AIBU to ask tradesmen to pay for repairs to damaged ceiling

[Fluffiest]

I've been having our house rewired. A couple of weeks ago one of the electricians put his foot through the attic floor and put a hole in the ceiling of the master bedroom. It was the electrician who lifted the floorboards who fell in so not anyone else's fault.

They patched up the ceiling but it is clearly not as flat as it was before and the whole thing will have to be papered again. There has been no mention of them paying to have it fixed and I've had the final bill through and they haven't knocked any money off for the damage caused.

I had a plasterer in today and he says that he can patch it up but we will always be able to see the patch or he can get the whole ceiling done but that's going to cost a few hundred to do the whole thing. The plasterer says that the electricians should be covered for this on their insurance.

What do I do?
Ask them to pay for repairs?
Ask then to take money off the bill?
Refuse to pay the full amount?
Suck it up and say nothing?

Would especially appreciate the advice of any one in the trades industry. What is the done thing here?

Hi , self employed builder here, the plasterer is right, the sparky made the hole so he should make good on the repair to a level before he stuck his whacking great size 10 boot through the ceiling ,
sounds like he is shirking his responsibilities,
get the plasterer to do a quote and then tell the electrical firm to stump up for the job , thats why they have insurance to cover for accidents and mishaps.
you should not have to pay for someone elses mistake .

They should definitely fix it. That’s what liability insurance is for.

I’m hoping you haven’t yet paid the electrician? Contact him and say the plasterer has given you a quote for however much and you will be taking that plus money for the glue/wallpaper off his invoice and can he please send you a revised one? No way should you be out of pocket for the sparky’s clumsiness.

Thank you for your comments. I have asked the plasterer to write me up a quote and will give the electrician a call tomorrow. I haven't paid the final invoice yet. I'm not great at confrontation, I always want to make everything ok for everyone. I'm going to have to just ask him point blank if he will cover the cost of the damages. Gulp!

No, OP not if.
You have a quote from the plasterer to redo the ceiling back to the previous state before he fell through. Does he want you to organise it and deduct the payment from the bill or does he want to organise a tradesperson to come in himself?

My husband has a painting and decorating business. He has twice used his liability insurance to fix damage accidentally caused. And he has also fixed damage done by other workmen numerous times for their customers, paid for by the workmen. Most recent being a ceiling a plumber had put his foot through.

I would most definitely let them know you want it sorted properly to your satisfaction. They should be paying doe this.

What you are getting done to the ceiling after it's been plastered? Is your ceiling currently lined and painted or was it just painted on to plaster?.

Ok, not 'if' but 'how'. How do you, mr electrician want to sort this out?

Thank you, it is reassuring to know that other people in the industry would expect to use their insurance for this.

Prior to the accident the ceiling was plastered and wallpapered in a thick patterned wallpaper. I'd be happy with thick plain lining paper once its plastered or directly painted if the plaster was smooth enough.

He broke it = he pays to fix it. It’s clearly his mistake

I'm going to have to just ask him point blank if he will cover the cost of the damages

Why would you ask that, when he very obviously DOES have to pay because it's his responsibility?

Since he's offered nothing further on his own initiative and billed you without any discussion I doubt you'll get anywhere by offering him "options", but of course there's no need to be nasty either. Just give him the plasterer's quote, pay what remains of his bill after deducting it, and if he plays up invite him to sue you for the balance

I guarantee you'll hear nothing more about it

Hi xxx,

Received the invoice for the works you completed, I will get this paid ASAP.
I have had a quote for xxx price to fix the ceiling. Are you happy to go with my contractor and we can either knock the cost off the bill or you can pay the invoice. Happy for you to get your own contractor in if you would prefer?

You don’t need to worry about it, it’s not confrontational for you to request this. It’s similar to someone crashing your car and going through insurance to get your car repaired (except your no claims isn’t affected)

I personally disagree with TrollFairy. I wouldnt pay anything until hes either fixed the mistaken which of course is his fault, or deducted the cost (you need a couple of quotes to put it back the way it was before the damage) . If you pay first you may never get the money from him.
If hes difficult, demand his insurance details and take it up with them directly.

Thanks for all of your advice. I have paid some of the invoice today but have held back £800, until the ceiling is fixed.

I rang the electrician to explain this, after building myself up for a difficult conversation but he didn't pick up the phone.

I'll try calling him tomorrow and if I don't get through I'll send him an email. I'm feeling calmer now that this is a reasonable course of action but I'll feel better once I've spoken to the guy.

I have paid some of the invoice today but have held back £800, until the ceiling is fixed

A very wise decision, Fluffiest; it really is the only way you can be certain of the ceiling costs being reimbursed, especially as he made no offer off his own bat

I wouldn't worry too much about speaking to him, but I'd certainly email the same message ... always sensible to have these things in writing

Quick update. Electrician called back after a couple of hours once he realized we hadn't paid him the full amount. DH spoke to him and explained that we want the ceiling put back as it was. He's offered to get someone (or come round himself - I'm not too clear on that) tomorrow morning to plaster and paper the ceiling.

At first he wanted us to give him the spare key which is what we did before. But I've said we need to talk in person first. I want to be clear that the whole ceiling needs to be have a smooth finish and be papered to a good standard. A lot of the work he has done around the house has been ok but not tidy. The wires haven't been clipped fully back, he didn't put the bedroom door back on after taking it down, he left all the rubbish for us to deal with, and he didn't put back the metal trims that go on the floor in the doorways. All of which I have let go but I'm determined now that the ceiling has to be finished properly.

Is there a further update OP?

Why do you keep letting him off doing his jobs properly?

Dont let him use anyone of his choice. It's not gone well so far has it?
You need to stand up for yourself, you're being a walkover. This is your home and hes damaged it. Stop fannying about.

I wouldn't want him doing it himself!

If he’s any sort of plasterer, he won’t be doing the whole job in a day! Plaster needs much longer than that to dry to a point where you can paper over it. And get the cheeky git to put the door back on and the carpet strips back, at the very least - he should be leaving the site in the same state he found it. Taking away the rubbish isn’t always a given, so I make sure to check on that at the point I’m agreeing the job, but most tradespeople will do it, either as part of the job (which is what you should negotiate at the beginning) or for a small additional charge, to reflect the fact they now (in my area at least) have to pay to use the local tip/recycling site, if they’re a commercial user.

Update. The electrician recruited a plasterer who has patched up the ceiling. It looks loads better now. Then the electrician is having the ceiling papered for us.

I take on board that we could be choosing the decorators but the electrician knows he is not getting paid until the ceiling is back to how it was, and I honestly don't want to spend lots of time trying to get another tradesman to do the job. I find all the phone calls and meet ups very exhausting. We're not living at the house right now so it's a bit more complicated, cos I have to arrange times to go over, sort childcare out etc..

Yeah, I probably have been a pushover on some stuff. But it's a bit late now. We've put the door back on, and sorted the mess. It was enough of a challenge for me to insist on fixing the ceiling. I chose the battle I thought was worth it. And hopefully next time I will be better prepared on laying out my expectations.

@Fluffiest
Well done

Well done!

I'm not great at confrontation
Standing up for yourself doesn’t mean confrontation.