If the method to remove was only detailed that one time, I would figure it was a heat of the moment typo...but 2 times describing some plumbing brutality?
Sounds like SOP to me.

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