Hey guys,
Been enjoying and learning from this forum while starting my business, thanks to all of you for this.
Last week I cleaned the windows of a modern home in a very upscale neighborhood. I cleaned the exterior and had my helper do the interior windows without water. The homeowner was in n out the house.
Without me realizing, the bottom of the door (aluminum) let water in as it was not properly sealed. My helper dried the water with towels and we notified the homeowner who looked at it and said it’s ok n left again. Apparently, a bit of water had already go down under a shoe bench and nobody saw it and standing there for hours.
Fast forward to the end of the day/cleaning, the homeowner pulls away some shoe baskets as he saw that the floor was warping by the entrance. Looked again a few days later, and the floor is warped on one piece. Then we called his flooring guy and got a quote for $2000 for that small piece of flooring. I don’t really want to get the insurance involved. Is it even my fault? Would like to hear you guy’s thoughts on what to do in the situation like this. He paid me about 40% for the service - balance open of $300+.
Btw, a piece of flooring further down the living room had the same because of a planter overflowed water a bit and stood there for a while before, so he knew the flooring was sensitive.
Thanks in advance and happy holidays!
You have to put something about not being responsible for pre-existing conditions in your work orders. I’m not a lawyer, but it wasn’t your fault that the door was leaky, and there could have been water damage there from way before you every arrived.
A few years ago we finished up a job and turned off the water to realize that the pipe was busted behind the siding. Big house, so we had the water running for quite some time while it was flooding the crawlspace.
That client WAS a lawyer, and he told us that its totally not our fault. He also told me that I should include something about not being responsible for the client’s plumbing, especially in the early spring when people are turning things back on for the first time.
It’s a good idea to include something along the lines of “We are not responsible for any pre-existing issues that may become apparent as a result of the service” on future work orders like Chris said. Matter of fact I’m probably going to add something like that now.
I had something similar happen to me a few months back. I was wfp’ing an old house that had storm windows and the water leaked into the home. The seal around the window was shot. It leaked inside and messed up the drywall.
I just basically explained that this never happened before (with the wfp) and that this is a pre-existing issue with the window. They need to find a contractor that can properly seal it / fix it. I guess the thought never crossed my mind to offer to pay for it since this is a PRE-EXISTING issue lol, and they understood.
I’ve had similar close calls like almost burning a house down cause the electrical wiring was f’d. Get it in writing. You just never know when you’ll run into something like that again.
Thanks for your replies guys. What would you do in my situation when the client wants me to pay $2k?
Get your checkbook out. Then learn from the experience.
