People with no insurance asking for tradesman to do work for free after house burned down

[Purpleturtle46]

Saw a post on a local FB group recently where someone's house had burned down and they had no insurance so were asking for donations/tradespeople to work for free.

My initial thought was WTF how rude, how can you expect people to work for free when you cut corners not taking insurance. However the vast majority of the comments were people offering their condolences and offering to help, including several tradespeople offering to help pro bono.

Then I'm started to wonder if I was being a bitch.
How would you react to such a post?

YABU-you would be sympathetic and offer to help
YANBU-you would think that was a cheeky request

I believe she had some significant personal funds

It's not cheap though.
I'm a civil engineer, I work in flood risk management.
There's a particular neighbourhood where a load of terraced housing was built in an engineered flood corridor in the 1910s, as industry took off in that town. The flood corridor is about 30 years older, and still operational. There's literally nowhere to reroute it. The houses are flooded to some extent about once a decade.

After being flooded for the second time in 12 years a resident said to me "After last time, my premium went up to £1200/year. I've not paid it since, so I reckon I've saved myself £15k to put this right this time".

A reasonable risk calculation, works as long as you don't touch that £15k of savings.

Flood re is also not available for houses built after 2009, I think. Which is another complication.

Well, if they just couldn't be bothered to get insurance and hoped nothing would happen, I kind of agree with you, but if you've made a stupid mistake, wouldn't you hope someone would help you, especially if you have kids? I also think you need to consider what drives people to 'cut corners'. It may be that insurance has become prohibitively expensive and it's a choice between that or food/heating/paying immediate bills like the mortgage.

A friend set up a just giving page for an operation for their dog. They said if they can't raise the funds they would have to have him put to sleep.

Meanwhile I pay £70 a month pet insurance for mine!

I feel same as you. I get annoyed at the people who end up bailing them out. I am actually generous and always buy food for food banks and give to homeless etc. But this is like the no travel/pet insurance Gofundme’s. Gofuckoff.

I agree with you @GreatNorthBun when you write
"They're gonna take your money and they're gonna screw you.
That's the economic model of insurance."

Too right

Our home insurance went from £400 to £800 this year. Not surprised people are not renewing. We did obviously.

Help if you want to/can - keep quiet if you can't/won't, nobody needs to hear your lecture.

Not particularly regarding insurance but may well do at some stage. I've been thinking a lot about this subject lately. For example I know 2 young single mums. One has always been a saver. She has a child with special needs, her mum will help with childcare if necessary but the mum requires a lot of MH support herself at times. She lives in a tiny home and although nothing is new it is beautifully cared for. She works as much as humanly possible . Is very smart but simply dressed. Another I know has children ,lots of financial help from parents and practical help. Always spends a lot on treatments,decor and clothes. And moans that she is broke.
I live on a very low income . I manage ,just. But i see acquaintances in a similar situation buy handfuls of scratch cards,plastic tat from cheap shops and then moan that they are broke !
I do give to charities and appeals ,and I know it is not up to me to judge how others should spend their money.
My parents were always broke so I've had to learn. Do you think we lack financial education in this country. I sometimes run out of sympathy regarding people appealing for help .

She also took the decision to open Buckingham Palace to the public to earn what she could that way.

I don't know if it is the same one but my local facebook page has a post on it from someone whose house burnt down and is asking for help. They have also set up a go fund me page.

They admit they did not have insurance because they thought it was too expensive. Pretty stupid in my eyes and, no, I would not be prepared to help them.

I am far from well off but house insurance is important and I don't think it is that expensive

Oops I meant a gofundme page and not a just giving page !

A house burning down is catastrophic, it must be very traumatic to lose everything and have to start again rebuilding your home and possessions. Nobody deserves to have nothing just because they didn’t pay for insurance. I wouldn’t begrudge supporting a family who had lost everything to a fire regardless of whether they had insurance or not.

No, they don't deserve to have nothing because they didn't have insurance but how bloody stupid not to have it. Why take the risk?

Someone round here had a big house fire and then put up up a GoFundMe as apparently their insurance had lapsed and they had "forgotten" to renew it.

I didn't donate but others must have as their house was repaired.

It's no different really to all the people donating to Grenfall etc

I agree it’s careless not to have it and a big risk to take, but I guess people rarely think something bad will happen to them. We also don’t know the story or the reason they didn’t have insurance. I have had a period of time where I didn’t have contents insurance because I have ADHD and I kept forgetting to put it in place after I moved. If a family are struggling financially they might think the risk of something like a fire happening is lower than the risk of malnutrition or illness etc from not being able to afford food or heating. A partner who is financially abusive, gambling or addicted to drugs/ alcohol etc might cancel direct debits such as insurance and their partner might not even be aware. It’s very black and white thinking to just say anyone who doesn’t have insurance is stupid without knowing anything else about their circumstances.

How would you react to such a post?

I wouldn’t. If people want to offer their services free of charge its up to them, nowt to do with you or me.

My house was destroyed by fire a few years ago.
We had comprehensive buildings and contents insurance which payed out quickly (for things like clothing, I didn't even have a pair of knickers left the night of the fire!). Yes it was terrible and stressful having our house rebuilt but the fact that insurance covered everything and we didn't have to go cap in hand to anyone to get things sorted felt good - I am definitely not someone who likes asking others for help at the best of times!!
PLEASE, PLEASE insure your home/contents, it is the biggest investment most people make. A few quid a month to cover it shouldn't be optional imo.
Lastly, when you select the amount of cover you probably need more than you realise! I came close to spending all of the 'contents' money because I had looked around and mentally tallied up things like TVs, kitchen appliances, sofas etc. I didn't think about things like replacing clothing for four people, kids toys, towels etc.
As sorry as I feel for the people OP is referring to I wouldn't personally be donating to them. They took their chances and to be honest it just encourages other people not to bother with insurance if they think a quick Facebook post will get everything sorted for them.

I am quite a worrier so have always had house insurance, travel insurance etc. Of course no one thinks it will happen to them but horrible things do happen so, again, why take the risk?

The family in my local area say they did not have insurance because it cost a lot. I have never found house insurance that expensive and they have seem to have 3 working adults in the house so hard to believe they could not afford it.

If people want to take the risk then, obviously, it is up to them but to then expect people to donate money, work for free and give them items is, in my view, out of order